Peatland Biometeorologist

Salary - £36,245 - £38,463 depending on experience

Based in Wallingford

UKCEH is looking for an experienced Peatland Biometeorologist to join our 600-strong team, contributing to scientific discovery and generating the data, insights and solutions that researchers, businesses and governments need to solve complex environmental challenges.

Working at UKCEH is rewarding. Our science makes a real difference, enabling people and the environment to prosper, and enriching society. We are the custodians of a wealth of environmental data, collected by UKCEH and its predecessors over the course of more than 60 years.

As a valued member of our team, you’ll get:

- 27 days annual leave, rising to 29 days after five years
- 10% employer pension contribution
- Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
- 24 hour, 365-day access to support with physical, mental, social, health or financial issues
- Flexible working opportunities
- And much more.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Land Surface Science Group (Flux Observations Team) at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) as a Peatland Biometeorologist, contributing to our observational and data science work on land-based solutions to the climate crisis. You will work on a wide range of managed and semi-natural peatland ecosystems, evaluating the impacts of land use change and different land management practices, such as rewetting and restoration.

This role will involve an exciting blend of field-based science, laboratory work and data science and/or modelling, including the analysis and publishing of data from across a diverse range of peatlands in the uplands and lowlands.

Within this role, you will:

- Work on our existing network of over 30 eddy covariance sites and field trials, testing the benefits and trade-offs of different peatland management options
- Collect and synthesise data on greenhouses gas emissions, evapotranspiration, and their environmental drivers, and assess potential trade-offs between carbon-focused peatland management and other ecosystem services
- Engage a wide range of stakeholders to co-design, deliver and evaluate research aimed at delivering the best environmental and societal outcomes for peatland environments
- Have opportunities to publish high-impact scientific articles, and to shape our research through contributions to new funding proposals

In addition, you will gain experience in:

- A range of environmental monitoring approaches, including eddy covariance, chamber-based methods for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions, as well as field and laboratory techniques for characterising soils and vegetation.
- Conducting fieldwork across a wide variety of locations in the UK and potentially overseas.
- Empirical analysis and scientific publishing through collaborations with a range of established scientists based within and external to UKCEH
- Skills and experience working with distributed networks of eddy covariance stations and the greenhouse gas, water and energy flux data produced by these systems, including the near-real time and high-volume data processing systems that underpin a large-scale nationwide monitoring infrastructure
- Project management within the context of large multi-partner research projects

Your main responsibilities will include:

- Plan and conduct flux and ancillary data collection activity across our flux tower network and field experiments in the UK as part of the flux observations team
- Collaborate with researchers and stakeholders in the UK and internationally
- Analyse high volumes of ecosystem flux data collected across the distributed network of UK eddy covariance sites and field experiments
- Synthesise and analyse flux, driving and belowground measurements from across our network of flux sites and field experiments, and publish scientific results and datasets in high impact journals

For the role of Peatland Biometeorologist, we’re looking for somebody who has:

- A PhD in a relevant environmental science discipline, or experience in a research environment
- A 2.1 degree in either a physical or biological science
- Scientific knowledge of peatland ecosystems; some knowledge of land use change specific to peatlands (e.g. paludiculture), field hydrology and peatland ecosystem functioning will be beneficial
- Enthusiasm, drive, and passion for environmental science, with the ability to engage productively partners and stakeholders around the world
- Experience in greenhouse gas flux measurements using either eddy covariance and/or greenhouse gas flux chamber techniques
- Some experience of environmental monitoring using advanced and/or low-cost measurement techniques, including configuration and testing of environmental sensors, dataloggers and/or data telemetry systems
- Some knowledge of land surface processes, their measurement and/or representation in numerical models, and their relevance to environmental policymakers. Knowledge of the land use sector and food system would be a