Main duties of post holder

In carrying out the job, the successful candidate will be expected to:

• Contribute quantitative expertise to collaborative research projects, focussing on several of these areas: soils and crops, animal health, welfare and behaviour, crop and livestock disease control, agricultural emissions, biodiversity, agri-food systems, and agri-economics and social sciences.
• Deliver research, developing statistical, statistical genetics, or modelling methods, with clear relevance to the Scottish Government funded Strategic Research Programme.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of BioSS training courses for research scientists.
• Develop strong collaborative links with specific groups of scientists in the SEFARI and more widely.
• Identify, lead and collaborate in applications for funding, including calls from UKRI, and contribute to management and delivery of resulting projects as appropriate.
• Contribute to meetings with stakeholders from scientific and non-scientific backgrounds.
• Support building new collaborative links with government agencies, NGOs, universities, research institutes and commercial organisations.
• Contribute to raising BioSS’ external profile by presenting work at relevant national and international conferences.
• Take personal responsibility for building, managing and maintaining relationships with specific groups of scientists, external organisations and stakeholders; establish new links and new areas of collaboration; and in all such activities explicitly seek to generate benefit across all of BioSS by acting in support of other staff.

Qualifications/Skills/Knowledge

We will be looking for the following ‘Essential’ and ‘Desirable’ attributes in candidates:

Essential

• A PhD in statistics, biomathematics or another very closely related quantitative discipline, or an MSc with commensurate post-qualification development and work experience.
• Experience of development and use of modern quantitative methods applied to real-world examples. No specific area of experience is ‘essential’, but examples of desirable fields are listed below.
• A strong track record of research and/or collaboration evidenced by scientific journal and conference papers in a methodological field relevant to the environment, food or agriculture sciences.
• Evidence of collaborative working at the interface between mathematical and other sciences, preferably in a methodological field relevant to the remit of this post.
• Strong general statistical skills, including an understanding of relevant areas such as: experimental design, survey design, regression, mixed models, generalised linear models, generalised additive models, multivariate analysis.
• Good statistical programming ability in R or another high-level statistical programming platform.
• Enthusiasm for development and application of quantitative methods, for collaborating with applied scientists in a range of scientific areas.
• The ability to work independently.
• Evidence of good written communication skills.
• Strong verbal communication skills, including the ability to give effective spoken presentations, to both quantitative and wider scientific audiences.
• Enthusiasm for developing, contributing to, and leading funding applications.
• Evidence of ability to initiate and manage collaborations, lead projects and to manage people.

Desirable

Different skills sets would fit the remit of the post, any of which would be desirable. For example, experience in any of:

• Experimental design;
• Advanced multivariate methods;
• Bayesian statistical modelling;
• Statistical methods for socioeconomic research;
• Latent variable models and/or mixture models;
• Development of Bayesian Belief Network or Chain Graph models;
• Individual (agent)-based modelling;
• Statistical genomics.

Experience in environmental, food and agricultural sciences applications, or closely related fields.

Experience of communicating with government and commercial clients.

Experience communicating scientific activity to the public, including use of social media.

Experience of developing and leading funding applications.

This list is explicitly not exhaustive; all applicants who believe that they have expertise relevant to the post will be welcome.

How To Apply

To apply, please create an account and upload personal details along with a CV, including as a minimum your education and employment history plus relevant scientific achievements, and a covering letter/statement detailing why you consider yourself suitable for this post.

Applications will be reviewed by BioSS staff. We do not use AI tools to sift or assess applications, and applicants should ensure that the materials they submit are an accurate and authentic representation of their own experience, skills and suitability for the role. We reserve the right to disregard applications where we identify substantive material that appears to have been generated by AI rather than written by the applicant.

The deadline for applications is 8th November 2026. Interviews are expected to be held on 25th November 2026.

Other Notes

This is a permanent appointment.

We encourage applications from underrepresented groups in STEM, particularly women, BAME and LGBTQ+.

BioSS is an accredited Investors in People Gold Organisation.

BioSS is formally part of The James Hutton Institute.

Our Commitment to Equality and Diversity

We will not consider the use of 3rd party recruitment agencies for the sourcing of candidates for this position.

The James Hutton Institute is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

The James Hutton Institute is a: Stonewall Diversity Champion; Athena SWAN Silver Status Holder; Disability Confident Committed Employer and a Living Wage Employer.

The James Hutton Institute is Happy to Talk Flexible Working.

The Company

The James Hutton Institute combines strengths in crops, soils and land use and environmental research, and makes a major contribution to the understanding of key global issues, such as food, energy and environmental security, and developing and promoting effective technological and management solutions to these.

James Hutton (1726 – 1797) was a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, an eighteenth century golden age of intellectual and scientific achievements centred on Edinburgh. He is internationally regarded as the founder of modern geology and one of the first scientists to describe the Earth as a living system. His thinking on natural selection influenced Charles Darwin in developing his theory of evolution.

Our Values

• We respect and value our people and the people we engage with
• We want to make a difference
• We strive to be excellent in everything we do
• We lead by example
• We foster creativity and innovation

Sorry - this vacancy is no longer available.