Overview

Cefas makes an important contribution to securing health and sustainable marine and freshwater environments so that current and future generations can prosper. Our vision is to make a real difference for society, as recognised leaders in marine and aquatic science. As the UK’s largest and most diverse applied marine science centre, we help to shape and implement policy through our internationally renowned science and collaborative relationships that span worldwide.

We are looking for a new staff member to develop skill and techniques in evaluating survey design options in relation to an ever increasing variability of objectives. The work entails collaborating with experts on current data sources and developing knowledge on more widely available data sources to quantitatively assess their utility in contributing towards ecosystem monitoring and understanding. An essential part of the position is to develop ties with monitoring experts and feedback analytical results and their implication for monitoring. We are especially interested in attracting applicants with an ecological back ground and experience with a diverse range of quantitative methods and statistical analysis

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The purpose of the position is assist the integration of monitoring activities to apply innovative or novel analytical techniques that identify commonality spatial and temporal patterns of variation in fisheries and ecological datasets. The post holder will have a wide ranging experience with different data types and an ability to identify weaknesses and strengths in specific datasets based on the output characteristics and the collection strategy. Using multivariate and advanced univariate methods the post holder should be able to quantify the relationships between different types of observations and assess their variance properties. Ideally they should be able to apply this knowledge to improve monitoring efficiency, to design integrated ecosystem monitoring programs and to help facilitate the uptake of ecological relationships into integrated ecosystem assessments.

The position offers an opportunity to draw on a wide range of expertise and monitoring information at a cross disciplinary level and to work with a wide range of individuals at cefas and internationally at ICES.

The roles will require statistical and numerical programming, statistical analysis, project management, report writing and presentation skills.

Cefas actively supports staff development and opportunities for additional professional training and development are available.

Academic qualifications required for direct entry to this Cefas Pay Band 5 post is a degree with a high level of, mathematical, statistical content and relevant work experience.

Experience in numerical modelling and data analysis, high level programming languages, identifying problems and the ability to demonstrate a high degree of familiarity with packages such as R are essential.

Good written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain complex solutions to non-specialists are required.

The post requires strong personal motivation and flexibility, working effectively as part of an interdisciplinary team and willingness to travel both nationally and internationally to work directly with the organisations involved in this research. The post requires fieldwork at sea on research and commercial vessels.

Experience of fisheries, management of ecological or renewable resources, international collaboration, and the ability to identify additional business opportunities in fisheries research are all desirable.

Person specification
Please provide details of all relevant skills and experience
Competencies
We’ll assess you against these competencies during the selection process:

Collaborating and partnering
Making effective decisions
Changing and improving
Seeing the big picture
Delivering at pace
Delivering value for money
Science & Engineering – Securing, Maintaining & Developing Relevant Technical Expertise
Science & Engineering – Applying Scientific & Technical Knowledge