CIG ENVIRONMENTAL OUTREACH SPECIALIST

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The University of Washington Climate Impacts Group (CIG) is hiring a full-time Environmental Outreach Specialist to act as the program manager for the Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative (NCRC), a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Adaptation Partnership (CAP; formerly known as RISA). This is the CIG’s flagship climate justice oriented research program which addresses complex societal and environmental problems in a context where knowledge is co-produced among researchers, decision makers and frontline communities. In addition to program management experience, we are seeking an individual capable of outreach especially to frontline communities and with substantive knowledge and experience in research integration and implementation. This position will need to integrate across diverse perspectives, values, knowledge specializations, and geographies. The purpose of such integration will be to help collaborative teams of researchers, decision makers and frontline communities achieve more than the sum of their individual efforts. Candidates who are passionate about our organizational mission and our co-production model are a must.

Climate Impacts Group
The University of Washington Climate Impacts Group (CIG) supports the development of climate resilience by advancing understanding of climate risks & enabling science-based action to manage those risks. Since 1995, the Climate Impacts Group has linked cutting edge scientific research with innovative approaches to community engagement to produce exceptional research products, develop strong relationships among resource managers, planners, and policy makers in the region and build regional capacity for addressing climatic variability and change. The Climate Impacts Group is a member organization of EarthLab.

EarthLab is a visionary institute that pushes boundaries to address our most pressing environmental challenges, with a focus on climate and its intersection with social justice. EarthLab does this by connecting faculty, students and researchers at the University of Washington to community collaborators in businesses, non-profits, public agencies, Tribal nations and others to co-produce actionable research that generates solutions and strategies for local and global impact. EarthLab’s vision, an equitable, just and sustainable world where people and planet thrive, supports one of the University’s biggest goals. As a Carnegie-classified Community Engagement University, the UW aspires to be the #1 university in the world as measured by impact. EarthLab is inspired by and committed to this challenge.

Diversity Equity and Inclusion:

EarthLab and the Climate Impacts Group acknowledge the systemic racism that exists in the environmental sector and within environmentalism. We believe every member on our team enriches our diversity by bringing a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions. We are seeking candidates who are committed to creating an equitable, diverse and inclusive work environment where all voices are considered and valued.

Position Complexities:

The NCRC is a collaborative effort with a Leadership Team drawn from the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, the CIG, Front and Centered, Portland State University and Washington Sea Grant. This position will act as the primary point of contact at the operational level between the research program’s researchers (based in the CIG, Headwaters Economics, Idaho State University, Portland State University, Washington Sea Grant, and Washington State University), its community-facing partners (including the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, American Farmland Trust, Front and Centered), and potentially frontline communities themselves (including Native American tribes, rural communities and communities of color).

The complexity of this collaboration will present organizational and logistical challenges. While this position is located at the CIG, it will need to synthesize and distill information about project work to the Leadership Team and the Frontline Community Committee in collaboration with the Research Leads of each of the three research portfolios. This position will need to be flexible and responsive to contribute where help is needed most as the research program evolves, possibly contributing to research, monitoring and evaluation, communications or other efforts as needs dictate. This position is also expected to develop positive working relationships with the NCRC’s community-facing partner organizations and other community based organizations and/or frontline communities as needed. This position will also collaborate and coordinate with peer program managers at other CAP/RISA programs throughout the United States and with program staff at NOAA’s Climate Program Office.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Program Management 40%

• Provide strategic insight to development of the NCRC as a long-term, climate-justice research and engagement program;
• Oversee multi-year NCRC budgets (in conjunction with NCRC lead-PI or their designee, co-PIs, and administrative staff) to ensure proper, timely, and strategic expenditures;
• Facilitate drafting and successful completion of project scopes of work and budgets;
• Develop and administer the NCRC small grants program to ensure effective and equitable rollout of grants to frontline communities;
• Lead multi-year grant projects in collaboration with community, academic, and governmental agency partners to advance the mission of the NCRC and CIG;
• Mentor and support staff in aspects of proposal writing, project design, budget preparation, tracking project progress, and relevant projects;
• Work directly with the NCRC lead-PI and/or the Scaling Resilience Portfolio Research Lead to identify and prioritize opportunities for cross-community and cross-portfolio learning;
• Liaise between the Leadership Team and other program components as needed to build understanding of the full range of work being undertaken across the research program;
• Work with federal agency funders on research program reporting requirements;
• Coordinate and leverage the expertise and resources available through CIG program management and integration as appropriate;
• Supervise 1-2 staff who work on project coordination and other relevant areas of work;
• Train and supervise student employees and/or interns.
Research 10%

• Conduct community engagement and interdisciplinary, applied research on matters of relevance to climate resilience and climate justice;
• Develop and conduct outreach, and implementation of research collaborations among an interdisciplinary network of scholars, community organizations, and regional practitioners;
• Participate in the development of grant proposals to secure funding for carrying out related community engagement and applied research and resilience projects, including applying for grant funding to advance climate resilience projects that support the mission of the NCRC and CIG;
• Apply and expand knowledge on equitable co-production and methods and approaches to advancing climate resilience with frontline communities;
• Assist in project-specific research needs, such as literature reviews, contextual analyses, needs assessments, or developing monitoring and evaluation strategies as need or opportunity arises.
Communications and Outreach 50%

• Conduct community engagement and interdisciplinary, applied research on matters of relevance to climate resilience and climate justice;
• Develop and conduct outreach, and implementation of research collaborations among an interdisciplinary network of scholars, community organizations, and regional practitioners;
• Participate in the development of grant proposals to secure funding for carrying out related community engagement and applied research and resilience projects, including applying for grant funding to advance climate resilience projects that support the mission of the NCRC and CIG;
• Work with the Research Leads for the NCRC portfolios to identify, translate and help communities apply interdisciplinary research findings and extension projects, including use and application of best practices and decision support tools;
• Develop and maintain working relationships with relevant national, local, state, county, tribal and federal personnel and non-governmental organizations, including the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, the American Farmland Trust, Front and Centered, and possibly others;
• Develop and conduct outreach to existing and potential NCRC community partners;
• Coordinate communications with the research program Leadership Team and Frontline Community Committee;
• Assist in other CIG research communication coordination needs as appropriate.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• Master’s degree in physical, social science or related field;
• 2 years experience in program management, outreach and engagement with frontline communities and research integration and implementation.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Demonstrated success managing people and budgets;
• Demonstrated cultural competence, leading with curiosity and humility to facilitate relationships across different perspectives, values, knowledge specializations, and geographies;
• Significant experience engaging frontline communities on climate, environmental, health or other issues;
• Broad knowledge of climate science, climate impacts, resilience, and environmental/climate justice;
• Demonstrated success in grant writing to support applied research or stakeholder engagement.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Familiarity with theory/practice of effective methods for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research;
• Experience with facilitating team science or other complex multi-organizational collaborations across diverse participants;
• Experience coordinating communications and research activities among diverse teams of researchers;
• Demonstrated experience co-creating knowledge, co-defining research problems, successfully linking science and and policy.

Application Process: The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you log into your “My Jobs” page. If you choose to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.