Knowledge Transfer Associate in soil carbon analysis and accounting
Edinburgh £40,497 - £47,874


Job sector
Agriculture & Food
Job function
Geoscience
Start date
01/05/2025
Job duration
21 months
Application closing date
14/02/2025
Job description
The University of Edinburgh and the Plan Vivo Foundation have been awarded a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) to support Plan Vivo projects to quantify soil carbon changes under small holder agroforestry in the Global South. We will develop a state of the art modelling tool and methodology to help projects understand the soil carbon impacts of their land management and access the voluntary carbon market.
We are seeking a highly talented, independent and motivated candidate for a 21-month fixed term position. You will work as part of a team to build a simple but effective tool that combines model estimates and field data, provides simple to understand outputs, and quantifies uncertainty in ways that meet good practice and standards in the voluntary carbon market. You will engage with project developers and other stakeholders in the Plan Vivo network to deliver high quality training on the use of the tool and to ensure it meets the needs of diverse projects and the Plan Vivo secretariat.
This post is full-time (35 hours per week) based at Plan Vivo Foundation’s headquarters in central Edinburgh, but you will also spend time with the UoE team at the King’s Buildings campus. The post will be jointly supervised by Plan Vivo and the academic lead at UoE.
Your skills and attributes for success:
◾ Ph.D. (or a Ph.D. close to completion, i.e. submitted) in environmental science, with a focus on high-level data science methods and soil carbon or carbon accounting more generally.
◾ Experience of combining model predictions with observations (model-data fusion) and uncertainty propagation
◾ Critical thinking skills to balance competing needs of projects, the carbon market and scientific rigour
◾ Knowledge of carbon cycling, climate change policy and the land-use and forestry sector.
◾ Self-starter with proven ability to work independently and efficiently to set deadlines.
◾ Excellent written and oral communication skills.
◾ Proven ability to work as a member of a team.
Project description
To develop a modelling tool and methodology to support Plan Vivo projects to quantify soil carbon changes under small holder agroforestry in the Global South. The methodology will help projects understand the soil carbon impacts of their land management and access the voluntary carbon market by issuing Plan Vivo Certificates (PVCs) for any gains in soil carbon. You will work as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with University of Edinburgh academics and Plan Vivo staff to build a simple but effective tool that combines model estimates and field data, provides simple to understand outputs, and quantifies uncertainty in ways that meet good practice and standards in the voluntary carbon market. You will engage with project developers and other stakeholders in the Plan Vivo network to deliver high quality training on the use of the tool and to ensure it meets the needs of diverse projects and the Plan Vivo secretariat.
About the business

Plan Vivo was born out of a desire to help smallholders in Chiapas, Mexico, plant trees and generate the world’s first carbon credits. Since then, Plan Vivo has used its ideology and network of stakeholders to evolve into a system that can help provide environmental and social benefits to communities around the world. See below for some of the more notable dates along our journey.