Senior Adviser – Scenario Modelling and Spatial Analysis

Short info about job

Detail information about job Senior Adviser – Scenario Modelling and Spatial Analysis. Terms and conditions vacancy

Location: Flexible

Contract: Fixed Term Appointment until 31st March 2019

Purpose

The objective for Natural England’s EU Exit work is to ensure the implications of EU exit for Natural England’s outcomes and responsibilities are fully understood and the risks and opportunities evaluated, so we get the best outcome for our marine and terrestrial wildlife and landscapes, and for the people who benefit from them. We have a small EU Transition team, which coordinates the provision of advice and evidence by operational and subject matter experts spread across our organisation into priority Defra programmes. This role, based in the Evidence Services Team will be contributing to:

• Sharing our evidence about effective agricultural and environmental policy in order to help with the design of future arrangements for the support of farmers and other land managers in the delivery of environmental outcomes in the farmed landscape.
• Provision of analysis (spatial, data, technical and delivery-focused) and synthesis of critical evidence to inform Defra’s policy choices, and advice on operational and delivery implications. This could include further evidence gathering to support Defra’s work on preparing to exit the EU.

The senior adviser role will lead on the spatial analysis and scenarios modelling to help inform Defra policy decisions relating to marine and terrestrial ecosystems. This will include assessing the impact of different approaches on particular species and habitats and on the wider landscape as well as understanding the related costs, socio-economic impacts etc.

For example:

• Spatial analysis/modelling of the physical and financial scale of environmental need required to deliver given policy objectives (affecting terrestrial and marine environment, agriculture and fisheries);
• Environmental benefits of different financial/delivery model scenarios;
• Potential synergies/trade-offs between environmental objectives and between environmental and other objectives (e.g. food production);
• Cost-benefit modelling (economic evaluation) to support Treasury business case/impact assessments related to consultations and socio-economic analyses.

The successful applicant will lead this exciting work area and will:

• Engage with Defra policy leads, the Environment Analysis Unit and Natural England EU Exit leads to understand their evidence requirements and where these may be supported by spatial analysis and scenario modelling.
• Lead on spatial modelling and analysis related to EU Exit to inform Defra policy decisions related to marine and terrestrial ecosystems, including coordinating input from advisers within Evidence Services as well as providing functional leadership and coaching where appropriate.
• Liaise with data leads within Natural England and the wider Defra group, but also external organisations, to identify and secure access to datasets appropriate to supporting particular analyses.
• Identify best practice in terms of scenario modelling and analysis across government and academia and how such approaches may be efficiently be implemented using the IT resources available to Natural England (for example making use of open source spatial databases and statistical software).

Further information

To apply for the role or for further information, please visit the Civil Services Jobs website: https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1549147%20