Senior PDRA: SOB4ES - The economic value of soil biodiversity and ecosystem services


Company:	Harper Adams University
Salary:	£40,705 to £45,641 a year
Hours:	Full-time
Working pattern:	Remote
Job type:	Temporary
Posting date:	11 Nov 2026
Closing date:	18 Nov 2026

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Summary

Join a Horizon funded project that places an economic value on the soil biodiversity beneath our feet. The SOB4ES project runs until 3 February 2028. You will join a small and supportive team led by Prof Simon Jeffery. You will work with Prof Karl Behrendt and Dr Hairong Mu of the Harper Adams Business School. You will also work alongside a PhD student on complementary tasks.

You will lead two high-profile pieces of work. First, you will help to develop a cost-effective framework for estimating the economic value of non-market soil biodiversity contributions to ecosystem services. You will lead the modelling of uncertainty in these values. This will show how the rankings of alternative conservation efforts hold up under different conditions.

Second, you will support the prioritisation of ecosystem services for regional and national soil monitoring programmes and for restoration and conservation planning. You will lead the mapping of priority areas across large spatial scales using the Relative Aggregated Value of Ecosystem Services (RAVES) index. Stakeholder and expert input from project partners will shape the weightings. Your maps will point to the most cost-effective places to invest in soil friendly management.

There are significant opportunities to publish and to deliver real impact. You will receive academic and pastoral support, mentoring, training and career guidance throughout.

This role can be fully remote

Essential requirements

For further information about the University or to see full job description, please visit our website at www.harper-adams.ac.uk If you have any queries or questions or for an informal discussion, please contact Prof Simon Jeffery at sjeffery@harper-adams.ac.uk

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