Research, Management and Communication assistant position under the ERC funded project IMAGINE Adaptation


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The Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) offers a full-time Research, Management and Communication assistant position to support the development of the European Research Council (ERC) project IMAGINE Adaptation (ID: 101039429), led by Dr. Marta Olazabal. This is a 5-year research project funded by the ERC that will be developed in the framework of the Adaptation Lab (Research Line 4) and the cross-cutting Urban Theme at BC3.

The project ‘IMAGINE adaptation’ addresses the imperative of how to evaluate adaptation in urban areas as a contemporary complex phenomenon with implications across governance scales. It argues that the current focus on policy progress can be useful as a first step, but it is not indicative of effective adaptation.

In this project, we aim to explore broader understandings of success in adaptation that transcend technocratic approaches and consider equity, justice and maladaptive issues. In order to enable evaluation and learning from these diverse understandings of adaptation, ‘IMAGINE adaptation’ has four timely and ambitious objectives: first, the reformulation of the concept of successful adaptation using expert and local views. Second, the exploration of trends and needs regarding monitoring and evaluation and how these may enable or hinder adaptation. Third, the development of a comparative case study research across 12 urban areas worldwide. Finally, the analysis of how evaluations of local progress can inform global goals. The outputs of this project aim to be a reference for future adaptation assessment studies and to pioneer the understanding of the ways to enable far-reaching transformative urban adaptation through processes of evaluation and learning.

We are looking for an individual who can support the Principal Investigator (PI) in the project’s management and communication activities, as well as assisting the team in its research work along the 5 years of the project life.

Job description: The applicant will be participating in various activities in the project related to management and science communication (50% of the time) and research (50% of the time). The dedication to each of these activities may vary depending on the specific needs of the project at each stage. For example, more time will be required for management and science outreach activities during the first months of the project. Project management activities include for example, support for the development of reports to be submitted to the ERC, data and team management, including ethics management and organisation of project meetings. Science communication and outreach activities include development of website and social media contents, mailing, preparation of project dissemination materials, communication with stakeholders, experts and local actors participating across research activities in the project and assistantship for conference organisation. In addition, the applicant will support the PI and the rest of the team to achieve the scientific objectives of the project, to develop an effective task management and to collaboratively work, publish and disseminate project findings in the field of urban climate governance. International travel might be required to support field work activities.

The applicant will be highly motivated to work in an international ground-breaking project, will have a high interest in science communication and effective project management and will have creativity and initiative to disseminate project findings in ways that can deliver a real change. In addition, the applicant will be highly interested in transdisciplinary research work in the field of urban climate governance and in supporting the PI and the project team to successfully achieve project objectives.

Key responsibilities:

  1. Project management including reporting, data and ethics management, travel and financial management.
  2. Developing contents for website and social media, including summaries of project findings, short videos or other more creative dissemination materials.
  3. Organising and leading the 12-cities engagement campaign in Year 2, where local actors will be contacted, memorandums of understanding will be signed and research plans will be co-created with local participants across selected cities.
  4. Preparation of dissemination materials addressed to different stakeholders’ groups and local actors across case studies.
  5. Support the preparation of 12 city case studies video documentaries and other dissemination materials.
  6. Collaborate in building communities of practice for the evaluation of adaptation across the 12 city case studies.
  7. Organisation of project meetings, workshops and conferences across the project.
  8. Assisting the PI and other team members for the development of research activities such as literature reviews, experiment designs, survey designs and field work in case studies.
  9. Support the editorial work derived from the outputs of the project.

Main requirements:

  1. A master’s degree or specialised training in any fields of relevance to (urban) climate governance and/or science communication.
  2. Research experience in urban climate governance research evidenced by previous works (e.g. Master’s thesis, published scientific or policy articles) is required.
  3. Abilities and interest in outreach, communication and project management. Experience in these areas is highly desirable.
  4. The applicant must have excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Excellent written and oral command of English is required as well as, at least, a good command of other language(s) (including, e.g., Spanish and French) as it will be key to support the stakeholders’ communication activities across city case studies.

IMPORTANT: Applications including links to previous works/project/initiatives that show how the applicant meets these requirements will be given priority. See “Application procedure”.

Benefits and work environment

  • Interdisciplinary and inspiring work environment
  • Quiet and spacious work spaces
  • Possibility of participating in internal training, learning or corporate social responsibility activities of the center
  • 35-hour week work calendar
  • 30 days of vacation per year

Term of contract

Starting 1st of November 2022, the position will be initially for a period of 3 years, with a 3-months probation period based on the performance of the work. Guaranteed opportunities for longer term employment upon successful performance after the 3 years will be offered, including a salary review.

Salary

The position will carry a salary matching the academic and professional profile of the applicant (in the range of 24,000 to 30,000 euros/year gross), and excellent work conditions.

Location

Basque Centre for Climate Change, Leioa, Spain.

 

As a HR Excellence awarded institution, BC3 is committed to conciliate research-academic requirements and family duties. BC3 is particularly concerned with creating equality opportunities for people. Women with relevant qualifications are therefore strongly encouraged to apply for the position.

Application procedure:

Please, fill in the form included at the bottom of this page.

Those interested should include in their request:

    1. ONE PDF document with
      • 4-pages CV including contacts of two referees.
      • One-page MOTIVATION LETTER.
      • Half-page bulleted list explaining how you meet the 4 requirements of this job offer. You may include links to (the most relevant) previous work/project/initiative.

Deadline

26th June 2022 (CET 17:00).

Informal enquiries can be made to Marta Olazabal (marta.olazabal@bc3research.org) noting in the subject of the message “IMAGINE Adaptation recruitment process – RMC”

Project 101039429 — IMAGINE adaptation

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María de Maeztu Excellence Unit 2023-2027 Ref. CEX2021-001201-M, funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033

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