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Job Description Position Details School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £33,002 to £35,608 with potential progression once in post to £39,906
Grade: 6
Full time – 37.5 hours per week
Fixed Term contract up to 2 years from start date
Closing date: 12 May 2026
UK travel may be required for this role
Our offer to you
People are at the heart of what we are and do.
The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.
We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.
We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.
Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.
The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.
Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham
Background
The University of Birmingham is a pioneering global institution and England’s first civic university, remaining firmly committed to our foundations in the highly diverse communities, people, and economy of the city of Birmingham and the West Midlands. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work. Rugby Borough Council will fund and support part of this role, who are committed to protect the environment and ensure the borough adapts to climate change through its corporate strategy. They aim to support nature recovery and increase biodiversity in the borough and provide community leadership to facilitate the management and conservation of its open spaces and natural areas for residents and visitors to enjoy.
Role Summary
The successful candidate will support citizen science initiatives that train and equip volunteers in monitoring river health. The role will be split across two programmes, where 60% of the role (3-days per week) will be spent establishing and delivering the new Rugby River Champions alongside Rugby Borough Council. The remaining 40% will entail supporting the existing Birmingham River Champions , with a particular focus on communities in the east Birmingham area as part of the BLOSSOM project. The candidate will support volunteer networks, provide training and resources, develop communications, and glean community feedback to enhance participation and impact. The volunteer engagement officer will be expected to display strong organisational skills to plan, prioritise, and deliver activities, while also representing the project within the University of Birmingham and Rugby Borough Council. The postholder will be expected to work across Rugby and Birmingham, which will include field site visits and working in the Rugby Town Hall and University campus.
Main Duties
The volunteer engagement officer will initially learn from the already established Birmingham River Champions. They will work closely with university personnel leading this initiative and will receive tailored support and training in this space before applying this to the Rugby area. You will manage various elements of the Rugby River Champions programme, supporting delivery across multiple workstreams. Responsibilities will include:
Volunteer Engagement and Support
- Identifying and connecting with potential volunteer networks across the Rugby area.
- Once established, deliver training on ecological and water chemistry citizen science techniques related to river health monitoring.
- Supporting volunteers in their monitoring activities via field supervision and email communications.
- Communicate project developments and volunteer achievements via different social media platforms.
- Gathering volunteer perceptions and feedback via basic social science research.
Project Reporting and Delivery
- Determine short term priorities for own work, ensuring you maximise quality, efficiency and continuity.
- Supporting the analysis of citizen science outputs and research by preparing spreadsheets and calculating basic statistics.
- Preparing progress reports for project leads or other meetings.
- Disseminating project updates to volunteers via newsletters and community events.
- Where relevant, act as main point of contact for, and facilitate the processing of, project related procurement, contracts and invoicing.
Project Management and Administration
- Where relevant, act as main point of contact for, and facilitate the processing of, project related procurement, contracts and invoicing.
- Monitor progress on volunteer numbers and fulfilment, identifying potential issues, and where required recommending improvements to processes.
- Support budgetary monitoring and management, including reporting.
- Assessing and escalating issues and risks with project managers as appropriate.
Other Responsibilities
- Assist with stakeholder management, developing and maintaining regular contact with internal and external stakeholders to understand requirements.
- Support the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
- Endorse Rugby Borough Council’s Climate Emergency agenda through reporting to meetings and relevant officers
- Promote equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
- Any other duties commensurate with the grade.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications). Where no equivalent qualification is held, significant practical relevant experience and expertise in a similar role will be required.
- Significant practical experience in a project management and/or administrative role(s).
- Experience working with community groups, volunteers, or citizen science initiatives.
- Experience in project coordination, including administration, scheduling, and resource management.
- Experience producing newsletters, reports, or outreach materials.
- Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly, and to produce and analyse information and data.
- Strong organisational and project management skills, with ability to prioritise tasks and meet deadlines.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with ability to engage and motivate volunteers.
- Experience with budgetary management.
- Highly proficient IT skills, including the wider MS Office suite of programmes including Excel and PowerPoint.
- Experience in social media communication (e.g., Instagram and/or Facebook updates reaching community groups, LinkedIn posts).
- Ability to develop and maintain effective relationships with a range of stakeholders (community, academic, local government).
- Willingness to work outdoors in varying conditions when supporting volunteer field activities.
- Flexible and adaptable approach to work, including occasional evening or weekend commitments for community events.
- Familiarity with social science research methods (desirable).
- Understanding of freshwater ecology, water quality monitoring, or related environmental issues (desirable).
- A full UK driving licence (desirable).
- A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self-motivating approach.
- Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day-to-day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.
Informal enquiries to James White, email: j.c.white.1@bham.ac.uk
View our staff values and behaviours here
Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.
We believe there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .
