University of Edinburgh
Earth Fellow: Sustainability engagement and behaviour change
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Grade UE05: £29,588 to £33,951 per annum, pro rata
Edinburgh Earth Initiative / Department for Social Responsibility and
Sustainability
Part Time: 9 hours per week
Fixed-term: for nine months from October 2026
The Opportunity:
The Edinburgh Earth Initiative (EEI) and Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability are looking for two postgraduate students to support embedding sustainability into the everyday behaviours, culture and habits of the wider University community. This 9-month project will focus on increasing participation in the Sustainability Action Reward Platform, and the Sustainability Champions Network.
Click here to view the full project brief for the Earth Fellow: sustainability engagement and behaviour change, including key tasks and deliverables [https://uoe.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/jobdescriptionlibrary/IQCR3akyWU7uSoUF_bcEDwpSAUhhZ-IbrhmwGDJGE8tJJRQ] (opens browser in new tab).
Click here to view the general Earth Fellow job description [https://uoe.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/jobdescriptionlibrary/IQBo5m_sERQDSImP9oJIOEU3AawGDXrMlqFcP_8gf7M3RNM] (opens browser in new tab). Please refer to both the project brief and job description when outlining your skills and experience in your application.
This post will be appointed at Grade UE05, step 1 which is £29,588 per annum, pro rata (£16.21 per hour).
Earth Fellowships are only open to current postgraduate and PhD students at the University of Edinburgh based in the UK. Please do not apply if you are not a current University of Edinburgh student.
Your skills and attributes for success:
We welcome applicants from any discipline. You do not need a sustainability background.
- Current University of Edinburgh postgraduate (masters) student in the ‘26/’27 academic year.
- Confident and approachable communicator, comfortable speaking with individuals and groups.
- Familiarity with the development of digital resources and communications, particularly across the Microsoft Suite (SharePoint, Outlook and Teams) as well as social media channels including Instagram.
- An interest in sustainability and a baseline understanding of the principles behind sustainable behaviours, with a willingness to deepen this knowledge through the role.
- Enthusiasm for in-person engagement and developing practical behaviour-change skills.
- Ability to represent programmes professionally in busy, public, or informal campus settings in person and online.
- Organised and reliable, with the ability to manage tasks that vary across events, engagement and light communications.
- Curious about what motivates different people and willing to adapt approaches based on what works.
- Comfortable working both independently and collaboratively within a supportive team.
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As an Earth Fellow, you will be joining a diverse, fun and dynamic team of researchers, students and staff all working together to address the global climate emergency. As part of the Earth Fellows programme, you will have access to co-working space, exciting networking and personal development opportunities and opportunities to contribute towards partnerships and solutions for climate change on a global scale.
Earth Fellows work on individual and team-based projects which contribute to the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Earth Initiative’s work on climate change research-led impact, innovation, engagement, and teaching.
As a valued member of our team you can expect:
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An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work alongside the Edinburgh Earth Initiative team and Earth Fellows community which includes undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students as well as the wider student community, academics, professional services, and global partners working on climate and environmental change. We give you support, nurture your talent and reward success.
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You will benefit from a competitive reward package and a wide range of staff benefits, which includes a generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, flexible working and much more. Click to access our staff benefits page [https://www.ed.ac.uk/human-resources/pay-reward/staff-benefits] (opens new browser tab) for further information and use our reward calculator to find out the total value of pay and benefits provided.
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Championing equality, diversity, and inclusion
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages [https://www.ed.ac.uk/human-resources/demonstrating-rtw] (opens new browser tab)
Key dates to note
The closing date for applications is 16 September 2026.
Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browser’s local time zone.
Interviews will be held during September/October 2026.
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address
tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
Launched in 2022, the Edinburgh Earth Initiative was established by the University’s Executive with a cross institutional remit to drive a step change in the University’s engagements with climate and sustainability challenges.
In 2024, a strategic review of Edinburgh Earth Initiative was completed and the results of that review, including a strategy for 2025-2030, were approved by the University Executive. The strategy states that the mission of EEI is to catalyse bold, globally significant transdisciplinary research, innovation and partnerships at the University in support of the Research & Innovation Strategy 2030 and Climate Strategy.
Edinburgh Earth Initiative Website https://earth.ed.ac.uk/ (opens in new browser tab)
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