The European Forest Institute is now seeking a Researcher on Urban Forestry and Biocities

The European Forest Institute (EFI) is an international organisation with 29 member countries and around 120 associate and affiliate member organisations. EFI undertakes forest research and policy support at panEuropean and global level, with headquarters located in Joensuu, Finland. EFI has its other main offices in Barcelona, Bonn and Brussels. The Institute has app. 120 staff members and has an annual turnover of app. 15 million Euros. Further information about the organisation is available at www.efi.int.

EFI seeks to strengthen its capacities in the fields of Urban Forestry and Biocities.

The Biocities facility which will open in Rome, Italy during 2022, will support a science-informed dialogue on the potential of the circular bioeconomy concept, particularly based on forest-based solutions, for rethinking and creating sustainable, healthy and resilient cities. The Facility will develop a new and holistic conceptual framework for the use of green infrastructures and biobased solutions in urban environments.

The Urban Forestry Team in EFI’s Resilience Programme is coordinating the Sino-European CLEARING HOUSE project (http://www.clearinghouseproject.eu), funded by the European Commission under the Horizon2020 programme. Based on work in ten case study cities in Europe and China, the project is looking into urban and peri-urban forests as nature-based solutions, and their potential role to solve diverging societal challenges.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Support the development of the Biocities and Urban Forestry research topics and teams.
• Support junior researchers and trainees at EFI involved in topics of Biocities and Urban Forestry.
• Initiate, acquire and lead research projects on international and national level.
• Contributing to research and communication/dissemination tasks in CLEARING HOUSE project.
• Publish research findings in both academic journals and policy- and practice-oriented media and engage in communication and science-policy and science-practice events and other interactions.

Qualifications:

• PhD in Forestry, Landscape Architecture, Environmental Science, Geography or similar working experience.
• At least 5 year of relevant work experience.
• Knowledge of the field of urban forestry, nature-based solutions, urban ecology, climate and biodiversity in urban and peri-urban contexts, and/or similar fields globally and in Europe (experience in China or Asia is an asset)
• Developing and leading research (including publishing research).
• Experience with social science methods, governance research and/or sustainability research.
• Experience with project proposal writing.
• Excellent English skills, working knowledge of Mandarin and German is an asset.

Duty Station: The employee can be based at EFI’s office in Bonn, Germany or Rome, Italy.

Employment Conditions: The employee will be an EFI staff member. The duration and extent of the contract will be negotiated depending on the applicant’s profile. The successful candidate will ideally take up the position by March/April 2022.

This position offers an excellent opportunity to work within a stimulating international environment. Interested candidates are requested to send (in English) a CV including copies of academic degree certificates/diplomas and full publication list with a motivation letter by 21st February 2022, using our online application form.

For more information about the post, please contact Rik De Vreese, Senior Researcher: rik.devreese@efi.int EFI is an equal opportunity employer. All applications will be treated confidentially.