The Marine Stewardship Council is a non-profit organisation seeking to improve sustainable fishing practices around the world through its eco-labelling program.
Our Research team, a part of the Science and Standards department, addresses a wide range of research questions and applies diverse analytic methods to better understand the MSC’s impact on fish stocks, fisheries, and stakeholders.
We are seeking a data scientist who will bring their skills and enthusiasm to our Research team who work in a fast-paced environment. This position offers the chance to work with a team of enthusiastic scientists to build and analyse datasets for exciting research projects that are directly relevant to pressing issues in global fisheries. The position will entail data collation, data management, quality control, and data analysis for a range of MSC databases and research projects, with opportunities for contributing to peer-reviewed manuscripts.
Some experience in data science, database management, or quantitative analyses is essential, whilst experience working with geo-referenced spatial data and software platforms is highly desirable. Good organizational skills along with the motivation and ability to work independently are critical for this position. Good communication skills and a willingness to collaborate on several projects at once are important for the work of our team.
Key Responsibilities
Collation and maintenance of MSC spatial data
- Work with the owner of MSC spatial databases, contributing to developing and maintaining these spatial databases, including those for fishery operational, management, and stock assessment areas, ensuring they meet the needs of the Research team to facilitate analysis and reporting.
- Use tools like qGIS to collate and validate georeferenced data, undertake exploratory analyses and more detailed analyses, and produce maps for MSC needs including scientific publications.
- Work with other MSC staff to ensure the data and maps are understood and used appropriately.
- Collaborate with external researchers in the sharing of georeferenced data and advising on their use.
Other data collation, analysis and research
- Understand Science and Standards goals, datasets, methods for collation and validation, and limitations of these datasets and methods, in order to provide support with data analysis and research.
- Contribute to collation and validation of MSC core datasets owned by the Research and Science and Standards teams.
- Respond to ad-hoc queries from MSC departments and external bodies.
- Explore existing or new data to identify patterns in, and insight from, data for the MSC.
- Collaborate within Science and Standards to respond to items in the team issues log and data request log.
- Contribute to the production of peer-reviewed scientific papers in collaboration with Research team colleagues and other Science and Standards teams.
Digital products and tools
- Assist in developing tools and reports that allow Science and Standards teams to extract meaning from, and interpret, data, as needed.
- Gather reporting needs and understand how to better leverage MSC spatial data and demonstrate insights using qGIS or related software.
- Work closely with the Business Intelligence team to follow organisational best practices.
Science communication
- Explore existing or new data to unlock additional value and insights for the MSC.
- Produce short reports, presentations or data visualizations that can be shared with the wider MSC, tailoring results for specific audiences.
- Communicate insights that: benefit MSC; demonstrate the work of the Research team; may lead into deeper Research; address requests from Global Communications; or assist with decision making.
- With support of, and in collaboration with, senior Research team members, present results from analyses at meetings, workshops and national and international conferences.
Team support
- Contribute to updating user manuals for different components of the Science and Standards data systems, collaborating with the Business Intelligence team and Research team as needed.
- Act as the main point of contact for the team on SharePoint, educating the team and assisting with training in Office 365 tools.
- Be an active participant in the Office 365 network of administrators, own permissions for the Research team-site and any relevant project site, maintain team webpages, and drive best practice within the team.
Technical Skills, Qualifications, and Experience
- University degree or equivalent experience in a data-driven or research environment.
- Proven role-specific experience in collating, managing, validating and analysing scientific data.
- Confident with spatial data analyses and geographic information system mapping tools; experience with qGIS or equivalent geospatial software platforms.
- Well-developed IT skills, including use of standard software packages (MS SharePoint, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Adobe Acrobat).
Salary: £ Competitive
Application deadline: October 11, 2022. 9:00 BST
