SUMMARY

Meetings & Events Coordinator at 50% of full-time under a two-year fixed-term contract who will lead in organising external working group meetings and at least one large annual national event under the guidance of the ECT’s Executive Director and the BES’s President. Remuneration will be at £29,000 pro rata and the postholder will be contracted to work remotely from home. Occasional travel to external in-person meetings may be required from time-to-time. Days of work can be flexible by agreement with line management and further particulars are available via the link below. 

TO APPLY

Please submit a CV (up to four pages) detailing your education, experience and wider skills, together with a covering letter (maximum one page) which details how your skills and experience match the essential and desirable criteria listed within the job description. Please state clearly which of the two posts you are applying for. The covering letter should be addressed to ECT’s Executive Director and sent via e-mail to ben.sykes@ecologicalcontinuitytrust.org.

Application deadline: The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 28 May 2025. 

Shortlisted applicants will be notified during the week commencing 2 June and interviews will be held over 16/17 June 2025.

BACKGROUND

Ecological Continuity Trust is a unique charity and company limited by guarantee, established in 2008 to help secure long-term ecological field experiments (LTEs) and build/maintain a national network of LTE sites. The charity is currently working with a number of other large organisational partners on a new project to enable the creation of large-scale land, freshwater, coastal and marine systems that deliver a more sustainable and resilient future for nature, people and climate. This will be achieved by building a more cohesive community around landscape-scale transformation and The Partnership for Resilient Landscapes and Seas exists to provide the ‘connective tissue’ between projects, enabling sharing of knowledge and mutual support. Bringing the wider community together for both small and larger-scale themed national events held over one or more days will be key to driving this project forward over the next two years.  We are therefore seeking to appoint an experienced part-time (50%) Meeting and Events Coordinator to work alongside our full-time (permanent) Communications Officer in a job-sharing arrangement. The post will report to our Executive Director and the President of the British Ecological Society (our main partner) and be responsible for organising both small-scale themed meetings/workshops and a larger annual scientific symposium at locations around the UK.

 

JOB DESCRIPTION

This is an exciting opportunity for the right individual to help us drive forward this important new project over the course of the next two years. We are seeking an enthusiastic, experienced and self-motivated individual with excellent meetings and events organisational skills who can work from home with minimal supervision and take responsibility. The post carries a general responsibility to uphold the good reputation of the Charity and its partners in all communications and will involve some travel to meetings around the UK, for which expenses will be covered. Specific duties are as follows:

• Work in a job-sharing arrangement with the ECT’s full-time Communications Officer to deliver both online and in-person community meetings, workshops and other events, potentially around the UK, as required by the ECT’s Executive Director and the President of the British Ecological Society;

 

• Deliver one large-scale scientific symposium for the landscape community each year, on a theme to be agreed by the project partners, and attracting up to 200 delegates;

 

• Lead on the selection and booking of venues for working group meetings as instructed, taking into account budgetary constraints;

 

• Lead on the issuing of invitations where meetings/events may be invitation-only, and in marketing and advertising larger events that will be open to all;

 

• Lead on liaising with venues over catering arrangements and all meeting logistics, including IT provision for presentations;

 

• Work with ECT’s Communications Officer and relevant BES staff to make appropriate use of our organisations’ websites and social media channels for marketing events that are open to all, and in particular the main national scientific symposium to be held each year;

 

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

The following skills, experience and knowledge are essential for this post:

• A degree in a scientific discipline;

 

• A minimum of three years’ experience in a Meeting and Events Coordination position, including organising a meeting for up to 200 people and helping to draft the programme;

 

• Highly developed communication skills, both in writing and orally, showing tact, diplomacy and professionalism at all times;

 

• Highly developed organisational skills and an ability to work from home independently, with limited supervision;

 

• Ability to work closely with a colleague in a job-sharing arrangement;

 

• Proficiency in a range of online meeting tools necessary for some events, ideally using Webex or similar platforms;

 

• Experience of booking suitable venues for in-person meetings and awareness of budgetary constraints;

 

• Well-developed IT skills, in particular experience of using the MS Office software suite and especially E-mail software;

 

• Ability to exercise good judgement and engage diplomatically.

 

 Desirable

The following skills, experience and knowledge would be desirable for this post:

• A degree in ecology or environmental sciences;

 

• Experience of organising a science-based event with a large number of partner organisations and signficant delegate attendance;

 

• Direct experience of a job-sharing arrangement;

 

• A broad understanding of the main UK government organisations, NGOs and other charities working in ecology and the environmental sciences;

 

• A broad understanding of key environmental issues, especially pertaining to the transformation and restoration of landscapes and seas;

 

• Experience of working in the charity sector, either in a paid or voluntary role

 

Remuneration and Working Hours

The post is a two-year fixed-term contract at 50% of full-time pro rata to a full-time salary of £29k. Home working is required, for which the standard HMRC home-working expenses will be paid monthly.

Working hours will be flexible, though based around the Charity’s 35-hour working week.