Livelihoods & Institutions

Location: Medway campus
Salary: £33,797 to £39,152 per annum
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: Thursday 01 October 2020
Interview Date: To be confirmed
Reference: 2439

Do you have what it takes to make an impact on global food and nutrition security? We are looking for exceptional candidates to help drive forward our work to improve the lives of poor people. 

The Natural Resources Institute (NRI – https://www.nri.org/) of the University of Greenwich carries out specialised research, teaching, training and consultancy with a focus on food, agriculture, environment and sustainable livelihoods.  

NRI is currently expanding its interdisciplinary research excellence to address food and nutrition security, especially in Africa. This expansion is funded by UKRI’s Research England under the ‘Expanding Excellence in England’ scheme. Elements of this new investment include new staff, PhD studentships, infrastructure and partnerships (see www.nri.org/FanSI). Investment will be across four specific areas:

• Climate Change, Agriculture and Natural Resources
• Sustainable Agricultural Intensification
• Food Loss and Waste
• Food Systems for Improved Nutrition

NRI’s work is globally respected and has won many awards including a recent Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education. The Institute is located at the University’s vibrant Medway Campus in Chatham Maritime, Kent.

NRI is looking to appoint a Fellow in Climate Change and State Fragility. The focus on the role will be on high quality research, with a possible contribution to teaching activities of up to 10%. There may also be opportunities to supervise postgraduate MPhil/PhD students. This position contributes mainly to the Climate Change, Agriculture and Natural Resources theme of the Food and Nutrition Security Initiative.

This particular role is intended to enhance NRI’s capacity to research the combined and interacting impacts of climate change/vulnerability and state fragility on food and nutrition security, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa.  State fragility is considered to include political instability, including but in no way limited to the presence of armed conflict, and/or the failure of the state to provide an enabling environment for a functioning economy, especially in rural areas. Successful candidates may have a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, for example in political science, conflict studies, development studies, geography, social anthropology, social policy, international relations, public health nutrition or economics.

They may have research interests in a variety of fields, for example: either quantitative or qualitative analyses at different scales of potential causal effects of climate change on state fragility; the effects of state fragility or poor governance on the vulnerability to climate change of rural populations; the effectiveness of development, social protection or humanitarian interventions (including improvements to nutrition) for populations subject to protracted crises involving both climatic factors and conflict. Experience of interdisciplinary socio-ecological fieldwork in a region of Africa experiencing violent conflict is essential.

Work will focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Previous experience in this region is essential. International travel is an expectation of this role

For informal enquiries, please contact the Programme Leader (Professor John Morton (J.F.Morton@gre.ac.uk) or Head of Department (Professor Vegard Iversen (Vegard.Iversen@gre.ac.uk ).