Environmental Data Service Head - Integration and Engagement

Are you an inspirational leader with highly developed strategic insight into current and future technical and user-focused requirements for environmental data services? Do you have extensive experience of developing and enhancing user engagement in a data service setting? Would you like to play a central role in the delivery of increasingly integrated services across the full breadth of environmental science to meet the environmental data needs of stakeholders and users across the UK and beyond? If so, we want to hear from you! 

The NERC Environmental Data Service (EDS) provides integrated data services across the breadth of NERC’s data holdings and coordinates closer collaboration and development between NERC’s five environmental data centres.

Data is central to modern understanding of our environment. Environmental science is underpinned by access to high quality sources of data and data services. As the principal funder of environmental science in the UK, NERC has supported comprehensive data services and policies since its creation over 50 years ago. Today NERC has five Environmental Data Centres embedded within its Research Centres:

• The British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) provides data and services across marine science and is embedded within the National Oceanography Centre.

• The Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) provides both atmospheric and Earth Observation data and is embedded within the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the National Centre for Earth Observation.

• The Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC) supports the data requirements of the terrestrial and freshwater sciences and is embedded within the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

• The UK Polar Data Centre (PDC) is responsible for all of the UK’s polar data holdings and associated services and is embedded within the British Antarctic Survey.

• The National Geoscience Data Centre (NDGC) provides geoscience and subsurface data and services and is embedded within the British Geological Survey.

Each of the five environmental data centres specialises in data within a particular sub-discipline of environmental science and serves not only NERC’s science community but also a much broader community of users and stakeholders, which span research, industry, education, government and voluntary organisations. At the same time, science and its applications are becoming increasingly multi-disciplinary. Often users of NERC data will need to access the services provided by multiple data centres. 

In order to serve an ever-growing community of data users and stakeholders, in 2018 NERC created its Environmental Data Service to coordinate across the data centres. During its first five years the EDS has provided growing coordination between NERC’s data centres, both for user services and the development of new, discipline-independent services.

NERC has recently recommissioned its data services for the period 2023-2028. As a consequence, the EDS is embarking on an ambitious plan to deliver increasingly integrated services across the full breadth of NERC science and meeting the environmental data needs of stakeholders and users across the UK and beyond. 

As part of this development, the EDS wishes to recruit an inspirational leader who will help to drive increasing integration between the five data centres and deepen its engagement with environmental data users and providers.

The role is hosted by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science located at the University of Leeds. The role is employed by the University of Leeds. 

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact either of the following: 

Stephen Mobbs, Executive Director, National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Chair of the EDS Management Board

Email: stephen.mobbs@ncas.ac.uk

Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley, Director of Innovations and Impact, British Antarctic Survey

Email: beatrix@bas.ac.uk

Please upload with your application:

• an up-to-date CV 

• a 2-page statement explaining your interest in this role and your vision for the development of the Environmental Data Service’