Training Officer (Advanced Botanical Skills)

About the role

An exciting opportunity has arisen to become the Training Officer (Advanced Botanical Skills) for our Botanical Skills Training Project in Northern Ireland, thanks to funding from the Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (DAERA)’s Environment Fund.

The postholder will facilitate, plan and deliver part of the DAERA-funded BSBI training programme in Northern Ireland, across all skill levels but with a particular focus on intermediate to expert botanists. The role will support the expansion and strengthening of the botanical recording network in Northern Ireland, helping to identify and deliver expert-level training to enhance VCR (Vice-County Recorder) skills and capacity. It will provide intermediate to advanced training opportunities for the wider botanical community, including BSBI members, funders and partner organisations, and support beginner-level botanical training and outreach events as needed.

The overall aim is to increase botanical skills, improve recording for nature recovery, and boost participation and coverage for the NPMS (National Plant Monitoring Scheme) in Northern Ireland. It is essential that the role-holder has strong botanical skills (at least Level 4 on the Botanical Skills Ladder)

This role forms part of a project team in Northern Ireland, headed up by our Botanical Skills Project Manager and delivering alongside our Training Officer.

The postholder will also work closely with the BSBI’s Communications Officer and Head of Science, along with other NPMS partners (Plantlife, UKCEH, JNCC, DAERA) and coordinators, to facilitate increased participation and coverage of the National Plant Monitoring Scheme in NI.

Working within our small, friendly staff team who operate remotely across Britain and Ireland, the postholder would preferably work a hybrid combination between home and the DAERA Offices in Belfast.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and we will close the vacancy if a suitable candidate is appointed. We encourage early applications.

About us

The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) is the leading charitable organisation promoting the enjoyment, study and conservation of wild plants in Britain and Ireland. We aim to build a diverse community of skilled and enthused botanists, provide data and science to help address biodiversity loss and climate change and disseminate information to drive a passion for plants. To do this we provide opportunities for involvement for all through a range of participation projects, surveys, indoor and outdoor events, training opportunities and the production of books and other resources. Our Distribution Database (DDb) holds over 50 million plant records, making it one of the world’s largest biological recording databases and in March 2023 we published the third Plant Atlas, mapping changes in the distribution of British and Irish flora. Our latest organisational Strategy describes our future plans.

Launched in 2015, the National Plant Monitoring Scheme (NPMS) aims to survey plant species across different habitats in the UK. The data collected from the survey describes the abundance and diversity of plants and helps us to understand the health of different habitats. The NPMS was designed and developed by the BSBI, UKCEH, Plantlife and JNCC.