Research Assistant in Water Quality and Pollution Management

This new Research Assistant in Water Quality and Pollution Management is a 2-year fixed-term role that has been established to help deliver a Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Welsh Government funded research project working alongside farmers, land managers and local communities to investigate and mitigate for the diverse challenges impacting water quality in the River Wye catchment.

The Research Assistant will work as part of a project team, to help deliver a programme of research specifically related to the implementation of co-designed and co-created living labs on the River Wye. They will help implement, monitor and assess the impact of a range of interventions on water quality, both locally and at a catchment scale. The overarching research programme integrates expertise across soil science, water quality diagnostics, ecological assessment, social behavioural research, and farming systems and governance.

The Research Assistant will be a key member of our water and environment research team within the Centre for Sustainable Agri-Food and Environment (SAFE). The Research Assistant will have experience in an area related to the Water Sciences and should be able to demonstrate this clearly in their application. This could include experience of assessing river health, water quality analysis and testing (chemical and/or microbiological), water quality
sensors (in situ / sondes), aquatic ecology, biogeochemistry (including soil sciences), and/or catchment monitoring.

You will have a BSc in a relevant science subject (essential), ideally with a Master’s level qualification and evidence of undertaking a relevant laboratory and/or field-based research project (desirable). A practical background is essential, and you should have good laboratory and field skills, with relevant experience of water quality sampling & analysis, and the ability to critically assess data and results. It would be desirable to have experience of using ArcGIS (e.g. ArcGIS Pro, ArcMap, or ArcGIS Online) for spatial analysis, data visualisation, and mapping.

You should be able to work and communicate efficiently with other researchers, including supervisors, students, technicians, and postdoctoral researchers who may have very different backgrounds to your own.