Knowledge Exchange Associate

Sheffield University Management School, the Faculty of Social Sciences’ largest department, has achieved accreditation from the three largest and most influential business school associations: AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. The mission of Sheffield University Management School is to use our world class research base to develop knowledgeable and employable students, promote socially-responsible work practices and have a positive impact on organisations and society throughout the world. We sustain a research-intensive environment that creates, advances and disseminates knowledge with respect to management inquiry, for the benefit of students, private and public sector organisations and society in general. Our relocation to a fully refurbished building in June 2013 provides modern facilities in which to achieve our ambitions. We are seeking to appoint a /Knowledge Exchange Associate to support our research on consumer practice within the third strand of the N8 programme on Improved Nutrition and Consumer Behaviours. The appointment will complement other N8 projects in the departments of politics and geography at the University of Sheffield, the Sheffield Sustainable Food Futures research group (SheFF), the Centre for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (CEES) and the Centre for Marketing and Society (CReiMS). The successful candidate will work closely with N8 colleagues to examine the issue of waste in sustainable food supply chains. Reduction of waste at all levels of the food supply chain, through better utilisation and management of resources, is an important sustainability issue and one that is currently under researched. This project will focus on the downstream section of the supply chain, understanding: (1) consumers’ behaviours with regards waste and associated packaging and labelling, and their expectations of supermarkets, retailers and producers dealing with waste in the food supply chain; (2) the behaviour and strategies of producers, supermarkets and retailers of food in managing waste in the supply chain; (3) the modelling and implementation of a novel approach required to manage waste in the food supply chain; and (4) the integration of the novel approach onto SCEnAT to form behavioural and demand driven parameters in the life cycle assessment methodological framework.

You will be expected and encouraged to develop your research profile through joint research activities and will have an excellent opportunity to develop your academic career potential. You will hold a good first degree and a PhD in Environmental Science, Sustainable Supply chain, Life Cycle Assessment, Management Science, Environmental Economics or a relevant area (or have equivalent experience). You will be experienced in quantitative data collection and analysis, especially in developing mathematical indicators and large scale datasets, and database analytics including advanced statistical analysis. Effective communication skills, both written and verbal, and experience of delivering presentations is essential.