Postdoctoral Research Associate

Updated: 25 days ago
Location: Exeter, ENGLAND
Deadline: 18 Apr 2024

Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy

This full-time post is available immediately on a fixed term basis until September 2025. The role offers the opportunity for hybrid working – some time on campus and some from home.

Summary of the role

The Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW) and the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP) wish to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Environmental Economics with a strong and proven transdisciplinary focus, experience with economic and natural capital accounting methods/tools and familiarity with spatial economic modelling and GIS.

The successful candidate will provide expertise in Environmental Economics and Natural Capital accounting and valuation to support the work of Prof Richard Brazier on Upstream Thinking to guide catchment management with the goals of improving raw water quality and delivering ecosystem services and will be involved in the following projects:

  • UST3: Quantifying cost-effective water quality improvements via ‘Upstream Thinking’ interventions (funded by Sout-West Water)
  • Catchment Systems Thinking Co-operative – CaSTCo (funded by South-West Water and OfWat

The work will be co-supervised by Dr Mattia Mancini, Prof Brett Day and Dr Amy Binner from the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy institute (LEEP) and by Dr Peter Melville-Shreeve, who leads the Stormwater Intelligence Group within the Centre for Water Systems.

This role will be a fantastic opportunity for an early career environmental economist interested in transdisciplinary work to be involved in the development of key systemic innovations for the UK's Water Sector actively engaging with stakeholders. The successful applicant will bring experience and knowledge of the range of approaches that can be used to understand the costs and benefits of operating water industry assets, for example, water and wastewater treatment plants, drinking water reservoirs or combined sewer overspills. They will also understand the ways in which natural capital approaches can be used to value change in the way that such assets might be operated, protected or made more resilient.  The work will focus initially upon the South-West of England, to draw together understanding of the assets that SWW manage. In this context the candidate must liaise with SWW colleagues to extract data related to asset performance that can then be shared with other colleagues in the team.

The candidate must be capable of: 1) drawing data together for specific assets and working with colleagues to build GIS layers which map on to all water company assets in the region; 2) drawing data together to understand current water treatment works and build abatement cost curves for a variety of pollutants; 3) characterising the potential for assets to be managed using ‘upstream thinking’ interventions and the evaluating the cost-effectiveness and of such interventions, the potential for avoidance of traditional treatment, and the wider natural capital changes that might accrue due to these changes (for example: tree planting and its wider environmental/biodiversity costs vs benefits).

About you

Applicants will possess a relevant PhD (or be nearing completion) in Environmental Economics or possess an equivalent qualification/experience in a related field of study/place of work (for e.g. a water company) and be able to demonstrate sufficient knowledge in the discipline and of research methods and techniques to work within established research programmes. Applicants will be able to: use and develop appropriate economic and natural capital accounting methods and tools; interrogate and understand water company asset data; work closely with both academics and water company specialists to integrate their findings with multiple strands of research; understand the basics of upstream thinking approaches, especially of relevance to the water industry; understand and apply spatial data analysis and visualisation techniques. The applicant must also be able to work with business-sensitive data, within a partnership between the UoE and SWW and must have a demonstrable track-record of meeting deadlines and working within tight timeframes to deliver high-quality work.

Please ensure you read the Job Description for full details of this role.

The University of Exeter

We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 150 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022 and QS World University Ranking 2022).  

Our research income in recent years means we’re the fastest growing UK Research University with some of the world’s most influential scientists, and we seek to answer some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today through this. More than 99 percent of our research is of international quality and our world-leading research impact is growing faster than any other Russell Group university (2021 Research Excellence Framework). We encourage proactive engagement with industry, business and community partners to enhance the impact of research and education and improve the employability of our students. Read about our world leading research – Green Futures and how we are transforming education for a changing world. We are located in a beautiful part of the country and Exeter (a fast growing tech hub) is one of only a few UK cities to have been designated as a UNESCO Creative City .

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

With over 27,000 students and 6,400 staff from 180 different countries we offer a diverse and engaging environment where our diversity is celebrated and valued as a major strength. We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where all members of our community are supported to thrive; where diverse voices are heard through our engagement with evidence-based charter frameworks for gender (Athena SWAN), race equality (Race Equality Charter Mark), LGBTQ+ inclusion (Stonewall Diversity Champion) and as a Disability Confident employer. Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented within our working community. Reasonable adjustments are available for interviews and workplaces.

Benefits

We offer some fantastic benefits including:

  • 41 days leave per year
  • options for flexible working
  • numerous discounts at leading retailers
  • onsite gyms on all of our campus’ and a cycle to work scheme
  • sector leading policies around maternity, adoption and shared parental leave (up to 26 weeks full pay), paternity leave (up to six weeks full pay) and a new Fertility Treatment Policy
  • stunning campus environments in Exeter and Cornwall, in the beautiful South West of England

Further information

Please contact Dr. Mattia Mancini, e-mail [email protected] or Prof Richard Brazier, Director of CREWW, e-mail [email protected]



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