Junior Evidence and Engagement Officer

Westcountry Rivers Trust is recruiting a Junior Evidence and Engagement Officer

This is a permanent contract after a successful 6 month probation period.

The starting salary for this role is £23,000.00 per annum

The role is 37.5 hours per week

We support Hybrid working, so there will be the opportunity to work from home in this role and
work flexible hours. Travel to sites throughout the Westcountry will also be required
regularly; this role is a mixture of office and site based. During the probation period there
will be an expectation to be in the office 2 days a week as a minimum.

There may be a requirement to work outside normal office hours and occasionally at weekends.

Benefits while working for Westcountry Rivers Trust

• 25 days Annual Leave per annum, with a reward for long service – an additional 1 day per
  year for each year worked over 5 years, up to a maximum of 30 days for employees serving 10
  years continuous service.
• Additional Leave covering the Christmas Closure period.
• 9% Employer Pension, plus Life Assurance cover
• Flexible working

Apply by midnight on Friday 27th September

Interviews will be held in person at our offices in Stoke Climsland on Thursday
10th October 2024

For queries about this role or the application process please contact [email protected] 

About the Westcountry Rivers Trust

Formed in 1994, the Trust was established to restore Westcountry rivers. Measures to protect
rivers can help to save money for farmers, lower costs for water companies, boost tourism,
reduce the need to dredge estuaries and even benefit human health. Everything the Trust does is
informed by the best available science. Their work is driven by an ‘ecosystems approach,’
considering the function of the entire catchment, not just the rivers that flow within them.

Today the charity works with a wide range of stakeholders from landowners to local communities,
businesses, farmers and water companies to restore and protect the rivers, lakes, estuaries and
coastal areas for the benefit of people, wildlife and the local economy. There has never been a
more important time to work on the rivers of the West Country as the impacts of climate
emergency and the ecological crisis is forcing society to invest in building catchment
resilience.

Spurred by a shared love of rivers, the Westcountry Rivers Trust is very much a grassroots
organisation, brought into existence from the bottom up. In the early 90s, a group of
individuals, passionate – but concerned – about the waterways around them, began to stitch
together their ambitions for restoring Westcountry rivers, laying the foundations for the Trust
we know today.

Everything the Trust does is informed by the best available science. Their work is driven by an
‘ecosystems approach,’ considering the function of the entire catchment, not just the rivers
that flow within them.

It was this new perspective – not to mention the hands-on and tireless approach to river
restoration – that grabbed the attention of so many supporters and funders and which lies
behind the flourishing rivers trust movement. Since then, the Trust now has circa 75 employees
with an annual turnover of c£3m running multi-annual projects spread across a wide range of
funders.

The Trust has three main delivery teams and a support services team. Our employees work on
delivery sites, from home, and from the office.

The Role

A highly motivated Junior Evidence & Engagement Officer to support WRT’s Evidence
& Engagement team activities for a range of projects across the Trust.

The Westcountry Rivers Trust is an environmental charity that works throughout the South West
to improve our rivers for the benefit of all. Our work spans a huge range of projects to
deliver change both in our rivers and on the land that they drain. We bring together
stakeholder and interest groups in catchments across the South West to develop and deliver
catchment action plans that will bring meaningful and lasting benefits for people and the
environment.

The Evidence & Engagement Team supports the Trust’s on-going work in using a whole
ecosystem approach to plan and deliver nature-based solutions for catchment management and
river improvement initiatives for the river catchments of the South West and beyond. The team
is instrumental in ensuring that the Trust is delivering the right measures, in the right
places, and in monitoring and reporting the impacts of our work. Effective engagement and
communication is essential to ensure that key stakeholders, both external and internal at WRT,
are well informed and engaged.

We are looking for an engaging and competent candidate who is passionate about the environment
and who also has a keen interest in engagement and the communication of scientific data. This
is an entry level role which will provide a range of experiences supporting the different work
streams of the EE Team as well as the wider Trust.

The post holder will work collaboratively with colleagues across the Trust to ensure project
delivery. While a broad knowledge of the issues currently facing our water environment is
highly desirable, specialist knowledge is not essential for this role.

WRT is committed to investing in it’s team. Training, support and mentoring will be provided to
the right candidate to develop into this role.

Key responsibilities include:

• Administration and support for various projects spanning a breadth of topics.
• Contribute to designing and delivering engagement and co-creation events and workshops.
• Fieldwork, monitoring and data collection including physical, chemical and biological water
  quality parameters.
• Data inputting, presentation and visualisation using a variety of software tools such as
  ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, QGIS or R
• Data collation, analysis and reporting.
• Assist with growing volunteer recruitment and support in maintaining volunteer retention.
• Delivery of other project work as and when required.
• Other administrative tasks required by the Trust including meeting H&S requirements;
  time sheeting & expenses; attendance at training, CPD & team away days; attendance at
  project inception meetings etc.
• Maintain appropriate confidentiality of information relating to WRT and volunteers and
  maintain compliance with the UK GDPR.

Person specification.

Knowledge and Experience

Essential Requirements

• A degree, or comparable qualification or experience in Environmental
  Science/Ecology/Geography or related discipline
• A good knowledge of, or background in, the environmental or conservation sectors
• A passion for protecting and restoring the natural environment
• Ability to manage workload and time effectively
• Good IT skills including Microsoft Office 365
• Organisational and admin skills, with good attention to detail
• Excellent presentation and communication skills for a wide range of audiences
• Excellent interpersonal skills, both face-to-face and in online meetings
• Good knowledge of requirements for data protection and confidentiality
• Ability to work flexibly, including occasional evenings and weekends
• The role requires travel across the Westcountry for meetings, events, workshops and to
  remote fieldwork sites.

Desirable

• Experience of using Geographical Information Systems
• Ability to produce high quality, visually engaging science communications materials
• Experience of working with communities and citizen scientists
• Experience in environmental and biological monitoring
• A good knowledge of the current environmental challenges and an understanding of
  catchment-based approaches for river management.