Job Title: SAGES Policy Internship
Organisation: Scottish Parliament – Scotland’s Futures Forum
Duration: 3-6 months, part-time (flexible to fit around academic commitments)
Start date: September 2019
Renumeration: £4,000-8,000 (dependent on duration)
Travel costs: supported by Scotland’s Futures Forum (receipted travel and necessary overnight stays)

Summary

SAGES are offering a unique opportunity for a short-term Internship with the Scottish Parliament’s Future’s Forum working for 3-6 months, part-time. As the Scottish Parliament’s futures think-tank, Scotland’s Futures Forum looks beyond the electoral cycle to stimulate debate on the long-term challenges and opportunities that Scotland faces. In doing so, it supports the work of the Parliament in debating issues of importance to the people of Scotland and in holding the Scottish Government to account.

The Futures Forum’s current project, the Scotland 2030 Programme, is an exploration of Scotland’s culture and society and our aspirations for 2030 and beyond. Taking a number of different perspectives and considering the societal and cultural impacts of existing and predicted trends, the programme will examine how Scotland can meet the challenges that emerge in order to exploit the opportunities that exist.

The position of Policy Fellowship open to all SAGES Early Career Researchers (late PhD and early postdoctoral) members including the Graduate School and will be awarded on a competitive basis. The Intern will provide policy knowledge and insight working closely with the Scottish Parliament and SAGES to develop meaningful and high-impact research outputs that will be disseminated widely within both SAGES and the wider Scottish academic network.

Link to Scotland’s Futures Forum website

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Job Description

The Policy Internship aims to explore how Scotland can reduce the carbon footprint of transport. This could be by examining innovative low carbon transport ideas or the opportunities to change people’s transport behaviors. Transport is a major contributor of greenhouse gases (GHG) (e.g. carbon dioxide) as well as impacting human health (e.g. nitrogen dioxide). A recent EU report states 27% of GHG emissions originate from transport sources (EU Environment Agency 2018). Much of Scotland’s population is centered on the major cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. This internship, working with Scotland’s Futures Forum, will gather data on GHG emissions from transport in Scottish towns and cities, examine the causes and predicted trends, and explore solutions that are available to reduce those emissions. The internship provides an opportunity to work alongside ECCI projects currently underway to look at how Scotland’s cities can deliver their 2030 targets for net zero, and how some of Scotland’s key industries can contribute to Scotland’s 2045 target for net zero GHG emissions. They will have access to previous work on potential policy impact through ClimateXChange. The internship has an opportunity to accelerate impact through connecting policy areas.

Aims and Outputs

One high-level report with both full and summary versions, which should include:

Recommendations for new policy

Actions to mitigate the impact of transport in a low carbon economy

Identification and recommendations of opportunities and challenges for integration with other projects and policies

Person specifications

We are looking for an Early Career Researcher or SAGES Graduate student:

Either working towards, or has recently completed a PhD

Knowledge and/or experience of working in a policy environment

Knowledge of impacts of transport to the carbon budget

Strong research data collection and synthesis skills

Strong communication skills (written and verbal as post holder will be working with various organisations

Independent worker who can plan their own workload and is confident in their ability to deliver a well written report

How to apply

Please email a one page cover letter detailing why you are the right person for this Policy Internship as well as a CV (2 pages maximum) to laura.scotland@ed.ac.uk at the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation. Please include one reference that you are happy for us to contact, should you be successful.

Deadline for applications is 17:00 on Friday 30 August 2019

By applying you are confirming that you are available for an interview on Thursday 19 September 2019.