Statistician (NFI)

Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland

£34,309 - £37,334, plus benefits

Background Information

Forest Research (FR) is the research agency of the Forestry Commission, and a world leader in applied forest science and a trusted and recognised provider of expertise, data, products and services for governments and the tree, wood, forest and natural resource sectors. Please explore www.forestresearch.gov.uk to find out more information about our organisation.

The National Forest Inventory (NFI) is run by the Inventory and Forecasting Unit of the centre for Inventory, Forecast and Operational Support (IFOS). The NFI monitors the location, extent and condition of woodlands throughout Great Britain. It does this by means of construction and regular maintenance and updating of a digital spatial map of British woodlands using information from aerial photography, remote sensing and administrative sources. This is augmented with a large field survey operation with many thousands of individual survey sites covering a representative sample of woodlands across Great Britain. The NFI field survey is designed as a continuous survey of woodland on a 5-year cycle, with repeat surveying of the majority of sites in each cycle. The operation is currently reaching the final stages of the second cycle and in the early stages of the third cycle.

In your role as NFI Statistician you will be part of the NFI Forecasting and Analysis team. The team is responsible for delivering the scheduled programme of NFI statistical analyses that result in the publication of statistical and forecast reports for the woodland across GB. These include statistical information classed as Experimental or Official Statistics. The team also prepare one-off customised reports and analyses commissioned by internal and external stakeholders.

You will be responsible for developing and implementing the statistical analyses and for the processing of NFI field survey data for the production of the regular statistical reports, and also for the one-off customised reports. These reports provide key information on the current state of woodland in Great Britain, growth and change of woodlands over time, and on expectations of future timber availability from Britain’s forests.

You will be instrumental in establishing pioneering evidence in the fields of woodland biodiversity, woodland habitat condition and social and recreational usage of woodlands through analysis of the NFI field survey data.

You will develop new statistical methods and systems for analysing and reporting change observed in Britain’s woodlands, and also methods for examining the NFI’s large and varied data sets to uncover information such as hidden patterns, unknown correlations and trends.

You will assist and collaborate with others in the Inventory and Forecasting team on the further development and documentation of the systems and methodologies underlying the collection and processing of data generated and used by the NFI. This will include responsibilities for some of the quality assurance processes connected with the data, analytical models, analysis, and outputs from the NFI operation.

There is a very wide range of statistical tasks and approaches required for this role which will allow many opportunities for skills development. There will be opportunities to liaise with statisticians in Forest Research and to be involved in wider aspects of the work of the Forestry Commission and Forest Research, including the development and application of empirical models of tree growth. The option to become part of the Government Statistical Service is available and encouraged, as is training and career development in all forms.

Key work areas are:

• Analysis of field survey data
• Development of statistical and analytical methodology used in the NFI
• Collaboration in the production of NFI statistical reports and supporting documentation

For more information and to apply, please visit our website: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/about-us/careers/jobs/

hr.services@forestresearch.gov.uk | Please quote ref 58880

Closing date: 23 August 2020 @ 23:55

No recruitment agencies please.

We are committed to providing equal opportunities for all sectors of our diverse community.