CLIMATE JUSTICE RESEARCH PROGRAM INTEGRATION SPECIALIST

University of Washington Human Resources

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CLIMATE JUSTICE RESEARCH PROGRAM INTEGRATION SPECIALIST
CLIMATE JUSTICE RESEARCH PROGRAM INTEGRATION SPECIALIST
Req #: 194850

Department: EARTHLAB

Job Location: Seattle Campus

Posting Date: 08/17/2021

Closing Info: Open Until Filled

Salary: Salary is commensurate with experience and education

Shift: First Shift

Notes: As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For detailed information on Benefits for this position, click here.

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

The Climate Impacts Group. (CIG) seeks a full-time Program Integration Specialist to help launch our flagship research programs that address complex societal and environmental problems by co-producing knowledge with researchers, decision makers and frontline communities. Potential also exists for a future role within the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (NW CASC) and other CIG programs.

The CIG's flagship climate justice research program is a participatory research program designed to support communities on the frontlines of climate change in pursuing their own resilience objectives while ensuring that local and place-based innovations and needs are scaled out and up to advance resilience more broadly. Our central research question - How can science-based evidence assist frontline communities in improving their resilience to climate change, while addressing the legacy of systemic inequity that continues to influence their lives and livelihoods? - will be addressed through a program of research, engagement and evaluation designed to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. Focal communities include coastal tribes and rural communities, but we intend to engage a broad range of frontline communities to ensure that lessons learned can be scaled out to other frontline communities and up to state and federal efforts to support climate resilience. The proposed work will lead to (1) significant advances in the theory and practice of advancing climate resilience in frontline communities; (2) evidence and models for effectively elevating community-driven approaches to climate resilience; (3) centering climate justice and frontline communities within the scientific enterprise; and (4) enhanced diversity and inclusion in regional climate sciences and services.

The Program Integration Specialist will work as a team with the Frontline Community Climate Resilience Scientist, acting as the primary point of contact at the operational level between the program's researchers (based in the CIG, Headwaters Economics, Idaho State University, Portland State University, Washington Sea Grant, and Washington State University), its community-facing partners (including the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, American Farmland Trust, Front and Centered), and potentially frontline communities themselves (including Native American tribes, rural communities and communities of color).

In addition to program management experience, we are seeking an individual with substantive knowledge and experience in research integration and implementation, because this position will need to integrate across diverse perspectives, values, knowledge specializations, and geographies. The purpose of such integration will be to help collaborative teams of researchers, decision makers and frontline communities achieve more than the sum of their individual efforts.

Position Dimensions and Impact

We envision this position will contribute to the success of all aspects of the CIG's flagship climate justice research program of work. This includes integrating across individual project efforts in each of the two topical portfolios of work: Tribal Coastal Resilience and Rural Resilience. The Program Integration Specialist will also be a driving force behind the Scaling Resilience portfolio of work, which was designed to augment the outcomes of the Tribal Coastal and Rural Resilience Portfolios (e.g., expanding impact to peer communities) and leverage synergies across them (e.g., common training materials). This may include engaging with knowledge-to-action networks, organizing and executing "train the trainer" activities and assisting in curriculum development for a Climate Action Corps. We hope to attract a candidate who is passionate about climate justice, climate change impacts and adaptation and co-producing actionable science.

The CIG is dedicated to building the climate resilience of communities and natural systems by advancing awareness of climate risks and enabling science-based action to manage those risks. We are an interdisciplinary team with an operating model that fully integrates research with outreach and stakeholder engagement. Our work considers climate impacts at spatial scales ranging from local communities to the entire western U.S. region, with most of the work focused on the Pacific Northwest. The CIG is a member organization of EarthLab.

EarthLab is a visionary institute that pushes boundaries to address our most pressing environmental challenges, with a current focus on climate and its intersection with social justice. EarthLab does this by connecting the University of Washington (UW) to communities, businesses, non-profits, public agencies, Tribal nations and others to co-produce actionable research that generates solutions and strategies for local and global impact. EarthLab's vision, an equitable, just and sustainable world where people and the planet thrive, supports one of the University's biggest goals. As a Carnegie-classified Community Engagement University, the UW aspires to be the #1 university in the world as measured by impact. EarthLab is inspired by and committed to this challenge.

The University of Washington is located in the greater Seattle metropolitan area, with a dynamic, multicultural community of 3.7 million people and a range of ecosystems from mountains to ocean. The UW acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations. The UW serves a diverse population of 80,000 students, faculty and staff, including 25% first-generation college students, over 25% Pell Grant students, and faculty from more than 70 countries. As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: EarthLab and the CIG acknowledge the systemic racism that exists in the environmental sector and within environmentalism. We believe every member on our team enriches our diversity by bringing a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions. We are seeking candidates who are committed to creating an equitable, diverse and inclusive work environment where all voices are considered and valued.

