Senior Research Advisor

Job Title: Senior Research Advisor
Location: Newport, UK
Job Type: Full-time, Until 31/03/2026
Work Model: Hybrid

Minimum Requirement:
Project 4: Scoping data sources for developing estimates of depletion for timber
The natural capital accounts are an annual publication which value of natural resources to people in the UK. To align with Account, we plan to develop estimates of depletion for renewable and non-renewable resources, to be productionised in the next 3 to 4 years. To this aim, we will need to develop estimates of the stock of these resources and particularly for renewable ones, of the rate of their regeneration, as well as their consumption. Timber will be one of the renewable resources we seel to develop estimates for.
a. Objective of the project would be to scope out what sources of data exist to estimate the physical stock of timber at any given time in the UK, and if there are none, what methodologies exist to estimate this stock, what input data would be needed and which organisations we need to work with. This would require establishing data sources for the initial stock at a certain time and the rate of harvesting and regeneration for a given time period.
b. The deliverables of this work would be a report that sets out at least one viable strategy to pursue this data
c. Timeline
i. 2-3 months to meet all of the above objectives. The project could be broken down into milestones, however, if we could only get someone for 1 month, say. Such milestones could be: scouting out the providers of data sources and what currently exists, or scoping methodologies separately.

Project 5: Scoping data sources for developing estimates of depletion for fish: The natural capital accounts are an annual publication which value of natural resources to people in the UK. To align with Account, we plan to develop estimates of depletion for renewable and non-renewable resources, to be productionised in the next 3 to 4 years. To this aim, we will need to develop estimates of the stock of these resources and particularly for renewable ones, of the rate of their regeneration, as well as their consumption. Fish will be one of the renewable resources we seek to develop estimates for. Given the short timeline, we envisage this project to focus on reviewing data availability and engage with potential data providers, rather than producing estimates.
a. An overview of the project objectives and deliverables
i. A review of what estimates have been made of UK fish stocks, harvesting and regeneration rates (likely from sustainability studies) and their reliability.
ii. Possibly some initial engagement with UK government organisations to discuss what data they have already on this, and the obstacles to estimating stocks.
b. Timeline
i. 2 months for a review of previous stock estimates
ii. Engagement with other offices in parallel.

Skills requirement
i. The research provider would need to manage stakeholder relationships, as they would likely need to reach out to data providers, find out the limits of their publications and what scope there would be to commission new work from them.
ii. The desk research into data sources and methodologies would benefit from background in environmental/natural sciences, but any quantitative background would likely sufficient. I am primarily interested, at this stage, in estimating physical stocks of timber, so there would be no need to work on monetary valuation.
iii. Python coding would be a plus as it would open up the possibility of considering how to implement data manipulation for us, but the candidate would only get to this stage if they were well ahead of schedule on the above deliverables.

Assignment Background:
Produce statistics on capital accounts. Economic way to value what they provide.

Core Day to Day Duties:
Collect data from various depts & agencies in UK government/charities to do with physical state of nature, transfer these into a measure & attach the value.
Come to measurement of natural resources Just stared to scope the work.
Will need to produce these measures in a way which is consistent in the way GDP is calculated.

AMS Confidential
Start doing some literature review & scoping on what available data they have
Identify different sources of data
Literature review
Scoping academic & grey literature - whats been done in the past, or applicable methods in other work to learn from
Reaching out to Government agencies & charities who provide the data, discussing data, gather the info etc.
Work closely with Alec for guidance/direction.
Produce the documentation quickly.
Quantitative background
Ideally some kind of Environment background - economics etc.
Focus on timber - forestry experience, woodland conservation, timber.
UN guidance knowledge would be beneficial