BirdLife Emerging Scientist Scholarship in Cambridge

Application deadline: Friday 13 March 2025– 23:59 GMT

Location: Cambridge, UK (hybrid working, minimum one day per week in Cambridge)

Full-time: 35 hours per week

Contract: Fixed term, 12 months

Salary: £25,000 per annum depending on skills/experience, plus competitive 12% pension benefit

Annual Leave: 25 days pro rata

We are BirdLife International, the only global Partnership conserving birds and all life on our planet. We exist to give one voice to nature, and to unite and strengthen conservation across borders.

Are you seeking a career in conservation science and have a particular interest in seabirds or understanding the extinction risk of species? The inaugural BirdLife Emerging Scientist Scholarship could be the opportunity you’ve been looking for.

The aim of the BirdLife Emerging Scientist Scholarship is to support early-career scientists by providing opportunities to conduct high-impact research within BirdLife International. The Scholarship aims to provide transformational career opportunities for early career scientists, generate vital scientific insights that directly shape BirdLife's global conservation programmes, and strengthen BirdLife's commitment to capacity building and nurturing the next generation of conservation leaders.

Scholars are embedded within the Global Science Division, with access to mentoring, training, global conservation data, connections to our partners globally, and networking and learning events through the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, a partnership between the prestigious University of Cambridge, BirdLife International, and other conservation organisations based in Cambridge.

As the inaugural BirdLife Emerging Scientist Scholarship, this role’s purpose is to undertake research on the extinction risk of seabirds within BirdLife International's Global Science Division. Specifically, to update and analyse data on seabirds (including tabular, textual and spatial data on distribution, population, trends, ecology, threats and actions) and to reassess their extinction risk using the IUCN Red List criteria as a contribution to BirdLife's Red List assessments for all the world’s birds.

Seabirds are one of the most threatened groups of birds worldwide. In BirdLife's latest assessment as the IUCN Red List Authority for birds, 30% of the world’s 370 seabird species were globally threatened (i.e. Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable) and another 10% were Near Threatened (NT), while 50% of all seabird species had declining population trends. However, most of those assessments are several years old. It is now a high priority to reassess them, to ensure they reflect the latest information, so that the Red List continues to inform conservation policy and practice.

What we are looking for:

• Do you have a passion for conservation, a thirst for building conservation evidence, and an eye for detail?
• Would you like to contribute to global marine conservation?
• We are looking for a highly motivated individual with energy, enthusiasm and initiative to help update our understanding of the status of seabird species worldwide.
• We seek someone who can distil precise summaries from reams of information, and who thrives on conveying this in a clear and concise manner for the benefit of scientists and conservationists worldwide.
• Knowledge of seabird species, ecology and conservation, an understanding of the IUCN Red List criteria, and some GIS experience are all desirable.

Some of our benefits:

• We are able to offer a hybrid model of working on-site and from home/remote for most roles, which helps to ensure a flexible work-life balance.
• A chance to work in the award-winning David Attenborough Building, which brings together much of the Cambridge-based conservation community on a 'conservation campus.'
• A generous pension scheme, up to 12% company contribution.
• Holiday starting at 25 days excluding Bank Holidays.
• Full access to LinkedIn Learning with access to more than 13,000 high-quality, on-demand courses.
• Employee Assistance Programme, including access to Health Assured online health portal (webinars, nutritional advice, 4-week programmes, financial wellbeing and more).

BirdLife values a diverse workforce and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. We are committed to building and maintaining an inclusive and supportive culture, a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. We aim to promote a more inclusive environment, which attracts all candidates and signals our commitment to celebrate and promote diversity.

We will consider putting into place appropriate reasonable adjustments for candidates who may have a disability.

Please note: under the UK Government criteria this role will not be eligible for Visa Sponsorship, unless you meet the exception criteria detailed here: Interviews: Interviews will be held online March 2026.