Veterinary Lead of the Wildlife Expert Group in the Surveillance Intelligence Unit SR21.48

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and works on behalf of the Scottish Government and Welsh Government. Our diverse teams of over 2,000 skilled and committed professionals come together to provide research, advice and support to UK Government for safeguarding animal, public and plant health for benefit of the environment and economy.

We are recruiting a Veterinary Lead for the Wildlife Expert Group (WEG), a group which brings together a network of expertise to enable identification and characterisation of disease threats relating to wildlife. This post works closely with wildlife groups, Government policy teams, and is part of a network of scientific experts within APHA.

The post is one of seven Species Expert Group (SEG) Veterinary Leads within the APHA’s Surveillance Intelligence Unit (SIU) which is a multi-disciplinary team. The team is responsible for collecting, collating, presenting and analysing scanning surveillance data. This is exciting and challenging work which includes evaluation of potential threats to animal health and welfare, and public health. A significant component of the data that inform potential threats are generated through the APHA’s network of Veterinary Investigation Centres (VICs) and diagnostic laboratories, through partnership with the Institute of Zoology’s Garden Wildlife Health project, and alongside horizon scanning activities. A full description of the scanning surveillance network is available at: http://apha.defra.gov.uk/vet-gateway/surveillance/index.htm

Leadership of the WEG involves managing delivery of the Government-funded project for scanning surveillance for wildlife diseases in England and Wales. The primary aims of this project are detection, investigation and characterisation of new and re-emerging wildlife-related threats in Great Britain; provision of wildlife disease expertise to APHA and Defra/Welsh/Scottish Government work areas and others; maintenance and development of expertise within APHA; and development of wildlife disease knowledge exchange networks. More details on the terms of reference of the SEGs are here: http://apha.defra.gov.uk/documents/surveillance/seg-tor.pdf.

The post is responsible for a range of communications and engagement activities including monthly and quarterly scanning surveillance reports for the benefit of a wide range of stakeholders. Examples of these reports can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animal-disease-surveillance-reports.

This is a part time position hours to be carried out over three days. 22.20 hours per week.

• Leadership of the Wildlife Expert Group (WEG) to deliver the WEG terms of reference and provide inspirational leadership to enable WEG to act as a virtual centre of expertise for surveillance intelligence gathering, analysis and dissemination of the findings. The Veterinary Lead for the WEG also chairs the GB Wildlife Health Partnership, which includes Government-funded wildlife partners
• Chairing regular meetings and continual communication with internal and external veterinary, science, industry and policy partners to ensure effective outcomes for the WEG
• Functional management of APHA WEG members; ensuring membership meets the needs of the group; utilising expertise in the group, establishing links outside the group as necessary
• Coordination of evaluation and investigation of potential new and re-emerging threats and make decisions on further actions including characterisation, mitigation, communication and escalation to Government Risk Assessment groups (including the Veterinary Risk Group and the Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance group) as appropriate
• Cooperation with multi-disciplinary experts from across APHA and other contributing organisations, providing high quality, evidence-based advice to policy, integrating with key stakeholders, coordinating intelligence gathering and awareness of potential and actual wildlife disease threats, publishing key outputs around those threats
• Management of the wildlife disease surveillance budget, mainly covering free-living wild vertebrate populations, and external contracts, including appropriate allocation of budget to ensure good value for money and improved outcomes
• Leadership of production of regular reports by agreed dates such as Quarterly Emerging Threats Reports, Veterinary Record monthly surveillance reports, and other ad hoc communications when needed
• Provision of evidence-based veterinary and scientific advice to policy, APHA colleagues, wildlife stakeholders and others
• Work closely with APHA’s Heads of Departments, Lead Scientists, Disease Consultants and Discipline Champions to maintain and develop capabilities in the field of wildlife diseases
• Provide support to the strategic development of scanning surveillance, working closely with the Head of SIU and other members of SIU
• Engagement with stakeholders relevant to wildlife diseases
• Contribute to continuing professional development for wildlife disease investigations
• All veterinary members of SIU are expected to provide support during, and in preparation for, notifiable or reportable disease outbreaks, in line with APHA’s commitment to controlling these diseases

• Excellent and inspirational people leadership skills and visionary project leadership
• Ability to develop and maintain effective networks and relationships
• A strategic thinker with analytical and creative problem-solving abilities and well-developed decision-making skills
• Evidence of collaborative working across different scientific disciplines and/or organisations to achieve successful outcomes
• Proven ability to develop high performance in teams and individuals, and support a learning culture with a strong focus on continuous development and building capability in others
• Evidence of impartiality and objectivity for scientific evidence and advice
• Highly motivated, with high inner resilience and calm under pressure
• Excellent written and oral communication skills. The post holder will need to be comfortable communicating with people and groups with a range of scientific knowledge
• Awareness of the wildlife disease surveillance landscape in GB, and other sources of data and information
• Knowledge of wildlife diseases and current threats, particularly their investigation and diagnosis
• Ability to provide Government policy advice and make recommendations, sometimes with incomplete evidence
• Experience of working with relevant wildlife stakeholders

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Job contact :

Name :
Gemma Aliaj
Email :
gemma.aliaj@apha.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email :
defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk