Basic Function

Invasive plant pests pose a significant threat to Irelands plant based agricultural sector. This threat is increasing due to international trade and climate change. Given the number of potential introductions that may affect our agricultural sector, it is important that we assess which introductions are most likely and which introductions may have the largest economic and structural impact, both in the near and medium term based on the availability of agricultural plant hosts. A review will be carried out of previous invasive plant pest introductions, in both Ireland and relevant European countries to assess management strategies previously taken and their ultimate outcomes. While all the main plant based agricultural sectors are relevant to the project, their will be a particular focus on the Horticultural sector. An external partner will be engaged to collect and collate both economic and structural data on sub-sectors of the Irish Horticultural sector, and part of the function of this role will be to interact with that external partner and assist in facilitating the collection and analysis of that data.  This role requires candidates with experience of conducting literature reviews, some experience of managing agricultural economic data and statistical analysis. While knowledge of invasive species is an advantage, it is not a requirement of the role. The successful candidate will be expected to work with key external stakeholders, such as the Pest Risk Analysis Unit within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and actively disseminate project activities to both agricultural stakeholders and the wider general public.     

This post will be based in the Horticulture Development Department (HDD) which is located on the Teagasc Ashtown campus in Dublin.  It features a Mushroom research facility with four environmentally controlled growing rooms, a modern compartmentalised research glasshouse facility together with additional research laboratory resources for molecular biology, plant/mushroom pathology and plant growth media production.

Background

Invasive plant pests pose a significant threat to Irelands plant based agricultural sector. The potential cost of managing and preventing introductions is significant and better approaches are required to help understand the potential economic and structural impact of these potential introductions including the ongoing cost of managing new invasive plant pests for the agricultural sector. The successful candidate will help to develop an understanding on the key data required to develop an impact scoring framework to help better understand the impact of invasive plant pests in Ireland. This will be conducted through literature review, interactions with agricultural and state bodies, in both Ireland and other European countries and assessing primary data collated by an external agency on behalf of the project. While the project will cover the wider plant based agricultural sector, it will have a particular focus on the horticultural sector, given its susceptibility to new pest introductions and the lack of data on the sector, from both an economic and structural perspective.

This research will be undertaken at the Teagasc Ashtown Research Centre in Dublin Ireland. The successful candidate will work within the Horticultural Development Programme with close collaboration with the Agricultural Economics and Farm Surveys Department. This research is being conducted as part of the department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine funded project, Triple IA (Steps towards developing a framework to establish the economic and structural impact of potential invasive plant pest introductions in Irish Agriculture).

• Plan, design, and execute a review of previous invasive plant pest introductions in both Ireland and other European countries
• Collate data on the economic value and structure of the main agricultural enterprises
• Develop a framework to assess the potential impact of invasive plant pest introduction in Ireland
• Collaborate with external collaborators to ensure data collection within Horticultural sub-sectors is achieved per project time lines
• Disseminate findings through the preparation of research reports, scientific publications, and presentations for internal stakeholders, industry partners, and scientific communities.
• To assist Teagasc in meeting the commitments of the Quality Customer Service Charter and Action Plan.
• To actively participate in the annual business planning and Performance Management Development System (PMDS) processes.
• Fully co-operate with the provisions made for ensuring the health, safety and welfare of themselves, fellow staff and non-Teagasc staff and co-operate with management in enabling Teagasc to comply with legal obligations. This includes full compliance with the responsibilities outlined in the Safety Statement.
• Any other duties as may be assigned from time to time

* This job specification is intended as a guide to the general range of duties and is intended to be neither definitive nor restrictive.  It will be reviewed from time to time with the post holder.

 Note:  The ‘essential’ qualifications, knowledge, skills and behavioural competencies outlined above are ‘must-have’ which will be used in the selection process.

Note:  Alternative location(s) may be considered solely at the discretion of Teagasc management.