Research Officer (m-f-d)

The Mission

FSC works to take care of our forests and those who rely on them: by protecting plant and animal species, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, forest workers’ safety, and much more. We achieve this through FSC certification, ensuring forests around the world are responsibly managed. For more information on FSC, visit our website at www.fsc.org.

To effectively meet the challenge of protecting the world’s forests, we are committed to ensuring we have the world’s most skilled people working with us. This commitment extends to everyone that works in FSC around the world: from those that lead the design of policies and standards, to those that roll out those same policies and standards on the ground, and to those that provide us with backbone to do our work.

We are looking for an engaged Research Officer who brings solid expertise and a passion for FSC’s mission, to work with us in a multinational environment.

The Scope

To search for and analyse scientific publications relevant to FSC and communicate learnings

Main Roles and Responsibilities

• Identify any newly published scientific literature.
• Classify publications according to pre-defined typologies.
• Extract impact-related and FSC-relevant information, as well as metadata from identified publications.
• Review relevant findings and trends about the FSC certification system.
• Maintain a clean and consistent dataset with extracted information.
• Support project management activities for the development, improvement and maintenance of an online repository and an interactive dashboard.
• Ensure clear and effective presentation and communication of key results and learning from selected publications.
• Support monitoring and evaluation analytics, and learning.
• Support activities ensuring compliance with ISEAL codes of practice.
• Any other task as assigned by formal supervisor and project work as assigned according to special organizational needs.

Qualification, Experience and Skills

Education and Training:

• PhD degree in a relevant field, e.g., forestry, ecology, environmental studies, etc.

Working Experience, Style and Skills:

• At least 2 years of professional experience in academia or conducting research projects in relevant field, e.g. forestry, ecology, environmental studies, etc.
• Proven record of continuous engagement in academia/research during minimum 2 years.
• Experience in reviewing and summarizing scientific literature.
• Experience in communicating complex and technical topics to non-technical and varied audience.
• Strong attention to details.
• Proven ability to plan and organize work, especially through systematic approaches.
• Ability to perform well while handling simultaneously a number of functions.
• Solutions and service-oriented attitude to work.
• A strong sense for diligence and accuracy.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Computer Skills: Good skills in the use of/experience with:

• Standard software packages (MS Office, especially MS excel).
• Tableau or similar data management and visualization software (is a strong asset).
• Database management platforms (is an asset).

Language and Communication Skills:

• Fluency in English.
• Spanish is a plus.
• French is a plus.
• Ability to constructively exchange on contentious topics.
• Ability to explain complex scientific concepts to a non-scientific audience.

Exemplary verbal and written communication skills.

Terms and Conditions

• Location: Bonn, Germany.
• Working Hours: Part time - 20 hours per week
• Duration of Employment: Temporary contract - 2 years (extension possible, subject to satisfactory performance)
• Starting Date: As soon as possible.
• Travel: Sporadic travel is required.

How to Apply

• Please apply via our website by submitting your CV in English.
• Please do not send any photos of yourself.
• The deadline for applications is 26 November 2023.

We will confirm receipt of your application. However, only candidates shortlisted for an interview will be further contacted and will receive notice of the outcome of the selection process. Should you not receive a confirmation of receipt please check your spam filter and if you cannot find it there contact us at recruitment@fsc.org

For FSC, inclusiveness and diversity are important values. As such, we welcome and encourage applications from all backgrounds and are entirely committed to consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age and disability.  

Please be informed, that by applying for this position you automatically accept our Data Protection Information on processing your personal data.

We are looking forward to your application!