Job Description

We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements.

Do you want to be part of a project aiming to improve the sustainability of agriculture?

Quantifying the potential of different agricultural practices and interventions to sequester soil carbon (C) and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is key for reaching Paris Climate Agreement goals and the Net Zero targets set by the UK government and the European Union. In the UK, this evidence is urgently needed to set the new agricultural policy post-Brexit and meet the rapidly growing global investment market for climate mitigation measures, including private businesses off-setting or in-setting (i.e., mitigating within supply chains).

There is growing interest in understanding the potential role of soil carbon sequestration in achieving net zero in agriculture. However, the large heterogeneity between farms in terms of their pedo-climatic conditions and specific management pose a challenge to identify relationships and requires using a lot of empirical data. As a Research Fellow, you will help analyse large  soil data sets collected from  UK agricultural fields and build statistical and/or machine learned models to account for the relationships between agricultural soils properties and the context-specificity of the impact of regenerative agriculture practices and land use change (e.g. agroforestry) on soil health indicators, in particular soil carbon stocks and sequestration rates. This would help deliver  a step-change in advice provided to farmers, and important for other practitioners, stakeholders and policy-makers as well as research in the field of sustainable agriculture. The position is part of a Horizon Europe funded project NOVASOIL which aims at improving business models for agricultural soils health across Europe and will involve remote collaboration and European travel.

We are looking for an enthusiastic Research Fellow, with a background in geography/environmental/biological/natural science and data analysis, to join the University of Leeds and help deliver the exciting work in Horizon Europe NOVASOIL project. You will be supervised and mentored by Professor Guy Ziv (as Leeds project lead) and Professor Pippa Chapman.

Please note that this post may be suitable for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route but first-time applicants might need to qualify for salary concessions. For more information please visit: www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa. 

For research and academic posts, we will consider eligibility under the Global Talent visa. For more information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/global-talent 

What we offer in return

And much more!  

If you are looking for a role that will help the push forward transition to sustainable agriculture in the UK, apply today.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: 

Professor Guy Ziv, Chair in Socio-Environmental Systems

Tel: +44 (0)113 343 7994

Email: [email protected]

Professor Pippa Chapman, Chair in Biogeochemistry

Tel: +44 (0)113 343 6837

Email: [email protected]

View All Vacancies