About the organisation
Hot or Cool Institute is a non-profit think tank that works with experts, organisations, and practice communities on science-based actions to address the magnitude, urgency, and scope of peaceful and deliberate transition towards a sustainable society. Through collaborative methods Hot or Cool:

• Conducts policy research and analysis to establish science-based approaches to behaviour change and sustainable lifestyles.
• Coordinates science-communications and outreach to make complex sustainability issues accessible.
• Facilitates co-creation of solutions backed by researched understanding and experience
• Designs capacity development for implementation and tools for action at individual, business and government levels.

Role description
The successful candidate will contribute to the development of the nascent Sustainable Wellbeing Programme at Hot or Cool, providing research (particularly quantitative research) and project management skills for a range of projects. Ongoing and new work in the Programme include:

1. A project seeking to build quantitative evidence on the benefits, in terms of wellbeing and sustainability, of an increase in the prioritisation and valuing of care work (both formal and informal).
2. Making the case for bottom-up deliberative approaches to moving Beyond GDP
3. Outreach related to the Happy Planet Index (https://happyplanetindex.org/)
4. Ongoing work on developing a new eco-social contract, including developing a dashboard of indicators to measure the degree to which the current social contract is being fulfilled.
5. Interviews with statistics offices on Beyond GDP efforts.

(involvement in different projects will depend on skills of the successful candidate and the allocation of other team members across projects).

Where relevant, the new researcher/project manager would also be expected to work across the organisation, supporting work in other programmes such as the Sustainable Lifestyles programme.

The candidate will report to the Programme Lead for Sustainable Wellbeing.

Position Specification

Essential

• Very good first degree in social sciences (e.g. psychology, economics, sociology or political science)
• Master’s degree or Ph.D in a relevant field (i.e. social or environmental studies) or at least five years’ work experience in social or environmental issues.
• Demonstrable quantitative skills, including the ability to conduct statistical analyses and/or familiarity with national/local indicator sets
• At least two years’ experience with project management
• At least two years’ experience in either third sector, policy (e.g. in government or international organisations) or applied research
• Commitment to Hot or Cool’s principles
• Demonstrable writing skills
• Excellent English

Essential soft skills:

• ability to think creatively
• ability to meet deadlines
• self-starter, able to manage own workload and time
• ability to learn quickly
• able to communicate ideas to a non-academic audience
• good team worker
• attention to detail

Desirable

• Proven experience leading or working on research projects in a relevant field
• Knowledge/experience in the fields of wellbeing and/or Beyond GDP
• Knowledge/experience in citizen participation and deliberation
• Knowledge/experience of city level policy and advocacy
• Experience with partnership work
• Ability to work in German

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Equal opportunity employment 

Hot or Cool works towards equal employment opportunities. We acknowledge our own privilege, bias and internalised discriminatory attitudes. We strive to eliminate workplace discrimination based on race, class, gender, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, religion, or ability status. We are learning to be courageous, to acknowledge our shortcomings and grow from constructive feedback and self-reflection. All applications are welcome.