Lead Economist

WCMC is a UK charity, based in Cambridge, which supports the United Nations Environment Programme. We work in collaboration with UNEP, under the banner of UNEP-WCMC.  Our mission is to evaluate and highlight the many values of biodiversity and put authoritative biodiversity knowledge at the centre of decision-making. Since our establishment in the 1970s, the Centre has been at the forefront of the compilation, management, analysis and dissemination of global biodiversity information, and has an outstanding record of achievement.

WCMC is now seeking to fill a new role of Lead Economist to work with us on a permanent basis, contributing economics expertise and leadership to our work on biodiversity values and mainstreaming.

This post is part of a broader Economics resourcing focus at UNEP-WCMC, please refer to our website for details of other vacancies.

Context: There is an expanding worldwide body of effort to assess and communicate the values of biodiversity and ecosystem services to support the economic case for the adoption of Green Economy pathways. Whilst it is imperative for UNEP-WCMC to connect to, catalyse and make use of this work, we also need to build on it in order to:

• Improve understanding of the economic implications and consequences of policy choices and future policy-relevant scenarios, in space and time and for different groups of people
• Identify the levers (including informational, institutional and instrumental) that most influence policy choices and behaviours, and the means by which to manipulate those levers to improve biodiversity outcomes
• Build the capacity of decision-makers and other actors to use this knowledge to more effectively drive policy change and implement Green Economy transformations.

The role: Working closely with internal programmes, the Lead Economist will deliver a step-change in UNEP-WCMC’s profile, outputs and influence in biodiversity economics around the themes described above.

The Lead Economist will both advise and oversee the development and delivery of projects and partnerships at the science-policy interface across the Centre. This is a fantastic opportunity to build a programme of work reaching the highest levels of international governance.

The candidate: The successful candidate will hold a Masters degree or equivalent in the relevant field, and have significant experience and networks at senior level in an economics capacity. They will also have a sophisticated understanding of the essential characteristics of successful partnership-building and will be able to demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively.

Further information: For more information, please visit www.unep-wcmc.org. To apply, please complete the application form and submit this and a CV to recruitment@unep-wcmc.org by the closing date of 27th September 2013.

Candidates should note this is not a UN post and that only those eligible to work in the UK should apply.