PDRA in Marine Mammal Ecology

Written By Andrew Bonnar

  • Location:  SAMS, Oban

  • Contract Type: Fixed Term – approximately 3 years

  • Working Pattern:  Full Time – 37 hours per week

  • Salary Range:  Grade 5/6 (depending on experience); Grade 5: £31,396 - £34,980. Grade 6: £37,099 - £41,732 per annum

  • Closing date: 2nd November 2025

 

The Role

The successful candidate will join the SAMS Marine Mammal Research Team and deliver research, as well as consultancy work relating to marine mammal ecology, bioacoustics and underwater noise assessments, with a focus on monitoring and management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and marine industries (e.g., offshore renewables, aquaculture and fisheries).

The candidate will be working for the majority of their time within the ACCLIMATISE project, a project supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). As part of this project, the candidate will collect underwater and in-air passive acoustic, as well as visual data, and apply existing and develop new automated analysis tools to aid species distribution and habitat modelling. This work will support the development of sustainable, long-term monitoring programmes for marine megafauna (e.g., marine mammals and seabirds) and underwater noise in waters around the island of Ireland.

In addition, the successful candidate will spend around a third of their time providing marine environmental consultancy within the SAMS Enterprise team. The post holder will contribute to tender development and delivery, including acoustic data analysis, report writing, and advising on project consenting, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) processes.

The candidate will help the wider SAMS Marine Mammal Research Team secure and deliver projects to progress the team’s capabilities including equipment maintenance, fieldwork and data collection. Finally, and depending on interest, the post holder may also contribute to teaching, for example on the Marine Megafauna Module of SAMS Marine Science BSc degree.

See project details here: http://www.seupb.eu/PEACEPLUS 

Andrew Bonnar
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