Research Associate

Department

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is an international research organisation conducting policy-relevant environmental and sustainable development research around the World. SEI’s York Centre is situated at the world-leading University of York and has a team of 55 staff and 16 PhD students.  SEI York has a broad research profile covering five main research areas: air quality and climate change; nature-society relations; sustainable consumption and production; managing natural resources, and urban environments and human health. We have a strong academic track record as well as an international reputation of producing highly credible evidence-based science-to-policy research, engaging with and supporting decision makers at different scales in different parts of the World.

We are seeking to employ a research associate to work on two projects: ROSSY – the Retrofit One-Stop Shop for York and Y-PIP – the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership. 

Role Description

The successful candidate will primarily focus on activities related to stakeholder engagement around the different business models for one-stop shops in the ROSSY project. You will also focus on stakeholder consultation with historic building owners, planning authorities and national bodies with a responsibility of historic buildings such as Historic England, Civic Trusts, and relevant societies, as well as project partners, to establish how key barriers to the implementation of Net Zero measures in these historic parts of York and other cities / rural areas can proceed successfully. You will support the M&E process for the project and assist, if required, in the development and presentation of the LEAP tool being used to help climate strategy development and tracking progress in implementation.

You will be working as part of a team who are  currently involved with different projects covering climate and air quality strategy support using the LEAP tool, use of Geographic Information Systems as part of spatial planning, stakeholder engagement and policy support, and who are working closely with City of York Council, York Civic Trust and other relevant stakeholders. In this project the team will also work closely with Leeds Beckett University and the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission.

This role is available on a fixed term basis for up to 15 months.

Skills, Experience & Qualification needed:

• First degree and PhD (or equivalent experience) in environmental science or another relevant subject (which may include aspects of environmental management, human or physical geography)
• An interest in built environments and solutions promoting Net Zero transitions in UK cities, including retrofit solutions in historic buildings, and business models to promote levels of retrofit that can achieve Net Zero goals in UK cities;
• An interest in the interplay between science, socio-economic impacts and development using a systems-based approach;
• An interest in supporting different local authority partners to develop emission scenarios and analyse mitigation strategies for air pollution and climate change;
• Numerate and confident in manipulating large spreadsheet databases;
• A team player, independently motivated and have excellent interpersonal and communication skills to effectively engage with the different stakeholders involved in the work.

Interview date: To be confirmed 

For informal enquiries: Please contact Prof. Steve Cinderby at steve.cinderby@york.ac.uk or Prof. Johan Kuylenstierna at johan.kuylenstierna@york.ac.uk 

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