About the job

Summary

Defra is responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food, and farming industries and sustaining a rural economy. Our broad remit means we play an important role in people's day-to-day life, from the food we eat and the air we breathe to the water we drink.

This vacancy is within the Animal, Plant Health and Welfare (APHW) Directorate and will play a key role in the ongoing development of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway. Animal health and welfare is a key part of the Government’s commitment to sustainability. Contributing to the development of the Pathway gives you a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enact real change and innovation in how we support our farmers and improve the health and welfare of our animals. This will require close collaboration across Government departments and multiple teams, and with a range of stakeholders, in a fast moving and flagship area of policy.

We are co-designing the Pathway with industry, to promote the production of healthier, higher-welfare animals at a level beyond compliance with current regulations, underpinning our high international reputation for health and welfare and future increases to regulatory standards.

Job description

The successful candidate will lead a small Social Research Team that will provide key evidence and insights to support the design and delivery of the AHW Pathway. The team is located within the APHW’s Evidence and Analysis Division.

The successful candidate will work at pace across a range of important policy questions relating to the AHW Pathway, engaging with internal and external policy and evidence stakeholders. To ensure that the Pathway delivers the desired outcomes we need to design it in such a way as to drive behaviour change in our key target groups, and the role has a key part to play in ensuring this is achieved.

The post holder will contribute to the development of our evidence base, ensuring that policy decisions are underpinned by robust evidence. This will likely involve collating, commissioning and leading both in house and externally commissioned research as well as scoping and horizon scanning to identify emerging fields which may impact the wider policy. There will also be opportunities to work across the Defra portfolio; particularly on high profile and innovative policies, which enjoy high levels of ministerial interest.

Responsibilities

The Lead Social Researcher will:

• Provide social research (with a particular focus on behavioral insights) input to the development of the AHW Pathway, an area with considerable ministerial, Parliamentary, and public interest.

• Support consultation processes and analysis of consultation responses.

• Engage with the core Future Farming programme management teams to ensure deadlines are met and work is delivered on time and to quality.

• Support the development of delivery plans for the policy once HMTs approval for the programme’s business case has been received.

• Build strong relationships with external stakeholders, such as key players in the livestock industry and welfare NGOs.

• Support the team to deliver their in house and externally commissioned projects: quality assuring design and delivery, and providing oversight of complex and sensitive research.

• There will be the opportunity to lead specific projects.

• Line-manage two Senior Research Officers.

Person specification

We'd love to hear from you if you have the following skills and/or experience:

Essential skills and/or experience include:

• Excellent quantitative and qualitative social research skills, with experience of delivering multiple and/or complex research projects.

• Very good project management skills, able to deliver competing priorities at pace.

• Ability to build strong networks and relationships to deliver common objectives.

• Pro-actively identifying opportunities for research to make a positive impact on policy priorities.

• Communicating research insights and technical subjects to non-specialists.

• Quickly assimilating information on a new policy area.

Memberships

To apply, you either need to be a current member of the GSR profession or fulfil one of the two following criteria:

1. Qualifications: Hold an undergraduate degree at a minimum of 2:1, or 2:2 with a postgraduate degree, in a social science subject. A qualifying social science subject is one which contains substantial social research methods training (comprising around one third of modules taken in the course).

The degree must contain quantitative research methods, including research design, data collection (i.e. questionnaire design, sampling, weighting), data analysis (e.g. statistical analysis) and at least three of the following:

- Qualitative methods, including research design, data collection (i.e. interviewing, focus groups, ethnography), data analysis (e.g. thematic analysis).

- Study design, hypothesis formation, testing and evaluation.

- Systematic/literature reviews.

- Interpretation of data (qualitative & quantitative), presentation of results, provision of recommendations/conclusions.

- Application of ethics to research.

OR

2. Experience: Hold an undergraduate degree at a minimum of 2:1, or 2:2 with a relevant postgraduate degree, in any subject, or hold a degree equivalent (for example, an advanced Certificate or Diploma from MRS) and have at least 4 years of social research practice experience. Social research practice experience consists of experience working in a research agency, market research agency or specialised research team. To enter the GSR through this route you must make explicit the breadth and depth of your research experience and skills, which must include quantitative research methods and three of the following: systematic/literature reviews; qualitative methods; interpretation of data and presentation of results; study design and hypothesis testing.

More information about GSR Eligibility Criteria can be found here.

Please note, we will ask to see evidence of your eligibility should you be invited to interview.

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• GSR Professional Expertise: Technical Skills

• GSR Professional Expertise: Using and Promoting Social Research

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Working Together
• Changing and Improving

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• GSR Professional Expertise: Technical Skills
• GSR Professional Expertise: Using and Promoting Social Research

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role

• An environment with flexible working options

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

• A Civil Service pension