Position Complexities

The CIG's flagship climate justice research program is a collaborative effort with a Leadership Team drawn from the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, the CIG, Front and Centered, Portland State University and Washington Sea Grant. The complexity of this partnership will present organizational and logistical challenges. While this position is located at the CIG, it will need to synthesize and distill information about project work to the Leadership Team and the Frontline Community Committee in collaboration with the Research Leads of each of the three research portfolios. This position will need to be flexible and responsive to contribute where help is needed most as the research program evolves, possibly contributing to research, monitoring and evaluation, communications or other efforts as needs dictate. This research program is also funding partial positions in three community-facing organizations; the Program Integration Specialist is expected to develop positive working relationships with these three or more individuals to facilitate team science.

In addition to playing a lead role in the CIG's flagship climate justice research program, we anticipate the position will also have significant involvement in other complex CIG flagship research efforts, such as the NW CASC or others. The exact balance of which projects beyond the climate justice program this position works on will be determined as needs and opportunities arise.

Position Responsibilities

This position will act as an integrative project manager for the CIG's flagship climate justice research program, leading or collaborating with program researchers and community-facing collaborators to deliver on the mission of this program. This will include conducting research integration activities, acting as the primary point of contact for the research program with the federal agency funding this effort, and collaborating with the Leadership Team, Frontline Community Committee, and the Research Leads for three project portfolios in determining program direction and strategy. In addition to providing support for the research program as a whole, this position may be asked to contribute to logistics, program management and integration for specific portfolios of work or individual research and engagement efforts. This could include organizing and staffing meetings, note taking, workshop and conference agenda development, developing and implementing project plans, tracking and reporting timelines, and report writing. This position's primary responsibility is to navigate complex situations to help collaborative teams of researchers, decision makers and frontline communities achieve their research or practical objectives.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Project Management and Integration [70%]

• Identify opportunities to integrate across CIG's flagship climate justice research program research portfolios and specific projects, looking for synergies to make the full research program greater than the sum of the individual projects;
• Collaborate with and support the Research Leads for the three portfolios of work (Tribal Coastal Resilience, Rural Resilience, and Scaling Resilience) to make connections with other portfolios of work, ensure relevant work is shared across communities, and to scale project work up to aligned state, regional, or national efforts;
• Work directly with the Scaling Resilience Portfolio Research Lead to identify and prioritize opportunities for cross-community and cross-portfolio learning;
• Work with the Leadership Team in understanding the full range of work being undertaken across the research program and to assist them in setting strategic direction for the research program;
• Act as a community-facing liaison working with the Frontline Community Committee to develop and execute on creating a collaborative environment for frontline communities to discuss their priorities and how to engage with the research program;
• Work with the federal agency funding this effort on research program reporting requirements;
• Assist in project-specific research needs, such as literature reviews, contextual analyses, needs assessments, or developing monitoring and evaluation strategies as need or opportunity arises;
• Assist in other CIG program management and integration as appropriate.

Communications [20%]

• Act as the primary liaison for the research program with community-facing partner organizations, including the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, the American Farmland Trust, Front and Centered, and possibly others;
• Coordinate communications with coastal tribal and rural communities across WA, OR, and ID that are not directly involved in the research program, but may benefit from its work;
• Coordinate with national and regional partners participating in aligned research programs;
• Assist in other CIG research communication coordination needs as appropriate.

Grant support and reporting [10%]

• Lead the development of the small grants program in consultation with community-facing partner organization to fund frontline communities to work with the research program while minimizing the administrative burden that falls on those communities;
• Assist communities directly in grant administration and reporting requirements.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor's degree in a natural, physical, social science or related field;
• 3 years of work of relevant experience in areas related to research, research coordination or project management;

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Familiarity with theory/practice of effective methods for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research;
• Experience with facilitating team science or other complex multi-organizational collaborations across diverse participants;
• Demonstrated experience engaging frontline communities in environmental, health, climate or other decision-making processes or demonstrated understanding of the connections between environmental justice and racial, climate and health justice;
• Demonstrated cultural competence, leading with curiosity and humility to facilitate relationships across different perspectives, values, knowledge specializations, and geographies;
• Demonstrated experience facilitating relationships and skills in conflict management;
• Experience coordinating communications and research activities among diverse teams of researchers;
• Experience with oral and written communications in support of large research projects with multiple participating entities.

DESIRED EXPERIENCE:

• Knowledge of or experience in applied climate change impacts and adaptation;
• Experience with co-production and use-inspired research;
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex scientific information in clear and concise language appropriate for diverse audiences (e.g., scientists, community members, decision makers, students, media, etc.).

Additional Application Instructions:
Your cover letter should include 1-2 paragraphs addressing your efforts to engage with frontline communities.

Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Workforce Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select "Apply to this position". Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your "My Jobs" page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.

Applicants considered for this position will be required to disclose if they are the subject of any substantiated findings or current investigations related to sexual misconduct at their current employment and past employment. Disclosure is required under Washington state law .

Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.

To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 or dso@uw.edu .