Position Outline:
- Location: Remote, UK
- Duration: 12 months, 3 months probation
- Hours: full time, 40 hours per week, flexible
- Pay: 40-50K pro rata
- Application Deadline: 8AM GMT, 12th Jan 2026
Position Overview:
Cool Farm Alliance is seeking a post-doctoral researcher to support the development and delivery of the Cool Farm Biodiversity Metric, specifically its adaptation for tropical forest biomes (e.g. Colombia). This work will be undertaken in close collaboration with Professor Lynn Dicks at the University of Cambridge.
You will contribute to evaluating and synthesising ecological evidence using the Conservation Evidence methodology, coordinating expert input, and refining scoring systems that underpin the biodiversity assessment tool used on the Cool Farm Platform.
This role sits at the intersection of applied ecology, biodiversity science, stakeholder engagement, and environmental impact assessment.
The ideal candidate will have a background in biodiversity, agroecology, or conservation science, with a strong foundation in evidence synthesis or quantitative analysis. Experience working with biodiversity or agricultural datasets is highly valued. You will have strong analytical skills and be confident in handling, interpreting, and clearly presenting ecological data and scoring logic in a concise and accurate way.
You will report to Cool Farm’s Head of Science and Methods and be supported by the full Cool Farm secretariat.
If you have a background in science, are smart, fun, love numbers, have outstanding attention to detail and organisational skills and a solid work ethic we would love to hear from you.
Your Key Responsibilities:
- Lead and coordinate biodiversity scoring activities using the Conservation Evidence approach described in Crowther et al (2024) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.111897
- Organise and facilitate expert elicitation panels for tropical species groups
- Synthesise and evaluate ecological research on the impacts of farm management practices on biodiversity
- Lead integration of the tropical-specific metrics into the existing Cool Farm Biodiversity framework
- Collaborate with the Cool Farm modelling and product teams to ensure successful delivery
- Prepare plain-language summaries and technical documentation for transparency and future use
- Managing projects and supporting/leading working groups associated with new model development
- Supporting our team with technical and project management queries
- Contributing to testing and providing recommendations on new features for our online tool
- Support the Cool Farms Equity, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives
Essential Criteria:
- Experience in biodiversity, conservation, agroecology, or a closely related discipline
- Familiarity with evidence synthesis methods (e.g. systematic reviews, meta-analyses, or expert elicitation)
- Strong analytical and research skills
- Excellent written communication, with an ability to clearly summarise scientific evidence
- Highly organised, self-motivated, and able to coordinate tasks independently
- Experience with farm-scale biodiversity metrics or agri-environment assessments
- Proficient in Excel, with the ability to create worked examples for testing model logic and outputs (e.g. for use in developer unit tests)
- Be extremely attentive to detail and rigorous
- Strongly motivated, self-starter willing to take the initiative to ensure that solutions are delivered on time.
- Experience working with multi-stakeholder or international teams
- Fluent in English
- Applicants must have the right to work in the UK, with appropriate visa or immigration status if required
- Coding or data handling skills (e.g. Python, R, or spreadsheets)
Application Process:
- Interested candidates should continue with this application form. Deadline is 8AM GMT, 12th Jan 2026
- Two people will read the applications and the first page of the application will be hidden from those selecting candidates for interview
- We aim for the interviews to happen 29th and 30th January
- Interviews will be virtual and approximately 1 hour long. We will send the main questions before the interview so candidates can prepare
- Once the candidates have been shortlisted a test will be provided, and candidates given 4 hours to complete
