Science Policy Coordinator

Research, policy, and capacity development tasks.

• Lead and coordinate SEI Africa’s science and policy engagement working closely with programme and project leaders.
  
• Coordinate and expand the SEI Africa’s flagship project on strengthening science for environmental and climate diplomacy in Africa, including implementation of a pilot project in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya.
  
• Coordinate the Centre's engagement with UNEP Regional Office for Africa, and involvement in both bilateral, regional, and multilateral environment conventions, agreements, and Science-Policy Interface (SPI) platforms. These include but is not limited to climate (IPCC, UNFCCC, and Paris Agreement), Biodiversity (IPBES, UNCBD and other biodiversity related MEAs), Desertification and land degradation (UNCCD) and other relevant regional and international conventions.
  
• Coordinate SEI Africa’s involvement in the SEI Science and Policy Engagement (SPE) thematic areas; Agenda 2030 and SDGs, Climate governance, Finance for sustainable development, Biodiversity and ecosystems, and the Ocean.
  
• Coordinate SEI’s collaboration and partnership with key continental and regional multilateral institutions, including the African Union Commission (AUC), and relevant AU organs (e.g., the Specialized Technical Committees), the relevant African Ministerial Conferences (e.g., AMCEN, AMCOMEST, AMCOW etc.), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other relevant regional agreements and frameworks.
  
• Lead impactful academic publications that can advance policy research and engagement in the environment and development fields.
  
• Lead and coordinate internal and external capacity building initiatives, including coordinating training on science diplomacy, climate diplomacy and environment diplomacy.
  
• Provide thought leadership on science for environmental diplomacy by identifying, analyzing, and proposing actions by SEI to respond to emerging environment and development issues on related thematic areas (climate, water, oceans, and ecosystems etc.), at the global, regional, and national levels.
  
• Supervise postgraduate students and contribute to teaching and training at universities that have partnership arrangements with SEI.
  

Centre Development

• Support SEI staff and researchers in their engagement in policy processes and work with policy makers in government (including executive, legislative, and judicial arms).
  
• Work with the Communications team to undertake outreach activities that include media appearances, public presentations,science-policy dialogues, media briefings, and preparation of articles for specialist publications as appropriate.
  
• Provide guidance to early career research staff in the research process and career development and contribute to SEI’s staff research development program.
  
• Contribute to strengthening the relationship between the Centre and other partners through joint research, policy engagement and capacity development activities.
  

Project Specific Tasks

• Lead and coordinate the implementation of the flagship project on strengthening science for environmental and climate diplomacy in Africa, including implementation of a pilot by SEI Africa in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya.
  
• Coordinate SEI’s contribution to the Blue Economy, including support to the Government of Kenya in the preparations of the UN Oceans Conference, and SE Africa’s engagement in the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
  
• Lead Centre’s engagement in key policy processes, including the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA), the Stockholm + 50, UNEP@50 and other relevant UN Initiatives, in consultation and collaboration with the relevant programmes and projects at SEI Africa. SEI HQ and colleagues in other SEI Centres.
  
• Develop partnerships with international, regional, and national actors working in environment diplomacy and science policy in Africa.
  

Requirements

• Ph.D. degree in relevant subject such as Public Policy, Environment/Climate Policy, Technology, Engineering, Environmental Law, Geography, International Relations and Diplomacy, Environmental Science, or interdisciplinary studies with Science diplomacy relevant qualifications.
  
• At least 7 years work experience relevant to Science-policy interface, preferably applied research and/or policy engagement in environment diplomacy, science diplomacy or science, technology, and innovation (STI) in African context.
  
• Experience in Science-Policy Interface and processes such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and other similar platforms.
  
• Experience working on environmental conventions and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) at regional and international levels with science institutions, government agencies or intergovernmental institutions.
  
• Experience in project/research design, implementation, and management.
  
• Proven experience in fundraising and writing of research grant proposals.
  
• Highly developed verbal and oral communications skills to engage effectively with a wide range of audience, including scientists, policy makers, civil society actors, and the public.