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Global Farm Metric Project Postdoctoral Research Associate

Sustainable Food Trust
Remote or home working with some travel required

Posted: 14 Sep 2023

Deadline: 28 Oct 2023

Compensation: £35,000+

Paid Remote working

Job description

Position Summary

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the interface of research, farming and policy, managing the research element of UK farm trials of the Global Farm Metric Framework and supporting the development and delivery of international trials of the framework through our partnership with Regen10. This work will include quantitative analysis of assessment results and the design, analysis and reporting of feedback from participants, as well as working with project partners, our trials team, and the wider Global Farm Metric team to achieve and communicate outcomes. The postholder will also have the opportunity to contribute to a range of related work, including the development of the Global Farm Metric as a common language for understanding farm sustainability and of the sustainability assessments being used for these trials nationally and internationally.

Key Responsibilities

• Analyse trial results and trial feedback to produce recommendations for DEFRA and other trial stakeholders arising from the trials.
• Design, deliver, and analyse farmer and farm advisor feedback interviews and surveys for our UK government ELMS farm trials, in line with the requirements of the trials and the needs of the GFM team.
• Provide support for the GFM team within Regen10   in the delivery of  international trials of the Regen10 framework (based on GFM). 
• Support the design and analyse of assessments, farmer and farm advisor feedback surveys, and trial results, working with local partners and in line with the requirements of the trials and the needs of the GFM team. 
• Support the development of online professional training materials for farm advisors on farm sustainability
• With inputs from farm advisors, design and produce learning resources to enable them to explain farm sustainability and sustainability assessments to farmers using the GFM framework
• Support the design and facilitation of workshops for trial farmers and farm advisors, including an end of trial event.
• Design and carry out gap analyses of GFM engine data collection vs data required for key existing sustainability assessments.
• Support/lead the production of reports to meet trial and GFM team requirements.
• Lead peer reviewed journal article(s) on the value of framework for building farm advisor / farmer knowledge and support for farm sustainability, and on adding a state-of-the-system approach to certification assessments.

General requirements

• Engage with Reading University team, partners and consultants to ensure coherence in tasks and outputs and to avoid duplication. 
• Engage with the Regen10 Frameworks Hub team and contribute to discussions, planning and reports.
• Contribute to discussion and review of metrics team and GFM team outputs and planning.
• Attend internal meetings on-line and in-person to share and discuss progress.
• Engage with external organisations as required to support and promote the GFM and the trials.
• Attend conferences and events to present work as required (mainly in the UK, potentially EU) 
• Work with the wider GFM team to support related work when needed. 

Note: This job description does not form part of the contract of employment but indicates how the contract should be performed. The job description may be subject to amendment.

Person Specification 

Qualifications and experience

 Specifically, we are looking for candidates who have experience with and can demonstrate the following:

• Good knowledge of UK farming systems and policy landscape.
• Experience and expertise in developing, delivering, or researching farm sustainability assessments including knowledge of LCA and similar impact assessment approaches. 
• Strong quantitative and qualitative data analysis skills.
• Experience of facilitating workshops for professionals. 
• Experience of engagement with farmers and/or farm advisors. 
• Teaching or training experience relevant to food, farming, or sustainability at further or higher education levels.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. 
• Experience of delivering reports and good academic publication record.
• Ability and willingness to work with diverse professional teams to deliver outputs.
• Experience and ability to manage a diverse workload in a fast-paced project delivery setting.
• Personal commitment to driving the transition towards more sustainable farming and an understanding of the needs and concerns of the farming community.
• Flexibility to travel within the UK and potentially the EU for meetings and events.

Location

Remote or home working, with some travel required to Bristol, London or other locations in the UK. You may be asked to travel to the EU for meetings or events.

Application information

If you would like to apply for this position, please send your CV along with a covering letter outlining your skills and experience to info@sustainablefoodtrust.org

We will review applications as they come in on an ongoing basis and close applications when we have found a suitable person for the role.

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs