Senior Conservation Scientist - Ecological Analyst

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Senior Conservation Scientist - Ecological Analyst

Reference: AUG

Location: Flexible in UK (Occasional Beds/Cambs travel)

Contract: 24 months Fixed Term

Hours: Full-Time, 37.5 hours per week

Benefits: Pension scheme (7%), Life Assurance scheme, 26 days' annual leave (plus bank holidays)

We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and skilled team-member to join the Monitoring Science team at the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science. We are seeking an experienced data scientist with a strong analytical, coding and data visualisation skills, to coordinate the development of Big Garden Birdwatch science for the next two years.

In addition, the postholder will contribute to the Centre’s overall role in establishing the scientific basis of RSPB policy and practice in nature conservation.

What's the role about?

The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch (BGBW) is a large-scale citizen science survey, with fixed protocols, which provides a snapshot of garden bird populations in winter. Originally launched as an annual activity for RSPB youth members in 1979, BGBW was opened to the wider public in 2001. Over a long weekend every January, participants survey their gardens for birds following a structured 1-hour count.

With over 300,000 surveys now submitted annually, BGBW is the world’s largest garden wildlife survey.

The BGBW dataset now holds over seven million surveys, representing more than 300 million species counts and we are looking for a Senior Conservation Scientist to coordinate the design, development and publication of BGBW science. This unique new role will:

• build on the existing findings by the development of summary statistics and through spatiotemporal analysis of species counts and trends,
• unlock the power of this huge dataset to investigate ecological and environmental drivers of species trends and apply this knowledge to guide conservation action,
• publish findings in peer-reviewed journals,
• enhance participant engagement by investigating and implementing innovative data summary and visualisation tools and accessible and attractive scientific outputs,
• develop and implement an analytical pipeline to generate annual results and associated outputs,
• develop recommendations to inform and enhance the survey design and experience,
• collaborate closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure integration and impact.

Essential skills, knowledge and experience:

• You will have a PhD in a relevant subject (e.g. ecology, biology, geography, applied statistics) with a strong analytical focus, or equivalent experience, and substantial additional experience doing relevant research.
• You will have specialist and up-to-date knowledge of how to use and apply ecological models, such as time-series or spatiotemporal analysis, including complex analytical procedures, to enable innovative, robust analysis and interpretation to data.
• You will have strong coding skills, including fluency in R, high standards of reproducible research, experience producing analytical pipelines and ability to learn new approaches or languages.
• Knowledge of how to provide practical and scientific leadership and guidance in a particular scientific area.
• You will be self-motivated and able to work efficiently under pressure to meet deadlines, and prioritise your own working schedule. This necessitates the ability to plan and organise your own work.
• You will have a methodical and rigorous approach to experimental design, data collection, data management and analysis, ensuring data and results pass peer-reviewed standards of scrutiny and audit.
• You will be a skilled collaborative, adaptable worker and communicator, with experience working…