Global Species Programme Assistant position(s) at BirdLife International (Cambridge, UK)

One or more short-term (up to 12 months) contract positions are available in the BirdLife Secretariat Science Division to support BirdLife’s Global Species Programme.

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of national conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources.

The Science Division in the global Secretariat (Cambridge) runs a number of global programmes to help support the Partnership’s work, through research, priority-setting, coordination, managing and analysing data and supporting policy, advocacy and communications work.

Opportunities are available within the Global Species Programme to:

Support BirdLife’s work on the 2012 IUCN Red List update, which will involve re-evaluating the status of all 10,000 of the world’s birds, including:

• collating, synthesizing and analysing new published and unpublished information on status, distribution and threats to each species;
• updating data fields and text accounts, and running Red List assessments in BirdLife’s database;
• improving other relevant datasets on species
• contacting reviewers to update and check this information; incorporating such updates;
• revising and improving GIS distribution maps
• working with existing Global Species Programme staff and other colleagues to help deliver the 2012 IUCN Red List update by spring 2012

Enhance and expand, using published and unpublished literature, BirdLife’s datasets on:

• climate change impacts on birds worldwide, to feed into a CCI-funded project examining the mechanisms underpinning climate change impacts on global biodiversity
• estimated dispersal distances of birds, to feed into a GEF-funded project examining the impacts of climate change on West African Protected Areas
• fine-scale spatial distribution of bird species of conservation concern in West Africa (i.e. point localities for site-scale occurrence of species for which Important Bird Areas have been identified within the region) to feed into the same project

Qualifications:

Essential: Degree in a relevant scientific subject. Ability to assess, analyse and synthesise information from disparate sources. Care and attention to detail. Excellent skills in writing concisely in a scientific style in English. Ability to work to timeframes and under pressure. Standard computer skills (Excel, Word etc).

Desirable: Familiarity with the IUCN Red List categories and criteria. Ability to interpret literature in any of Spanish, French or German. Broad familiarity with global conservation issues and the primary threats to biodiversity. Experience of conservation action in the field. Knowledge of the world’s birds. Good interpersonal skills. Familiarity with ArcGIS.

Salary: c.£18,000 per year pro rata