Research Assistant, Plants Under Pressure (2 positions)
Role description: The Life Sciences department of the Natural History Museum comprises the former departments of Botany, Zoology and Entomology, together with their unparalleled collections, curatorial staff and researchers.
Both these post will be based within the Plants Division, working alongside a dedicated team of botanical researchers, specialist herbarium curators and project staff. The NHM plant collections total almost 6 million specimens, about half of which are seed plants and about half of which are non-seed (cryptogamic) plants, collected from across the world over hundreds of years and forming a unique resource for studying the identity, diversity and distribution of plant species.
The main focus of the post will be to provide on-going support for work of the Plants Under Pressure project. This will involve: carrying out IUCN Red List assessments of the conservation status of numerous plant species based on specimen data from the NHM and elsewhere; reviewing and evaluating current conservation assessments; occasional databasing and geo-referencing activities where necessary; locating relevant material within the NHM collections and helping resolve taxonomic and nomenclatural issues, including from volunteers; preparing teaching materials for capacity-building workshops on conservation assessment techniques; updating project webpages and curating the database files; and liaising with the IUCN Red List office.
An important component will be to conduct ground-truthing studies in Africa for species conservation assessments that underlie the IUCN Sampled Red List Index for Plants, combined with leading capacity-building training exercises and workshops for in-country African partner institutions, all to be run together with other NHM staff. This post offers the opportunity for a keen candidate with a strong botanical taxonomic background, sound knowledge of field botany and plant identification techniques, and experience in undertaking conservation assessments of plant species, to utilise their skills and experience in carrying out some exciting field research in various locations across Africa, working with a small, dedicated team at the NHM and building strong relationships with in-country counterpart institutions in Africa.
Salary: £23,780 per annum plus benefits
Contract: 2 Fixed-Term Appointment (1x 12 month and 1x 2 year)
Closing Date: Midnight on Sunday 30th November
Role competences: BEFORE beginning your application - Please read the section below about the ‘Online Application Process’ carefully.
If you wish to be considered for this role you will need to address each of the following competences in the ‘other information’ section of your online application:
1. Degree in Biological Sciences or equivalent experience
2. Post-graduate qualification in botanical science or closely related discipline (e.g ecology, evolutionary biology) or equivalent experience
3. Experience of planning and undertaking fieldwork overseas, alone or with counterparts
4. Good botanical knowledge and experience of identifying plant species accurately in the field and in the herbarium
5. Knowledge of IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria and experience in undertaking conservation assessments
6. Strong understanding of plant taxonomic practices and procedures and familiarity with botanical literature Strong knowledge of the rules of plant nomenclature and experience in resolving nomenclatural queries
7. Good organisational skills, demonstrating the ability to set and manage conflicting priorities.
8. Flexible and adaptable working methods, including the ability to adopt new skills and processes in a fast-paced production environment
9. Excellent communication skills with demonstrable experience of managing expectations, influencing negotiate at all levels
10. Foreign language skills with the ability to converse in a foreign language spoken in Africa when teaching training workshops or undertaking fieldwork, such as French, Swahili or Portuguese
Online application process: You are required to provide a response to ALL of the role competences listed above within the ‘Other Information’ section of the online application form (up to 140 words per competence). In order to demonstrate how you meet each competence fully, please provide specific examples from your achievements, knowledge, skills and/or experience.
IMPORTANT: The ‘Other Information’ section will ‘timeout’ after 35 minutes and any information not saved during this time will be lost. Please therefore prepare your answers on a separate document before transferring and saving them to your application.
The ‘Additional Questions’ regarding right to work in the UK and age are mandatory questions and any applications received without these answers will not be considered.
Please review your application fully before pressing ‘submit application’ as you will not be able to make any further amends after submitting, and any applications received which have not addressed ALL competences in full and/or the mandatory questions will be rejected.
Please note that CVs will not be accepted outside of the online application process or as a substitute for completion of the competences.
The attached ‘Role Specification’ provides further information on the role and how to apply.
Please also be aware that we are not able to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this role. If you do not have the right to work in the UK without a visa sponsored by NHM, then unfortunately you will not be eligible to apply for this vacancy.