Back Research Officer/ Senior Research Officer

Research Officer / Senior Research Officer

Climate and Sustainability Programme

Contract: Permanent

Salary: RO £29,492 - £34,987 per annum

SRO £34,988 - £41,574 per annum

Location: London

Ref: CEP/01/20

An independent, global think tank, working for a sustainable

and peaceful world in which every person thrives.

About us

ODI harnesses the power of evidence and ideas through high quality research and partnership to confront challenges, develop solutions and create change. ODI treats all staff and partners with fairness and respect. By working together in a supportive environment, openly and accountably, we achieve more and have greater impact.

We are seeking to appoint a Research Officer or Senior Research Officer to join ODI’s Climate and Sustainability Programme. This newly reconfigured Programme combines ODI’s work on climate change mitigation and the management of natural resources.

The climate change and energy work of the Programme covers four distinct areas, climate finance, green fiscal policy, low carbon development and sustainable energy. We are a trusted partner of governments, international organisations, research institutes and non-governmental organisations, providing robust evidence and analysis to inform their own decision-making and to influence the decisions of others.

ODI conducts high quality applied research and provides practical advice to inform and influence policies, practices and public debate on climate finance. We also work to broaden the debate on global climate change financing through innovative and interdisciplinary research, such as development finance proposals to expand climate investment.

Our work on green fiscal policy spans the tracking of government subsidies to fossil fuel production and consumption, and the development of greater understanding of how governments can transform fiscal policy to support social and environmental objectives.

We support decision-makers in designing and delivering low-carbon, climate-resilient development, by combining research, advisory services and knowledge to deliver high quality information on the policy linkages between economic development and climate change mitigation and adaptation, with the aim of supporting international policy processes.

Our work on sustainable energy focuses on how policy-makers balance the competing objectives of transitioning to renewable energy, ensuring universal access to modern energy services and supplying energy to meet the social and economic development aspirations of people in emerging economies. We conduct high quality applied research and provide practical advice to inform and influence policies and practices for renewable energy and access to modern energy services.

The Research Officer / Senior Research Officer will work under the supervision of Senior Research Fellows in the Climate and Sustainability and other ODI programmes, contributing to developing, fundraising for, conducting and managing policy relevant, high-quality and innovative research, policy advice and public affairs programmes, broadly within the team’s strategy and the institute’s organisational strategy, all with the aim of inspiring and informing policy.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Research and Funding:

· Supporting research project activities or leading parts of research projects including field work, holding workshops, producing written outputs and preparing reports for donors, under the supervision of a Research Fellow

• Specific technical inputs to research projects such as literature reviews, interviews, data compilation and analysis and preparing reports

· Liaising with donors and partner institutions on research programme funding issues and opportunities for collaboration;

• Contribute to or lead the development of research proposals, expressions of interest and full project proposals, including multi-year and consortium proposals across ODI
• Identifying partnership opportunities
• Undertake some travel overseas for research related purposes

Project Management:

• Liaising with and reporting to donors, managing budgets and consultants and the inputs of other project partners, under the overall direction of the Head of Programme or a Senior Research Fellow
• Supervising interns and other short-term staff working within the team
• Liaising with the Programme Manager and key support services (e.g. Finance, communications) to ensure effective project management and programme delivery

Policy advice, public affairs and dissemination:

• Authoring or co-authoring research reports, policy briefs and other documents for publication
• Organising meetings series and (multi-)media outputs from research projects
• Presentation of research results internally and externally at conferences and meetings nationally and internationally
• Disseminating research results through ODI web pages, the media, conferences, etc.
• Liaison and networking with a wide range of agencies including attending meetings on behalf of Programme and providing short meeting summaries for distribution within the team and more widely

Collegiate life:

Contribute to the Institute’s collegiate life through:

• Such ODI series as the Working Papers, Research Studies, Briefing Papers, and journals

· Such ODI activities as discussion groups, lunchtime meetings, staff meetings, working groups, interviews, external representation

· Intellectual exchanges with other research team members

· Leading internal ODI activities such as discussion groups, lunchtime meetings, staff meetings, working groups, interviews, external representation

· Provide review and guidance to colleagues and/or other Team’s outputs

Person Specification

Essential

Knowledge and Qualifications

· A degree and post-graduate degree in a relevant discipline

· Demonstrated knowledge and qualifications in one or more of climate change policy, renewable energy or environmentally sustainable development

· Strong knowledge of key issues in climate change, low carbon development, renewable energy and international development

· Familiarity with core theories of development and poverty

· Knowledge of key international institutions in the sector

Experience

· Demonstrated ability to translate research into policy-relevant communications

· Experience in producing research outputs in a short period of time and for different audiences

· Some experience of working in a developing country

· Experience in an international policy development research environment, i.e. policy-oriented research, demonstrated by publications and reports

Skills/Abilities

· Strong skills and interests in the economic, political and financial dimensions of energy and climate change

· Strong analytical skills, including the ability to think critically about primary and secondary literature and perform meta-analytical research

· A capacity to write clearly in English, with good presentation and oral communication skills

· Strong interpersonal skills, inter-cultural skills, and ability to network, negotiate and build effective working relationships

· Ability to work in a team

· Ability to work on own initiative and under minimal supervision, to multitask and respond with confidence to complex and evolving problems

· Excellent IT skills (Word, Excel, Power Point)

· Willingness and ability to travel internationally on a frequent basis, which may include overnight and weekends on occasion.

Desirable

· Foreign language skills

· Ability to collect and analyse quantitative and qualitative data

· Relevant personal contacts and networks in the candidate’s specialist areas (e.g. multilateral organisations, NGOs and research institutions, and government)

· Statistical analysis and experience in visualizing quantitative data

Closing date: Friday 14th February, 2020

Interview date: w/c February 24th, 2020