Senior Scientific Officer

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 299844**Salary**:

- £37,295 - £44,724- National: £37,295 - £41,425, London: £40,262 - £44,724. For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading ‘Salary’.- A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%**Job grade**:

- Senior Executive Officer- This is a Senior Scientific Officer (equivalent to Senior Executive Officer)**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- DEFRA - FBT - Animal & Plant Health - Animal and Plant Health and Welfare Directorate**Type of role**:

- Science**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time, Compressed Hours**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Bristol, London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, YorkAbout the job

**Job summary**:
**In the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) group our vision is**:
‘We are here to make our air purer, our water cleaner, our land greener and our food more sustainable

Our mission is to restore and enhance the environment for the next generation, leaving it in a better state than we found it.’

We work to safeguard our natural environment, support our world-leading food and farming industry, sustain a thriving rural economy, and support international nature, climate and biodiversity agendas.

Your work will help shape and deliver the Defra group’s priorities, working creatively and collaboratively with others to deliver excellent outcomes. Defra’s profile has never been higher; our remit provides the opportunity for real influence.

In Animal and Plant Health & Welfare Directorate’s (APHW) we support sustainable food and farming by ensuring our animals and plants are always healthy, that we have the best animal welfare in the world and that our trade flourishes - for the benefit of all.

A specialist scientific role is available in APHW where the Research and Development programme is part of our support services for the policy teams to ensure the policies we develop are evidence-based.

In particular, the Animal and Plant Health directorate covers the following main areas of work:

- Developing and establishing high standards of animal welfare, in relation to farm animals, companion animals, welfare in transport and welfare at slaughter.
- Keeping the worst pests and animal diseases out of the UK, including with effective biosecurity, preparing for their possible arrival and dealing with them effectively when they appear. Examples include the Asian hornet invasion, ash dieback, processionary oak moth, avian influenza, blue tongue virus, foot and mouth disease and others.
- Delivering other animal health priorities including relating to anti-microbial resistance, animal disease which can also affect human health, and priorities relating to animal movements and to aquatic animal health.
- Dealing effectively with the elimination of bovine TB as part of a comprehensive longer-term strategy. This includes the ongoing development, analysis and implementation of the policy and strategy.

**Job description**:
As a Senior Scientific Officer, you will use your technical expertise and knowledge to support the delivery of the R&D programme. You will manage a portfolio of individual research contracts, build relationships with expert contractors, monitor progress, feeding back on emerging findings and project risks. You will review project deliverables and communicate findings within Defra with impact and clarity. You will also help define new R&D proposals to address evidence gaps, and engage with external research partnerships, representing Defra’s interests. Your work will support cross-cutting and high-profile Defra policy issues. You will likely be required to provide written briefing to senior officials and/or ministers.

**Some of the areas we are interested in include**:

- Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies;
- Endemic Zoonoses; and
- Aquatic Animal Health

**Person specification**:
**We are looking for people who**:

- Work closely with policy teams to understand and explain how R&D can support their policy-making and their priority issues;
- Manage research project procurement and quality assurance of commissioned projects and managing the programme budget;
- Work alongside other internal providers of evidence (economists, veterinary advisors, social scientists etc.), to provide clear and timely evidence-based advice to the relevant policy teams and ensuring that evidence and research feed into policy decisions;
- Build relationships and links with key stakeholders and academic institutions;
- Maintain an up-to-date understanding of the relevant evidence base and any emerging issues;
- Represent the department at external meetings and engage with international science networks;
- Engage with Devolved Administrations and other government departments to identify science priorities and requirements for the rele