Project Researcher: "How prepared is the Radnor Valley for extreme climate change?"

Project researcher required:

Project Title: Ground Zero 2030 – Stage 1 Research: "How prepared is the Radnor Valley for extreme climate change?"

Project Brief: To produce a clear, evidence-based report on the Radnor Valley’s preparedness for extreme climate change, using existing data and community input. This report will provide the foundation for the wider Ground Zero 2030 resilience plan.

Commissioned by: Resilient Radnorshire.

Freelance Status: Freelance contract linked to delivery of report. Can be one or two researchers sharing work and payment.

Completion Timeline: Equivalent to a three day week over a 36 week period. Possibility of extension.

Completion Deadline: Summer 2027.

Payment terms: £ 12,960.00, plus travel expenses as, and where appropriate.

Application deadline: Monday 17th August 2026.

Summary

Resilient Radnorshire is an emergent, grass-roots group in the Radnor Valley area committed to raising local consciousness and developing practical, both people and nature-focused community-based responses to an accelerating climate emergency. We have scoped a project, 'Ground Zero 2030 : Towards a Radnor Valley Resilience Plan' (see Appendix attached) which sets out a community led resilience strategy for the Radnor valley.” We are now ready to implement a stage one of project which is the researching and writing of a report: "How prepared is the Radnor Valley for extreme climate change?" For this we are seeking an enthusiastic, self-motivated freelance researcher(s), to gather, collate and assess relevant material largely in the public domain, and, from that, to synthesise the information within a report prepared for public circulation.

Background

Recent initiatives, such as 2025 Climate Majority Project publication of 'The Strategic Adaptation for Emergency Resilience' (SAFER) report, and the Chris Packham-hosted film, 'The People's Emergency Briefing' speak to the urgency for UK climate adaptation, regardless of the success, or otherwise, of the phasing out of fossil fuels, or reaching net zero goals. However, such leading non-profit organisation efforts, alongside those of the devolved governments, are largely conceived and imagined through the lens of national policy. To date, there has been very little consideration of how climate adaptation can be practically delivered for what will amount to permanent crisis for the future ahead, in a sustained and sustainable fashion, and, most importantly, at a local level where communities' long-term resilience may become dependent on their own inner resources. The purpose of the 'Ground Zero 2030' project is to explore this coming eventuality as if it were real, rather than some abstract exercise, in a small, discrete, rural district of the Welsh border region.

In the sense that it seeks to find ways to enable local people to work together and be climatically resilient both for the common weal and for the natural world around them, it may offer one possible model for climate adaption, especially for other areas with similar profiles both in rural Wales and further afield. However, Resilient Radnorshire needs first to get a handle on not just the contours of the climate emergency as it may impact upon the district, but a range of indicators of fragility, existing resilience, or otherwise. These include:

• Water issues: drought, flood risk, farmland and buildings inundation, the overall hydrology of the district;
• Extreme weather events: what are the potential health, safety, and other risks to human and non-human populations in the area from extreme heat, torrential rain, storms, wildfires; how will energy supply be affected?;
• Food security: is there enough locally produced food in the area in the event of wider shortages;
• Land usage: to what degree are present farming and forestry practices in this area sustainable or survivable as the climate becomes more severe?;
• Building stock: how are public, workplace, and domestic buildings insulated, heated but also proofed for extreme weather conditions; in the event of widespread breakdown what provision exists for accommodating displaced people from elsewhere;
• Bio-diversity: to what degree is the area's wildlife vulnerable to further climate breakdown; what is its knock-on impact on human well-being and sustainability;
• Stakeholders: who are the key local actors, and the human as well as material resources they have at their disposal for emergency situations?; what is lacking?

These are some of the lead questions for the research which itself may throw up a range of issues unforeseen at its outset. Resilient Radnorshire is working on the assumption that much, though not all, of the necessary information will be available in existing data. The researcher's primary effort will be directed toward collating and interpreting this data and synthesising the information as it can be applied to the Radnor Valley.

Intended Outputs/Outcomes

Prepare summer 2027 publication of a short, online report written and curated by the researcher(s) in clear, everyday language whose audience will be national and local government, interested environmental organisations, and the people of the Radnor Valley.

Provide evidence-based recommendations to inform the Ground Zero 2030 framework.

Enable Resilient Radnorshire to more fully engage and consult with the communities of the Radnor Valley on the basis of the empirically-grounded knowledge of the area which the report will provide.

The remit is undoubtedly challenging but at the same provides an exciting opportunity for the right person(s) to develop their own skills and play a cutting-edge, participative role in helping to transform a communal response to climate emergency.

Who this is suited for:

This is not a salaried PAYE post, so this is for someone - single, or plural - who can act in a self-employed freelance capacity responsible for their own tax, NI, sick and holiday pay. You will be expected to work to milestones in the contract and with regular, scheduled payments on production of invoices, linked to those milestones.

This is for someone - or two people working together - who is/are, very self-motivated, with strong time management and data analysis skills. You will be engaging informally with members of the RR team as you go, contacting others in Welsh Senedd, Powys CC, or those with more specialist skills, as the project develops. While you may not be an expert in any one area you must feel confident to be able to bring a range of information together to present a coherent, comprehensive picture as stated in the report title.

This could be an excellent opportunity for those who enjoy working independently. Online contact with members of team will be relatively frequent and you will also report back to the RR group, in evening or weekend sessions not more than once a month. You will have the judgement to know when and how to time manage, and when to seek advice and assistance where needed.

Also implicit in the above, this is really for you if you are passionate about climate change and want to do something focused and purposeful about it. Even better if you are the sort of person who is committed to working on climate change issues at a local level.

About you

• Environmentally and socially aware candidates will have a background, through a university degree, or through their own self-education, in studying climate-related problems.
• Technically competent, conversant with computer software, data sets, preferably proficient in Microsoft Word and Excel, and able, where appropriate to download or transfer maps, diagrams and data in the public domain for the purposes of the report.
• Good communication skills both on paper and in person with the ability to present sometimes complex findings in a succinct, coherent, jargon-free report.
• Strong data collection, management and analysis skills, taking what is essential, knowing where to park, or discard what is inessential, and putting the critical pieces together.
• Ability to work to agreed target schedules, yet at the same time willing to work flexibly.
• Ability to fulfil report delivery from a home base, with occasional travel to meet key stakeholders.
• A genuine passion for engaging with the human and natural dimensions of climate change.
• Local to, or some familiarity with this part of mid-Wales/the Welsh border region, appreciates it, and ideally based somewhere where access to it is not a major issue.
• Share Resilient Radnorshire’s commitment to a sustainable future.

Beyond the report

The research report "How prepared is the Radnor Valley for extreme climate change?" is intended to provide the essential foundations for the wider 'Ground Zero 2030' project. A lot will hang on this initial study but will also be an incentive for us to go searching for further funding for what will be a much more community-focused and interactive second stage of the project. If all goes well with the initial study, then we would certainly be hoping to extend the relationship with the researcher/s and be open to how best that can be developed. Alternatively, successful production of the report could be a spring-board to other projects elsewhere.