Highly motivated and talented individuals are invited to apply for 7 jobs on an exciting new Europe-wide project to be led from Dundee called the GROW Observatory. You can see the full job listings by clicking here.

From its base at the University of Dundee, GROW will empower tens of thousands of growers across Europe with knowledge on growing and the land, to increase access to affordable food, preserve the soil for future generations, and solve a major challenge for science. The project starts on 1st November 2016, and will engage growers and citizen scientists to help co-create the experiments during the 2017 growing season.

Dr Drew Hemment, who has led 18 organisations across Europe in winning the competition and securing a €5.1 million EU grant, said: “For three years we have been working to make this possible. Now we are looking for motivated and committed people to join this international team and make GROW happen.”

“This is citizen science on an unprecedented scale” continued Drew, who is leading the project from DJCAD at the University of Dundee. “People taking part will collaborate to create and share information on soil, the land, on crops – what to plant, when to plant them and how to do it.”

GROW also aims to solve a longstanding challenge for space science, and help efforts to forecast and prepare for climate events, such as heat waves and floods, by validating the detection of soil moisture from satellites.

To achieve this GROW will combine low cost sensing technology combined with citizens’ own devices, a simple soil test, innovative data handling and an online education platform to mobilise large numbers of citizens across Europe.

“We are looking for a designer, a researcher, a natural communicator who will run the office and admin, and someone with a track record in delivering projects of this ambition and scale. People joining our incredible team will work alongside 18 world leading design, science and community organisations across Europe,” said Drew.

Job opportunities now open on GROW and a linked project, Making Sense:

For job information and to apply: www.uod.ac.uk/growobservatory-jobs
Project information: www.growobservatory.org
Deadline for all posts: 30 September 2016
Interviews: 7–12 October 2016 (see individual job ads for details)

GROW Programme Director (Delivery and Development)

You will have responsibility for the successful delivery of a citizens’ observatory for growers, gardeners, small and family farmers, land and soil advocates, and space scientists. Your role is central to the development of a research group at University of Dundee specialising in large scale, international projects.

GROW Communications and Service Designer

You will implement the visual design of the project and co-design a range of design materials to deliver citizen science experiments, online learning, innovation workshops and publicity materials.

GROW Communications and Administration Officer

You will be central to communications between partners across the GROW project, and will work closely with the Project Director to provide communications and administrative support. You will ensure communication is timely and effective to ensure smooth operations and delivery.

GROW Post-doctoral Research Assistant (Citizen Science and Online Learning)

You will work as a part of an interdisciplinary and international team to co-­design, deliver and evaluate a citizen science and online learning programme, responding to urgent citizen needs and issues. This role will be central to the ambition for the GROW Observatory, you will be lead GROW Research Associate for University of Dundee.

Making Sense Post-doctoral Research Assistant (Participatory Sensing)

You will develop, evaluate and report on approaches, outcomes and impacts of Making Sense, a project building new collaborative platforms, communities and tools for collective knowledge and action.

Making Sense Post-doctoral Research Assistant (Participatory Social Innovation)

You will develop, apply and evaluate outcomes and impacts for Making Sense, building on a prior report for Making Sense D5.4 Community Level Indicators.

GROW EU Projects Manager

You will create the conditions for a smooth and successful H2020 innovation programme, by delivering outstanding project reporting, finance, administration and governance.

Information on all posts and to apply: www.uod.ac.uk/growobservatory-jobs