Research Assistant – BlueMissionAA

Applications are invited for a Research Assistant position in the MaREI Centre in University College Cork (UCC), based at Environmental Research Institute’s (ERI) Beaufort Building in Ringaskiddy. MaREI is the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, coordinated by UCC’s ERI, which is an internationally recognised Institute for environmental research dedicated to the understanding and protection of our natural environment and to developing innovative technologies, tools and services to facilitate a transformation to a zero carbon and resource efficient society. The MaREI Centre is an SFI funded research centre headquartered in the ERI and includes 13 other Universities and Third Level Institutes across Ireland, as well as industrial partners, and has accumulated research funding of approximately €60m. It combines the expertise of a wide range of research groups and industry partners, with the shared mission of solving the main scientific, technical and socio-economic challenges across the climate, energy and marine spaces. MaREI is also funded by national agencies, as well as through contributions with our industry partners. Researchers in the MaREI Centre have over 30 years of experience in conducting fundamental and applied research supported by competitively won national and international funding, and commercial contracts with government agencies and industry. MaREI’s strengths lie in the multi-disciplinary nature of its research teams, allowing it to combine insights across a number of thematic areas including Coastal and Marine Systems (see www.marei.ie for more information) 

 

We are seeking a research assistant with knowledge of sustainability and marine sciences in relation to governance and engaged research, particularly in relation to citizens and public bodies. The role will include: collaborating with MaREI’s external partners to advance research agendas; engaging different groups of stakeholders particularly in relation to climate change and ocean restoration challenges; capturing and communicating best practices from research initiatives focused on stakeholder engagement and habitat restoration; developing evaluation frameworks to assess good practices in aforementioned topics; and, communicating key messages and outputs as a means of building a body of information accessible to citizens, scientists, practitioners and policy-makers. The position will involve working with existing networks, collaborative and participatory mechanisms, while also building direct working relationships with multiple stakeholders including scientific expert panels. There will also be an emphasis on identifying transferable and scalable good practices that will be communicated in the form of in-depth case studies, leading to the production of guidelines and recommendations that will assist in steering the implementation of EU and national policy. 

 

The successful candidate will be part of a research team working initially on the BlueMissionAA project, an initiative funded under Horizon Europe Mission Ocean, Seas & Waters. The BlueMissionAA project aims to provide coordination and support for the implementation of the Mission – particularly in relation to the restoration and governance aspects.  Specifically, BlueMissionAA will mobilise networks (disciplines and sectors) needed to deliver the Mission targets in the Atlantic and Arctic Sea basins and inland water systems. BlueMissionAA will also engage and empower citizens to contribute to the Mission and boost society uptake of new solutions. The UCC research team will lead tasks on mobilising stakeholders, identifying good practices, developing evaluation frameworks and the communication and dissemination of key project outputs, and transfer of knowledge to deliver impact.  The appointee will also contribute to other related projects including PREP4BLUE and Tidal Arts, and other stakeholder engagement and co-creation projects in the Centre.

 

This role provides the opportunity to join an exciting transdisciplinary team of researchers in MaREI, and to work at a pan-European scale to deliver an innovative programme of research supporting sustainability and marine science and conservation in Europe.  The candidate should have relevant experience and knowledge in areas of governance, stakeholder engagement, participatory mechanisms and restoration, and preferably some experience in research and initiatives at European scale.  Candidates should have experience of working in project-based environments engaging with diverse stakeholders. They will be self-motivated with ability to conduct independent research to a very high level, and will be expected to contribute to the development of new research efforts, grants, and publications.