Bryophyte Trainee

Bryophyte Trainee, Taxonomy and Macroecology Team, Science Division

Fixed term, full-time (18 months) or 4 days per week (22 months), based in Edinburgh
with frequent travel within Scotland

Salary £25,424 (pay award pending) per annum pro rata for part-time,
plus civil service pension, generous holiday entitlement and other benefits

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is one of the top botanic gardens in the world.
Founded in 1670, RBGE is home to one of the world’s best living collections of plans (13,500
species), a herbarium of three million preserved specimens and one of the UK’s most
comprehensive libraries.

We are offering a rare opportunity for a highly motivated individual to gain extensive
practical skills in bryophyte identification, field ecology, recording and surveying, backed up
with a sound knowledge of bryophyte biology and basic herbarium practices. The bryophytes are
the mosses, liverworts and hornworts, which together form a key component of Scotland’s
botanical diversity. This traineeship aims to facilitate the development of a career as a
specialist bryophyte surveyor or freelance ecologist, and is an 18 month full-time position
based in Edinburgh involving regular travel for fieldwork within Scotland (with an option to
work part-time for 4 days per week for 22 months instead).

You will be self-motivated and actively seek out learning opportunities, comprehensively
supported by staff and associates at RBGE. Formal training will be intermittent and for much of
the time you will be working on your own (with access to the extensive RBGE facilities and
in-house expertise). A key part of the work will be a project placement elsewhere in Scotland
during which you will pursue a bryophyte surveying or research objective, submitting a written
report as a formal deliverable of the traineeship. There is flexibility around the location and
nature of the placement, dependent on your personal interests and the opportunities available
with partner institutions.

You should have a strong interest in bryophytes and an enthusiasm to learn, backed up with an
eye for detail, an aptitude for pattern recognition and an ability to manipulate fine
structures using microscopy. You will be independent and capable of undertaking moderately
strenuous fieldwork in remote, sometimes mountainous terrain. Although you are not expected to
have significant expertise in bryology at the outset, you should have some basic knowledge,
while wider experience and/or formal qualifications in natural history, nature conservation or
ecology are highly desirable.

Closing date: 12 midday BST, Friday 6 June 2025

Interview date: w/c 16 June 2025

If you haven’t heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date, please assume your application
hasn’t been successful on this occasion. No recruitment agencies please.