Spring and Summer Research Assistant Opportunities with Oxford Net Zero
The Oxford Net Zero Engagement Team, working out of the Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment is seeking research assistants to support with the development of a Net Zero Action Platform.
The project
Increasing numbers of companies are producing net zero strategies alongside novel mitigation solutions. A stock-taking report by Oxford Net Zero demonstrates that over one third the world’s largest companies have set a net zero strategy, to varying degrees of robustness, (see the report here). Yet, action to scale climate solutions lags ambition and there is no standardised mechanism for convening and comparing corporate net zero strategies and solutions.
Deliverables:
To help fill this gap, Oxford Net Zero is convening research on net zero standards and solutions.
- The post holder will work in a tight team with the Oxford Net Zero Policy Engagement Fellow to support the development of template net zero strategy and a policy report on the evolution of the net zero standards landscape.
- The post holder may also support the development of brief case studies on decarbonisation levers for businesses
Oxford Net Zero already has a tool library available at netzeroclimate.org/tools-library and is looking to develop the next stage of this library with sector, size, and maturity specific resources and targeted decarbonization solutions for businesses as part of a Net Zero Action Platform in partnership with the World Business Council of Sustainable Development.
The Positions
Oxford Net Zero is recruiting research assistants part time 10-20 hours a week with the opportunity to go full time in the summer. For students with undergraduate or masters degrees the role pays between £14 and £16 an hour.
Timing
We are hiring one post to work part time as soon as possible with another post opening in June or early July. The RA positions can be held for up to 12 weeks but may be less given time constraints of the candidate and the needs of the project.
The Oxford Net Zero Initiative
Oxford Net Zero is a new initiative drawing on the University’s world-leading expertise in climate science and policy. Addressing the critical issue of how to reach global ‘net zero’ and halt global warming, it brings together leading academics from across the University’s disciplines, including Geography, Physics, Economics, Biology, Law and Earth Sciences.
The initiative will provide research and new resources for policymakers and businesses at this critical juncture for international action on climate change. Essential questions that Oxford Net Zero will address include:
- How will carbon dioxide be distributed between the atmosphere, oceans, biosphere and lithosphere?
- Where will it be stored, in what forms, how stable will these storage pools be, who will own them and maintain them over the short, medium and long terms?
- How does net zero policy extend to other greenhouse gases?
- How will the social license to generate, emit, capture, transport, and store carbon dioxide evolve over the coming century?
The Programme is led by director Professor Myles Allen, alongside research director Professor Sam Fankhauser and executive director Dr Steve Smith.The engagement wing of the programme, for which this post has been recruited is supported by Quadrature Climate Foundation and is lead by Kaya Axelsson with leadership and guidance from Dr. Aoife Brophy and Professor Cameron Hepburn. Oxford Net Zero is supported by a £2.2 million investment from the University’s Strategic Research Fund, which aims to develop transformative new research programmes. Further details can be found at; netzeroclimate.org.
More about Oxford Net Zero can be found at www.netzeroclimate.org
To enquire please reach out directly to Kaya.Axelsson@ouce.ox.ac.uk
