The Royal NIOZ will hire a junior- or senior-level EU project manager responsible for “ACTNOW”, a four-year project coordinated by NIOZ. The position is advertised at 0.8 FTE. This position is initially offered for 12 months starting March 2023 but it is envisioned that the position runs for the full duration of ACTNOW plus 2 months (i.e. 50 months through April 30th, 2027).

THE PROJECT
ACTNOW is 4-year, EU-funded research project examining the effects of multiple stressors on key aspects of the biodiversity of marine and coastal systems within European waters (HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-04). The consortium contains 34 partner institutions (universities and national laboratories) from 15 countries. NIOZ is the primary contact for the EU Commission and is responsible for ensuring that the consortium successfully delivers the goals and products within the project’s ambitious workplan.

THE RESEARCH
ACTNOW is designed to better understand how multiple drivers and stressors impact key species and marine ecosystems and to provide integrated indicators assessments of ecosystem health. Partners collaborate with marine managers within 20 Case Studies representing the broad breadth of European climate zones and regional seas including pan-European research on key groups at the base and top of marine food webs. This includes work within polar to sub-tropical waters in areas around the NE Atlantic and the North Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Seas. Our goal is to provide fit-for-purpose decision-support tools enabling regulators to deliver regionally-appropriate assessments and actions to restore and maintain good environmental status (e.g. actions that will minimize unwanted effects of global and region-specific stressors such as climate change and pollution). The goal of the Project Manager is to help ensure strong and effective collaboration and teamwork across the network of ACTNOW researchers and collaborators.

THE ROLE

• Project progress and deadlines monitoring, detailed project planning and work organization hand-in-hand with the scientific coordinator and project scientific steering committee.
• Budget monitoring (in collaboration with financial controllers) for the whole project consortium (consortium size - 34 organizations, total project budget - 12.5 million €).
• Reporting to the European Commission. Writing, compiling and submitting financial and technical project reports.
• Setup and oversee workflow and quality assurance measures for reports and results.
• Organization, preparation, support and follow-up of the project reviews, evaluation and checks.
• Primary contact person for the European Commission and its agencies.
• Work at the interface between scientists and the administrative departments. (particularly, financial administration), external partners and the funding authority (European Commission).
• Contribute to communication and engagement strategies, writing of the communication, dissemination and exploitation plans and reports.
• Project-related outreach, presentations and briefings.
• Management of the research data generated by the project (data management plan).
• Networking activities, involvement and coordination of relevant external stakeholders and advisors from academia, policy and industry.
• Organization, supervision and documentation of project meetings and scientific and policy events (logistics and content, up to 100 participants, incl. travel arrangements).