Coastal Community Heritage PDRA

Salary: 

Research Assistant: £33,002 to £34,610 per annum

Research Associate: £35,608 to £36,636 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 29 October 2025

The Role

We are looking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Coastal Community Heritage to be part of the project ‘SEA-CCHange: Socio-Ecological Archiving: Coastal Communities' Heritage in times of climate change’, funded by the Belmont Forum via the AHRC.

The position will be focussed on working with fishing communities and fisheries managers (Northumberland Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority – NIFCA) to assessing the current and future status of fishing communities, the contribution of fishing to coastal heritage, the likely impacts from climate changes and options for adaptation and diversification. You will be expected to be familiar with stakeholder interview and workshop methods, the development of both qualitative and quantitative data from these. Spatial analyses, socio-ecological systems modelling, and programming in the R or Python languages will be an advantage:

• Collate existing work on local and international fishing cultures.
• Work with NIFCA and local fishing communities to define research requirements.
• Design a strategy to collect new focussing on fishing heritage and wider societal impacts.
• Synthesise social and ecological data to evaluate the resilience of local fishers to climate changes.
• Communicate scientific outputs to both academic and non-specialist audiences.

This is a fixed-term position for 12 months.

For informal enquiries please contact Professor Clare Fitzsimmons (clare.fitzsimmons@ncl.ac.uk).

Applications should be made through the Newcastle University jobs portal: https://jobs.ncl.ac.uk, where you are invited to provide evidence of how you meet the essential criteria required for the role outlined in ‘The Person’ by uploading a letter of application along with your Curriculum Vitae (CV).

Key Accountabilities

• To collate, process, manage, and analyse large socio-ecological datasets
• To identify appropriate methods and deliver a programme of stakeholder interactions which may include interviews, focus groups and workshops
• To work collaboratively with the wider project team lead by Utrecht University
• To work collaboratively with MSc, MRes and PhD students assisting with elements of the project, and in the context of the wider research group
• To develop research results and disseminate through appropriate media. This will include authoring or co-authoring papers for publication in high-quality academic journals
• To prepare progress reports and presentations on research outputs for the funding body
• Any other duties within the scope and general nature of the grade which may be required
  

The Person

• Experience in stakeholder interview, focus group and workshop methods
• Experience of working with both qualitative and quantitative data
• Experience communicating complex scientific information in stakeholder meetings
• Experience of developing socio-ecological systems models (e.g. BBN, ABM, SNA, MCDA)
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• High level of problem-solving capacity

Desirable

• Experience using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software (e.g. QGIS, Esri ArcMap)
• Experience programming in R (or Python considered)

Attributes and Behaviour

• Comfortable working both individually and have good team working skills
• Capacity for original thought
• Enthusiasm and a strong work ethic
• Ability to interact with researchers and project partners with different backgrounds
• Ability to communicate scientific results to a broad or non-specialist audience
• Ability and willingness to work in interdisciplinary environments
• Well-developed interpersonal communication skills that enable you to engage external and internal stakeholders and work effectively in a multidisciplinary team

Qualifications

• An undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a relevant science subject, such as biology, marine or earth science, development science, social science
• A Ph.D. in the field of interdisciplinary marine science, human geography, or a related discipline is essential for appointment at associate level

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 28723