Social Scientist in Sustainable Farming Systems

The work undertaken by The James Hutton Group is at the top of the global agenda tackling problems such as the impact of climate change and threats to food, biodiversity, soils, and water security.

The Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences (SEGS) department includes over fifty researchers using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method techniques and often taking interdisciplinary and/or participatory perspectives. We address major contemporary research challenges, including investigation of sustainable behaviours, place-based policy, natural resource governance, ecosystem services valuation, community vibrancy, and wellbeing and socioeconomic transitions.

Main Purpose of Job     

National policy requirements for achieving net zero by 2050 necessitate land use strategies that account for multiple objectives, such as food security and biodiversity restoration, that are implemented across multiple spatial and socio-political scales, and can only succeed if they are considered just. The newly funded, three-year JUSTLANZ project contributes to this goal by developing pathways for a just transition to net zero for the UK farming-food sector, adopting participatory, transdisciplinary research approaches. JUSTLANZ works with farmers, their communities, sector and policy experts in a pastoral landscape in each of the four UK nations, to develop aspirational scenarios and define how to achieve them. 

We are looking for an enthusiastic social scientist to support this work, conceptually and empirically. The postholder will lead analysis on the adaptive capacity of farmers and the food-farming system to net zero at local, regional, and national level through the collection of primary data and their integration with existing secondary information (e.g., structural and economic data on food and agriculture). They will co-lead integration of this knowledge with elements from other parts of the project to identify trade-offs between different objectives, and support the development of aspirational scenarios. Additionally, they will be responsible for implementing this and the rest of JUSTLANZ’s research in the Lough Erne (Northern Ireland) case study area, in collaboration with local project partners. In this endeavour, they will collaborate with three post-doctoral researchers in the other UK case study areas.

This is a three-year position that entails developing and nurturing relationships of trust with the farming community and sector representatives, and therefore requires substantial time spent on-site, for which a working space will be provided. The post could be based in Aberdeen (Scotland) or in Lough Erne (Northern Ireland). In either case, reasonable travel costs to project meetings and/or the case study area will be covered. Flexible working arrangements can also be considered.

The work will be developed in close collaboration with researchers across the natural and social sciences. Besides The James Hutton Institute, project partners include RSPB (project lead), Leeds University, Cranfield University, University of Cambridge, Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group SW (FWAG SW), the Living Levels Partnership, Nature Friendly Farming Network, and SAC Consulting, which offer excellent opportunities for networking and developing a profile in research related to net zero and land management. The postholder will be supported in their career and professional development through training, line management and mentorship opportunities at The James Hutton Institute.

Main duties of postholder

• Lead research on the adaptive capacity of farmers and the food-farming system to net zero, merging qualitative and quantitative data, as appropriate.
• Co-lead the identification and systematisation of secondary data on UK farming-food systems at local, regional, and national level which could inform scenarios.
• Work with the project’s farming community and sector representative, to lead implementation of the above research in the Lough Erne case study, while coordinating to ensure consistency and quality across all four case studies.
• Co-lead on incorporating the above theoretical, empirical, and policy knowledge into “aspirational scenarios,” and on identifying trade-offs and synergies with “plausible scenarios.”
• Support a review and synthesis of the academic and grey literature on current and potential policy and land management measures that are relevant to a net zero transition by livestock farming.
• Collaborate in the design of research for eliciting values and attitudes of the farming community, using a variety of social sciences methods (interviews, focus groups).
• Prepare papers for publication in leading international journals and disseminate research results through outputs accessible to non-academic audiences.
• Contribute to generating and pursuing original research ideas in the above subject areas.

Education/Experience/Skills

Essential

• A completed PhD (the initial thesis must be submitted before application) in a social sciences discipline (such as Economics, Ecological Economics, Social Anthropology, Political Ecology, Sociology, Human Geography, etc.) with an environmental or agricultural focus.

• Experience of designing and implementing primary data collection using qualitative social science methods (e.g., via interviews or focus groups), or willingness to learn and apply the resulting skills.
• Experience of analysing and summarising quantitative data (e.g., household surveys, agricultural census, etc.) using appropriate software tools (e.g., R, Stata, SPSS).
• Experience in engaging with non-academic stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including with non-academic audiences.
• Ability to produce manuscripts for peer-reviewed academic publication.
• Good time management and planning skills, with the ability to meet tight deadlines, and proactively manage competing demands.
• A proven ability to work well both individually and in a team.
• Ability to occasionally travel for fieldwork, project meetings, conferences.

Desirable

• A record of peer-reviewed publications in high quality academic journals.
• Experience of participating in interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research projects.
• Experience of engaging with farmers, rural communities, and/or land managers.
• Experience of developing and administering questionnaire surveys.
• Experience in integrating quantitative and qualitative data, including through semi-quantitative approaches (such as scenario planning using the morphological matrix or Bayesian Networks).
• Familiarity with the UK and/or Northern Irish land management and farming contexts.
• Familiarity with the UK net zero, justice, food security, and biodiversity policies.
• Familiarity with research and data management in accordance with Open Science and ethical standards.
• Experience of pursuing external funding to support research.
• Driving license valid in the UK.

Additional information

If you are not a British or Irish citizen, from 1 January 2021 you will require permission to work in the UK. This will normally be in the form of a visa but, if you are an EEA/Swiss citizen and resident in the UK before 31 December 2020, this may be your passport or status under the EU Settlement Scheme.