Project Expert/ Press and Media Activities

The ESPON EGTC - European Node for Territorial Evidence based in Luxembourg is recruiting new permanent staff members to join the international team working on European territorial evidence relevant for policy making. The ESPON EGTC shall implement the Single Operation under the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme. New staff is supposed to take up their positions as early as possible in February/March 2017 to support the implementation of the Single Operation.

What is the ESPON EGTC?

The ESPON EGTC is a European Grouping on Territorial Cooperation. As part of a renewal of ESPON it has been established according to European law to deliver the content envisaged by the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme. The ESPON EGTC is established with an Assembly including members of the 3 Belgian regions and Luxembourg, the latter hosting the ESPON EGTC.

What is the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme?

• The ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme is related to EU Cohesion Policy and shall play the specific role supporting policy development, institutional capacity, effective policymaking and efficient public administration with European territorial evidence and in doing so pursue the following overarching mission:
• ESPON 2020 shall continue the consolidation of a European Territorial Observatory Network and grow the provision and policy use of pan-European, comparable, systematic and reliable territorial evidence.

The ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme has a budget of almost 50 mio. Euro for the period 2014-2020 which is financed mainly by the European Commission, as well as by the 28 EU Member States and 4 Partner States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure of Luxembourg is the Managing Authority.

What is the task of the EGTC?

The ESPON EGTC receives, as the Single Beneficiary of the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme, a grant to implement:

• Applied research projects on themes defined by policy demand where the European process needs better information and evidence.
• Targeted analyses in cooperation with stakeholders from national, regional and local authorities as well as other programmes under European Structural Investment Funds and European Macro-regions.
• Observation and monitoring of territorial trends and dynamics within Europe as basis for policy consideration covering the entire European territory, its regions and cities as well as European Macro-regions.
• Development and maintenance of a “toolbox” relevant for information and use of the territorial evidence base including data and indicators in the ESPON Database as well as tools for territorial analyses, urban benchmarking, mapping, etc.
• Outreach activities at European level as well in the transnational and national context in order to promote the European perspective of territorial development and cohesion.

As an important element in the renewal of ESPON, the ESPON EGTC will be equipped to serve ongoing policy processes more directly upon demand delivering rapid analytical responses such as short papers, policy briefs, etc. based on the ESPON evidence base. Moreover, the outreach of the pan-European evidence produced needs a wider uptake among policy makers and stakeholders at all levels. And as a legal entity, the ESPON EGTC shall ensure an impeccable management and procedural implementation of its activities. It is therefore decided to increase the number of staff in the ESPON EGTC with relevant qualifications. By late spring 2017 it is envisaged that the ESPON EGTC will include 18 permanent staff. Related to outreach activities, it is particular important to add journalistic competence and experience with press relations and social media which are main qualifications for this post.

The job as Project Expert/Press and Media Activities

In the post as Project Expert/Press and Media Activities your main tasks will be related to ensuring wide outreach of European territorial evidence in line with the implementation of the Outreach Strategy adopted for ESPON. Your work at the ESPON EGTC is expected to include involvement in:

• Press material and articles based on research and analytical findings from ESPON activities.
• ESPON publications, including short Policy Briefs providing journalistic support.
• ESPON promotional material, in particular videos promoting ESPON evidence.
• Support of ESPON events, such as conferences, seminars and workshops with press and media activities.
• Support to Transnational/national outreach activities, in particular with press material and promotion through social media.
• Social media activities promoting the outreach of ESPON evidence, in particular to key policy makers.
• Digital communication, such as web streaming, webinars, inter-active events, etc.
• The ESPON Website and regular Newsletters.
• Media screening extracting potential opportunities for ESPON territorial evidence.
• Press relations towards European media promoting ESPON.

In your daily work you may also be involved in the technical evaluations of tenders related to outreach activities. In addition, there will be administrative tasks related to the job, such as managing contracts for external expertise together with a financial expert/officer from the team and contributing to the required progress reporting by the ESPON EGTC on activities related to the Outreach Strategy. You will also be asked to support that the ESPON EGTC comply with EU publicity requirements.

The vacant post is in organisational terms assigned to the Unit on Evidence and Outreach. In your Unit you will be part of a team of 10 colleagues, and work closely with two other senior project experts implementing the ESPON Outreach Strategy and an administrative officer. The other Unit at the ESPON EGTC will be dealing with administration and management issues.

Qualifications required

You carry a university degree at Master level in communication, journalism, marketing, European affairs and/or other related relevant fields.
Preferably you have 2 - 3 years of relevant work experience with communication, in particular press relations and use of social media. Candidates with less work experience will also be considered if sufficiently convincing skills and competences are present.

You have some insight in European policy and the promotion and media coverage provided at EU and national levels. You are highly motivated to promote new facts, insights and knowledge in an easy-understandable way and to create a wider transfer and uptake of the territorial evidence produced within the ESPON EGTC.

Very important is that you are creative and have ideas on digital communication possibilities and you are particularly well acquainted with social media, e-learning, webinars, inter-active communication, etc. and eager to use this experience and skills. In this respect you possess substantial knowledge on cutting-edge IT communication tools.

You also need skills in analysing larger texts and condensing key messages in a short and easy-understandable way. Here you should be able to demonstrate journalistic and editorial skills.

Moreover, you are minded for collaboration and team work. You are well organised with good personal time management, you can find solutions to problems and have good administrative flair.

High-level communication skills in English is a must in order to perform the tasks related to communication, press and social media as ESPON is communicating in English only. Good computer skills and confidence in working in the IT arena is of course pre-conditions for the post.

Applying for the posts

Your application shall include a brief letter expressing your motivation and expectations as well as your qualifications and experience in relation to the post. In addition, you shall submit your Curriculum Vitae including the main details concerning your professional experience and educational background of relevance for the post as well as the personal and language skills you may bring.
In case you are selected for the post you will be asked to present certified copies of your degree/diplomas as part of the contracting.

If you want to apply for the vacant post please send your application including your CV by e-mail to recruitment@espon.eu indicating Project Expert/Press and Media Activities in the subject line of the email.

Deadline for submitting an application is 6 January 2017 at 16.00.

Selection procedure

The ESPON EGTC establishes a Selection Board, which will invite the best qualified candidates for an interview. All interviews will take place in Luxembourg.

In the selection process the ESPON EGTC applies a policy of equal gender.

Conditions

You will be contracted on an undetermined contract with the ESPON EGTC related to the implementation of the Single Operation of the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme. A competitive salary will be paid with regard to your experience.

The ESPON EGTC is active at European level which is mirrored in the composition of staff. You will at the ESPON EGTC have a diversity of colleagues from different countries in Europe and be part of a multi-cultural working environment which favours cooperation and team work.

Information

You can get further information about the vacant post and the ESPON EGTC as well as on living conditions in Luxembourg by using the email address indicated above or by calling Piera Petruzzi on 00352-20 60 02 80-07.

More information on the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme and the ESPON EGTC can be accessed on http://www.dat.public.lu/index.html and www.espon.eu.