Earth Fellow: Sustainability engagement and behaviour change

Edinburgh Earth Initiative, Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability
Part Time: 9 hours per week
Fixed-term: The Edinburgh Earth Initiative (EEI) and Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability are looking for two postgraduate students to support embedding sustainability into the everyday behaviours, culture and habits of the wider University community. This 6-month project will focus on increasing participation in the Sustainability Action Reward Platform, and the Sustainability Champions Network.
As an Earth Fellow, you will be joining a diverse, fun and dynamic team of researchers, students and staff all working together to address the global climate emergency. As part of the Earth Fellows programme, you will have access to co-working space, exciting networking and personal development opportunities and opportunities to contribute towards partnerships and solutions for climate change on a global scale.
Earth Fellows work on individual and team-based projects which contribute to the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Earth Initiative’s work on climate change research-led impact, innovation, engagement, and teaching.
Earth Fellowships are only open to current postgraduate and PhD students at the University of Edinburgh based in the UK. Please do not apply if you are not a current University of Edinburgh student.
This post will be appointed at Grade UE05, step 1 which is £29,588 per annum, pro rata (£16.21 per hour).
You do not need a sustainability background.
An interest in sustainability and a baseline understanding of the principles behind sustainable behaviours, with a willingness to deepen this knowledge through the role.
Ability to represent programmes professionally in busy, public, or informal campus settings in person and online.
Click here to view the full project brief for the Earth Fellow: sustainability engagement and behaviour change, including key tasks and deliverables (opens browser in new tab).
Please refer to both the project brief and job description when outlining your skills and experience in your application.
A competitive salary
An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.
To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community.
Comprehensive Staff Benefits, such as a generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the total value of your pay and benefits.
Championing equality, diversity and inclusion
We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.
The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. International applicants will therefore be unable to apply for and secure a Skilled Worker visa. The closing date for applications is 13th January 2026.
If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
Launched in 2022, the Edinburgh Earth Initiative was established by the University’s Executive with a cross institutional remit to drive a step change in the University’s engagements with climate and sustainability challenges.
In 2024, a strategic review of Edinburgh Earth Initiative was completed and the results of that review, including a strategy for 2025-2030, were approved by the University Executive. The strategy states that the mission of EEI is to catalyse bold, globally significant transdisciplinary research, innovation and partnerships at the University in support of the Research & Innovation Strategy 2030 and Climate Strategy.
Edinburgh Earth Initiative Website ( ) (opens in new browser tab)