Research Assistant (African TIPAs and Bioresources)

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The ideal candidate will enjoy synthesising multiple data sources and working across multiple fields. They will be excited at the prospect of exploring interactions between people, agriculture and protected areas, and engage with important concepts like OECMs and land sparing/sharing.

The role holder will form part of a vibrant and interdisciplinary research environment, collaborating with a range of related projects in Ethiopia and Guinea, with the opportunity to develop their project coordination and research skills for the next stage in their career. This role may involve periods of fieldwork in Ethiopia and/or Guinea, with support of the research leader.

This role is based at Kew with the option of regular home working, subject to operational requirements. There is the potential for this role to be offered as a job share.

Context of role and project:

We are facing a twin biodiversity crisis. Losing both wild biodiversity and agrobiodiversity – the diversity of the crops we eat and use. These are interdependent, and the conservation of both is essential to sustainable development, poverty alleviation and tackling climate change. As part of a major new investment by the Global Center on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC), we are accelerating our work to identify wild and agrobiodiversity hotspots in Ethiopia and Guinea – two countries in which Kew has a multi-decadal history of collaboration, partnerships and impact.

To date in Guinea we have mapped 22 high priority sites for wild plant conservation, in collaboration with the Guinean Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, (see https://tipas.kew.org/) which have been integrated into the national conservation strategy. Meanwhile in Ethiopia, eight sites have so far been documented including globally unique sites such as Asosa. This role will help expand this programme, integrating significant new data and working closely with a wide range of stakeholders to urgently map hotspots of plant biodiversity.

Concurrently, the Global Hunger Index 2022 highlights Guinea as one of 15 countries for which insufficient data is available to assess food security. Ethiopia is the world’s largest historic recipient of targeted food aid, with annual costs of malnutrition estimated at 16.5% of GDP. Thus agriculture is a major policy priority, and must be delivered in unison with conservation. Indeed these countries harbour globally important agrobiodiversity and bioresources with potential to generate sustainable solutions to development challenges, improve livelihoods and tackle food insecurity. This role will support efforts to identify agrobiodiversity hotspots, and novel conservation frameworks to protect this biodiversity and the knowledge of the farmers who maintain it.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) is a leading plant science institute, UNESCO World Heritage Site, and major visitor attraction. Our mission is to understand and protect plants and fungi for the well-being of people and the future of all life on Earth.

We are working to end the unprecedented extinction crisis and to help create a world where nature is protected, valued by all and managed sustainably. We will achieve these goals by drawing on our leading scientific research, unrivalled collections of plants and fungi, global network of partners, inspirational gardens at Kew and Wakehurst, and our 260 years of history.

Join us on our journey as protectors of the world’s plants and fungi.

The salary will be: £28,249 - £30,570 per annum pro-rata, depending on skills and experience.

Our fantastic benefits package includes opportunities for continuous learning, a generous annual leave entitlement, flexible working to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, an Employee Assistance Programme and other wellbeing support such as cycle to work scheme and discounted gym membership. We also offer a competitive pension, an employee discount scheme and free entry into a wide range of national museums and galleries, as well access to our own beautiful gardens at Kew and Wakehurst.

If you are interested in this position, please submit your application through the online portal, by clicking “Apply for this job”.

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from all sections of the community. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the post.

No agencies please.