Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is seeking an experienced researcher and advocate to conduct and help manage our work on human rights and corporate accountability along the renewable energy value chain, from extraction of transition minerals to renewable energy installations, and support our work on contributing to a just and equitable energy transition through new and alternative business models to build shared prosperity with communities.

We are a growing programme with international scope and exciting new opportunities to help shape a truly just energy transition. We are looking for an enthusiastic and multi-skilled individual to join us. The successful candidate will have outstanding research skills, strong ability to write for advocacy, and experience in engaging international policy spaces and actors in relation to the extractive and renewable energy sectors.

Details

Reports to: Programme Head: Just Transition and Natural Resources

Salary: GBP 38,500-41,500, commensurate with experience and adjusted according to location (the range is aligned to London cost of living; if based in another location, the range will be adjusted accordingly)

Closing date: 27 October 2024 . Interviews and test will be conducted in November, with the view of having the successful candidate in place in January (with flexibility).

Location: (Preferred) UK, Germany or remote - in CET-1 / CET+2 time zones (GMT/WAT/EET/EAT/SAST or equivalent). Candidates with outstanding qualifications or experience and based in the US/Canada (ET only) will be considered.

Contract type: Full time (35 hours/week), 1-year (with possibility of extension). Important note - the role will not be offered to candidates with other existing professional commitments beyond a few hours per week.

Annual leave: 24 days/year

Start: As soon as possible; January 2025 at the latest

TO APPLY: Complete and return this application form via our jobs portal. Kindly note that the application form is required; we will not accept CVs. If you need any additional support, please reach out to Bea Ocampo at [email protected]

About the organization

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre works with diverse allies and partners to put human rights at the core of companies’ business models and end abuse; to support communities and workers in securing their rights and accountability for corporate abuse; and to encourage governments to create the right regulation and incentives to uphold human rights in business. We are a global organization rooted in five continental regions, comprised of a Global Team of 80. Global Team members work with a rich network of human rights advocates in ten languages, and place strong emphasis on our alliances with grassroots organisations facing often profound inequalities of power in protecting their rights. The efforts inform our ability to influence responsible business, investors, and governments for transformative change.

Our work covers the full gamut of human rights in business, with particular focus on three thematic programmes: just energy transition and natural resources; accountable digital technologies; and workers’ rights in global supply chains. These are strengthened by three cross cutting themes: civic freedoms and human rights defenders; corporate legal accountability; and racial and gender justice.

About the position

The Just Transition and Natural Resources programme is focused on advancing human rights across the renewable energy and batteries value chain. From a business and human rights perspective, a just transition will only be one that, at minimum, ensures respect for human rights, fair negotiations, and shared prosperity with workers and communities through new business models where governance, revenues and profits are better shared.

Our strategic focus areas are the human rights policies and practices of corporate actors across the renewable energy value chain, particularly mining of transition minerals and renewable energy installations. We focus on highlighting abuses to promote better investor due diligence, challenge the absence of adequate regulation and call attention to persistent power imbalances between communities and business that undermine the objectives of a just transition. We also focus on identifying better practices, including commitment to shared prosperity through new, transformative business models., working in close collaboration with partners and allies, including frontline communities and Indigenous Peoples.

The programme maintains core research products (Transition Minerals Tracker and the Renewable Energy Benchmark), and support on the maintenance of its Shared Prosperity Knowledge Hub, which support advocacy, engagement, and messaging to policymakers, companies and investors.

The Senior Researcher will undertake strategic research, analysis and recommendations on the renewable energy value chain from a corporate accountability perspective. This will include generating new insights and propositions for a more just energy transition through the analysis of structural causes of corporate abuse in these supply chains and engagement with rightsholders. In particular, the researcher will help deepen our efforts to embed human rights within the transition and corporate practice, and build collective power with communities, Indigenous Peoples, and human rights defenders, as essential parts of the response to the climate crisis, and a just transition. As the Resource Centre expands its advocacy on improving the human rights policies and practices of companies in the renewable energy value chain, the senior researcher will play a key role in supporting:

• Research (i) on allegations of corporate abuses in the context of transition minerals mining operations (‘Transition Minerals Tracker’) (ii) on leading renewable energy companies human rights policies and practices (‘Renewable Energy Benchmark’) (iii) Indigenous Peoples’ and community co-ownership and ownership of renewable energy projects;
• Regional BHRRC teams in their work on local just transitions and evidence gathering of corporate abuses in the context of the current boom of exploration and licensing of transition minerals mining projects;
• Advocacy towards and engagement with companies, investors and their coalitions on our just energy transition messaging and core products - Transition Minerals Tracker, Renewable Energy Benchmark, investor guidance, and Shared Prosperity research;
• Developing new research and advocacy areas for the programme, including around responsible mineral sourcing, and evolving responsibilities of end-users of minerals;
• Development of policy recommendations on the just energy transition from a business & human rights perspective (with a focus on transition minerals and renewable energy operations); and
• Representation of the programme in key civil society fora and coalitions seeking to influence international policy discussions.

