RSPB – Senior Conservation Scientist

Overview

• Reference: JUL
• Expiry date: 23:59, Sun, 9th Aug 2026
• Location: Flexible in Northern Ireland
• Salary: £45,644.00 – £48,732.00 Pro Rata
• Benefits: Pension Scheme, Life Assurance Scheme, 26 days’ Annual Leave (Pro-Rata)
• Duration: Until 31st July 2029

We have an exciting opportunity for a social scientist to join RSPB Northern Ireland and the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science as a Senior Conservation Scientist to deliver a specific project and provide strategic social science leadership across the Peace Plus Nature programme.

The successful candidate will help deliver research that informs peatland restoration and species recovery, while exploring issues such as environmental justice, community perspectives and just transition approaches to conservation.

Peace Plus Nature is an ambitious €20.8 million programme that brings together nine partners to tackle the decline in priority species and habitats in Northern Ireland, and the border counties of Ireland. The project is supported by PEACEPLUS, which is a cross-border funding Programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) and supported by the European Union, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of Ireland, and the Northern Ireland administration.

Peace Plus Nature will work to restore blanket bog, lowland wet grassland and limestone grassland and priority species from breeding waders to Marsh Fritillary Butterfly.

• Lead and deliver the social science components of the Peace Plus Nature programme, ensuring robust social research informs peatland restoration and species recovery work.
• Conduct research to understand the social, cultural and economic dimensions of turbary rights, including the lived experiences, values and perspectives of rights holders and local communities.
• Engage sensitively and constructively with stakeholders, including landowners, turbary rights holders, community groups and statutory agencies, to provide evidence for balanced, just and inclusive approaches to peatland conservation.
• Collaborate with ecologists, project managers, community engagement officers and partner organisations to integrate social evidence and contribute to reporting, learning and knowledge exchange across the Peace Plus Nature partnership.
• Be embedded within the RSPB Northern Ireland team, managed by RSPB’s Principal Scientist, and participate in wider RSPB science events where appropriate.