JOB SUMMARY

The Environmental Hazards and Emergencies (EHE) Department provides authoritative scientific advice to government, the NHS and other bodies. EHE’s mission is to prepare for and prevent future health security hazards, strengthen capability and to respond to chemical and environmental emergencies, and build the UK’s capacity on health security for new and long-term exposure to environmental hazards.
The EHE Department comprises of multidisciplinary teams of scientists working across geographically dispersed locations within England and Wales. The department is responsible for providing specialist advice at local, national and international level on the public health impact of acute and chronic non-infectious environmental exposures. Scientists collaborate with academia on research and evidence reviews to underpin this advice, such as via the National Institute of Health Research Health Protection Research Units (HPRU). Many scientists also sit on cross government and multi-agency expert groups relevant to environmental public health. EHE also provides support to the Department of Health and Social care (DHSC) expert committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP).

JOB DESCRIPTION

General

• Undertake environmental public health risk assessments for both acute and chronic chemical and environmental hazard exposures to prevent or mitigate risks to the public.
• With support, critically analyse and interpret complex data and evidence to inform public health risk assessments and advice.
• Contribute to the UKHSA Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response arrangements as a Category 1 responder.
• Liaise and collaborate with other EHE colleagues; relevant regulators and others to promote an effective environmental public health response service by providing advice on the protection of the public.
• Plan and carry out, with support, complex scientific studies of high quality to formulate robust evidence-based advice for environmental public health.
• Review environmental permit applications; health impact or environmental impact assessments or planning applications and provide advice on threats to public health.

Publication and communication

• Contribute to research papers for submission to peer reviewed journals.
• Participate in scientific meetings and conferences, presenting papers describing research activities. These may be at internal (UKHSA), national, European or international events.
• Disseminate information and knowledge gathered from participation at workshops, meetings, seminars and conferences to EHE colleagues.

Training

• Assist in the provision of training on environmental public health issues for a range of stakeholders, in support of EHE training courses.
• Assist in the review any training materials in order to improve training outcomes.
• Participate at multi-agency training including emergency planning, chemical incident exercises and other technical workshops.

Other

• The above is only an outline of the tasks, responsibilities and outcomes required of the role. You will carry out any other duties as may reasonably be required by your line manager.
• The job description and person specification may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the division and UKHSA.
• It should be noted that the work of the division is of a confidential nature and must not be communicated to other persons except where required for authorised purposes.

Professional development

• You should pursue a programme of continuous professional development in accordance with any relevant professional registration or statutory requirements, while maintaining appropriate awareness of service provider requirements.
• To participate in all mandatory training as required, i.e. fire safety, information governance and all other mandatory training.

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Personnel Security Standard.
If based at one of our scientific campuses, you will also be required to have Counter Terrorism Check security vetting check as a minimum. For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years. In exceptional circumstances UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

Science