Responsibilities

• Conduct and help manage in-depth research:  design and help lead team in delivering high impact research and analyses that assess company abuses, policy, and practice in renewable energy and transition mineral mining sectors, particularly through the team’s core products including the Transition Mineral Tracker, Renewable Energy and Human Rights Benchmark, and resources and guidance for investors. Play a leadership role in identifying opportunities and advancing the Resource Centre’s research beyond its current core products along the renewable energy value chain, including research on transition minerals and value chains.
• Develop high quality written and digital materials: Curate and write compelling content for our website and outreach, including reports, blog posts, briefing notes and papers, and articles to be submitted to relevant media outlets.
• Conduct outreach with companies:  take up allegations of abuse with company HQs to seek responses to allegations of human rights abuse, conduct follow-up outreach for remedy and build relationships to enhance human rights due diligence;
• Strategically engage with investors and their coalitions on the salient risks of the sector and coordinate workshops, roundtables, and knowledge sharing spaces, bringing together various stakeholders.
• Engage with our key civil society stakeholders, sustain and help build our active network of CSO partners and allies in the natural resources and renewable energy spaces.
• Coordinate with BHRRC regional programmes: Work with regional researchers and our global network of external partners to identify cases of impacts of companies on human rights – with a focus on transition minerals, in order to strengthen our research process, and to strategically identify allegations of abuse for deeper-dive investigations and coordinated advocacy globally.
• Track policy and legislation: Keep abreast of, and in some cases participate in, relevant legal and policy developments, including, e.g., legislation regarding mandatory human rights due diligence, critical minerals, and promotion of renewable energy.
• People management and team support: In coordination with the Head of Programme, closely work with and support a team comprised of a researcher and a research assistant, share administrative tasks, and assist with the management and training of staff members where appropriate. Possibility of line managing at least one person.
• Contribute to strategy development for the programme and regions: Help design and implement, in collaboration with the Head of Just Transition and Natural Resources and regional heads, strategies for the Just Transition and Natural Resources portfolio and across regions.
• Representation: Represent the organization at meetings, conferences, and other gatherings, as well as in engagements with donors and other key stakeholders. Sustain and help build our active network of CSO partners and allies.
• Travel: Undertake regional and international travel for research, outreach, scoping, communications and/or representation.
• Other: other responsibilities as appropriate and relevant to the role of Senior Researcher: Just Energy Transition and Natural Resources

Essential skills and experience

• Commitment and expertise: Strong experience working on transition minerals and/or broad natural resource sector, with renewable energy supply chain expertise highly desirable, and knowledge of Indigenous Peoples’ rights an advantage. At least three years’ experience in project delivery, research and campaigning, or policy and advocacy in these areas. A clear understanding, vision, and strategic insight on human rights in business and the global economy is essential. Global South or direct experience working with/for/on behalf of Indigenous communities, is an advantage.
• Research, analytical, and writing skills: Strong experience in researching and writing briefings. Skill and enthusiasm to deliver compelling evidence and analysis, handle big data sets, and design rigorous methodologies regarding corporate abuses of human rights. Able to search and identify relevant information online and offline; adept at undertaking systematic data collection to a high level of detail and accuracy; ability to generate compelling and feasible propositions for change in policy and practice that drive systematic change. Experience in understanding corporate finance, corporate ownership structures investment structures in private and public markets, and/or alternative economic models is desirable. While not a large part of the role, experience in conducting primary research at a community level is desirable.
• Communication skills: proven ability to effectively communicate and write with an advocacy purpose to a broad range of audiences, through a range of channels (briefings, benchmarks, blogs, dashboards, etc.), especially on digital platforms. Excellent writing ability, including for advocacy purposes, and English language skills are required. French or Spanish desirable. Strong public speaking skills and experience representing organisations to external audiences are critical.
• Partnership: Commitment to, and at least three years’ experience in working with diverse international partners. Experience working with Indigenous communities or Human Rights Defenders in the natural resource /environment and land context highly desirable.
• Strategic thinking: A strong understanding of natural resources and human rights in a global context is essential, and demonstrated experience engaging with international policy spaces, processes and actors. The ability to grasp, analyse, summarise, and present complex information coherently to external audiences is required. Demonstrated experience thinking critically about impact is required.
• Values: Strong, demonstrated commitment to human rights, and a just transition, as well as to the values and ethos of the Resource Centre.
• Team player: Experience of working in high performing multi-cultural and international teams, working with colleagues to deliver high impact programs. Experience working remotely desirable. Commitment to building relationships with remote, inter-disciplinary, and culturally diverse teams.
• Organisation and initiative: Able to work efficiently and methodically to support achievement of deliverables; strong prioritization skills; self-motivated and organised; and comfortable working independently within agreed framework while maintaining communication with a global team in different time zones and geographies.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is a diverse, global team. We are committed to providing equal opportunities for everyone regardless of their background and we acknowledge that people from certain backgrounds are under-represented in this area of work and seek to directly address that through our hiring practices. We particularly encourage applications from women, BAME applicants, people with disabilities, and people who identify as LGTBQ+ or Indigenous. Given the focus of the work, if you identify as an Indigenous, Aboriginal or First Nations person, we encourage you to self-identify on your application.

TO APPLY: Complete and return this application form via our jobs portal. Kindly note that the application form is required; we will not accept CVs. If you need any additional support, please reach out to Bea Ocampo at [email protected]

Interviews and test will be conducted in November, with the view of having the successful candidate in place in January (with flexibility).