The starting salary for the role is £30,000.00 - £33,000.00 per annum (dependent on experience). 

 

The role permanent and  full time (37.5 hours per week).

 

There will be the opportunity to work from home in this role and to work flexible hours. Travel across the Westcountry for fieldwork, events and meetings will be required in this role.  

 

Apply by midnight on Wednesday 31st January 2024 by CV and Covering Letter to: 

Interviews will be held in person at our offices in Stoke Climsland on Thursday 8th February 2024.

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. Following the pandemic we have moved to a hybrid way of working and it is important that our IT enables and supports this change.  

As our Citizen Science Coordinator, you will manage our volunteer Citizen Science Investigations (CSI) activities across the South West. In this role, you will build strong and trusted relationships with Citizen Scientists, and encourage, support and facilitate collaborative investigations. You will also build strong relationships with other key stakeholders involved with, or with an interest in, monitoring the environment, including public bodies, water companies and other environmental NGOs. 

The post-holder will need to combine a passion for the environment with project management skills and strong community & stakeholder engagement skills. The successful candidate will work with local community groups to coordinate and support citizen science and volunteer conservation work.  You will co-ordinate and deliver training in appropriate techniques, supervise and contribute to the analysis and visualisation of data from the different activities, and maintain good relationships and provide feedback to stakeholders and partners. You will take a collaborative approach to the ongoing development of the scheme and contribute to securing additional funding as the scheme continues to develop and grow. The work will form part of the national Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative project (CaSTCo) but will also contribute to a wide range of other Trust projects and activities. While a broad knowledge of the issues currently facing our water environment is highly desirable, specialist water monitoring knowledge is not essential.

Key responsibilities include:

 

·        Line management and leadership of CSI team . 

·        Effective budget management.

·        Planning, coordinating and delivering training to Citizen Science communities across the South West.

·        General coordination and support for Citizen Science volunteers.

·        Designing, coordinating and delivering engagement and co-creation events and workshops.

·        Developing Westcountry Rivers Trust volunteering offer and bolstering existing offering with ‘added value’ volunteer opportunities, in liaison with HR.

·        Building and maintaining relationships with colleagues internally and work with HR and H&S to ensure we meet our employer obligations. 

·        Grow volunteer recruitment and maintain retention against agreed targets 

·        Contribute to and support the writing of funding bids 

·        Maintain appropriate confidentiality of information relating to WRT and volunteers and maintain compliance with the UK GDPR. 

 

Person specification.

Essential 

·        A degree, or comparable qualification or experience in an Environmental Science, Geography or related discipline 

·        Demonstrable organisational and efficiency skills

·        Demonstrable project management skills and experience 

·        Ability to manage workload and time effectively

·        Track record of team management and leadership 

·        Excellent communications skills and the ability to engage with, inspire and build relationships with the public, community groups and a range of stakeholders

·        Ability to use feedback and evaluation techniques to continuously improve and develop our volunteer programme

·        Excellent presentation and communication skills for a wide range of audiences

·        Excellent interpersonal skills, both face-to-face and in online meetings

·        A track record of developing and maintaining project-wide relationships

·        Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Office 365

·        Good knowledge of requirements for data protection and confidentiality

·        Ability to work flexibly, including occasional evenings and weekends

·        The role requires a driving license and access to a vehicle for travel across the Westcountry for meetings, events, workshops and to remote fieldwork sites.  

Desirable

·        Experience of managing partnerships

·        Experience in recruiting, co-ordinating and facilitating volunteer activities

·        Experience of presenting scientific information in accessible and engaging ways

·        A good knowledge of the current environmental challenges and an understanding of catchment-based approaches for river management

·        A good knowledge of key environmental policies and legislation.

There may be a requirement to work outside of normal office hours occasionally at a weekend to attend an event.