We are looking for a Senior Conservation Scientist to input into RSPB’s Flyways and Migrants programme. The Flyways and Migrants programme aims to undertake and facilitate research into the causes of population decline of priority migratory birds of the East Atlantic Flyway (non-passerines and passerines) and contribute to the development and testing of conservation solutions to prevent and reverse their declines across the annual cycle. This programme is likely to require conservation actions to address the main threats in key habitats, sites and landscapes, including nature-based solutions that support sustainable livelihoods and ecosystem services.

You will be RSPB’s lead scientist on the population ecology, habitat use and distribution of RSPB priority migratory landbirds along the East Atlantic flyway. You will develop and maintain scientific and technical expertise in relevant specialist areas, to identify emerging issues and associated research questions to underpin RSPB’s conservation activity. You will manage and develop staff through recruitment and management of multiple staff across grades up to conservation scientist (and volunteers and students as appropriate), to ensure the RSPB has the knowledge and skills required to deliver excellence in conservation science.

You will develop, design, cost and manage the delivery of multiple projects, to provide the evidence base to underpin RSPB’s conservation activity. This includes development and implementation of research projects on populations, habitats, and management options and solutions for migrant birds along the flyway. Initially you will undertake legacy work on pied flycatcher home range and resource use in two Liberian non-breeding sites with contrasting land use, utilising existing radio-tracking and tree species data collected over two seasons.

You will work in close collaboration with RSPB Flyway and Migrants programme colleagues, other RSPB scientists working on migrants, the BirdLife partnership and other conservation organisations.

You will ideally be based near either our David Attenborough Building, Cambridge or The Lodge, Sandy, however our Scotland HQ in Edinburgh could also be considered.

 

Essential skills, knowledge & experience:

• A PhD or similar level of experience in a relevant subject, broad knowledge of conservation issues and practice, and conservation science, gained through experience of taking responsibility for the management of a range of scientific projects and initiative and scientific horizon scanning to conceptualise and propose innovative projects to answer novel and important conservation questions using science.
• Broad knowledge of current scientific issues that is relevant to conservation and how to assess their applicability to current or future projects.
• Specialist and up-to-date knowledge of how to apply complex statistical modelling procedures to enable innovative, robust analysis and interpretation to any type and size of data set. In particular an ability to programme in R or SAS, and Python.
• Ability to be self motivated and work efficiently and to prioritise own working schedule. This necessitates the ability to plan and organise their own work and manage the work of others they are line-managing.
• Collecting, collating, manipulating, and statistical interrogation of large and complex data sets that can pass international peer-reviewed standards of scrutiny and audit and ability to influence others through production of high impact written material; for example demonstrable track record of scientific publication in internationally recognised journals, reports to funders, books and book chapters, but also written material for any media channel.