Jobs of CCAFS Scenarios Officer School of Geography and the Environment, Environmental Change Institute University of Oxford

University of Oxford

Grade 7: Salary £29,099 - £35,788 p.a.
Applications are invited for a Scenarios Officer position to work on developing scenarios for agriculture and food security for the CGIAR research programme, “Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security” (http://www.ccafs.cgiar.org/).
CCAFS is a major collaborative endeavour between the international agricultural (http://www.cgiar.org/) and global environmental change (http://www.essp.org/) research communities, and their respective partners. Research will be aimed at overcoming the additional threats posed by a changing climate to achieving food security, enhancing livelihoods and improving environmental management in the developing world. For further details of the programme please consult the website at http://www.ccafs.cgiar.org/.
The scenarios project of CCAFS will be coordinated by a Scenarios Officer based in the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford. Working under the oversight of a Scenarios Advisory Group and working with and reporting to the ECI-based CCAFS Scenarios Leader, the CCAFS Scenarios Officer will coordinate and promote scenario development for each of the three initial CCAFS regions. This will include:

• Liaising closely with the CCAFS Regional Facilitators to identify and involve appropriate stakeholders in the scenario exercises.
• Identifying potential partners for building and sustaining regional scenarios networks.
• Liaising with a wide range of stakeholders from the research, business and donor communities, regional organisations, NGOs, civil society and the media.
• Developing methods and approaches for linking regional scenarios to global and local levels.
• Collaborating with the quantitative and qualitative modelling communities.
• Assisting in financial planning for scenarios activities and helping to monitor project expenditure and sub-contracts.
• Reporting regularly to and acting as Secretary for the Scenarios Advisory Group.

You will have a PhD or equivalent academic qualifications in agricultural and/or environmental and/or social sciences; you must have relevant experience in scenario development related to climate change, agriculture and food security; and demonstrated competency in communication and interpersonal skills, both written and verbal, including extensive ability to motivate, inspire and promote teamwork through negotiation and consensus-building. A good working knowledge of French would be a major advantage. The post will require frequent and extensive international travel.
It is hoped that the successful applicant will start by 1 April 2011. Overall the project is envisaged as three years. While current funding allows the post to be offered initially for a 12 month period, there is a very strong likelihood of continued funding for years 2 and 3 of the project. A secondment would also be welcomed.
For further information please see our website at http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/news/jobs/ or contact the HR Office (tel: 01865 285082). Informal enquiries should be made to John Ingram (email: john.ingram@eci.ox.ac.uk). The closing date for applications is noon on 7 March 2011, with the aim of interviews being held on Monday 21 March 2011.