Government Statistician

Knowledge and Analytical Services, within the Welsh Government, are looking for an analyst at Higher Executive Officer level (Management Band 2).

You will manage cross-UK data curation, analysis and research scoping tasks for the Economic and Social Research Council funded Administrative Data | Agricultural Research Collection (AD|ARC) project. This will create a four-country, multi-purpose research-ready set of data resources linking agricultural data with a range of non-agricultural sources.

Datasets will include, for the four countries of the UK:

• the Agricultural Censuses 2010 and 2020
• the June Agricultural Surveys 2013 and 2016
• Rural Payments data
• Census 2011
• routine health records
• Annual Population Survey

The aim of AD|ARC is to bring together a range of data on the characteristics of farms, farmers, farm households, farm workers and rural communities and to make metadata for these available via a project website to the wider research community. The project will analyse the data and deliver research outputs relating to health and broader well-being as well as the likely impact on the sector of a range of factors, including environmental and economic.

As a member of the core project team you will work with project partners from government and academia across the UK to find additional sources of data as well as maximising the use of existing sources.

You will also be assessing quality and creating new data solutions or collections through the use of existing data linking methods and innovative techniques (whilst maintaining sound professional standards) to meet the needs of the project team and a wider Agricultural Research Network to be developed for the project.

Development opportunities

Opportunities available include:

• to gain experience and develop valuable skills in new or developing areas of work: data science, data linking, use of open data and big data
• opportunity to work collaboratively across the UK with many organisations (public, third and private sector) with an interest in the agricultural sector, examining the impact of major issues like flooding, Brexit and coronavirus (COVID-19) on the health, education and economic activity of the sector
• lead on aspects of a truly cross-cutting development that will reflect the aims of Taking Wales Forward, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, and the four cross-cutting strategies
• work on a truly UK-wide project that will reflect the strategic priorities of all four countries of the UK
• work within a UK Research Council funded project, allowing the post-holder to familiarise themselves with the way the Academic Sector and Research Councils work, including the opportunity to be a joint author on peer review journal articles and to present at relevant UK and international conferences
• further develop project management, communications and analytical skills whilst playing a key role in a team that will enable future agricultural policy to be evidence based

Person specification

The ability to work with large datasets and in maintaining data.

How to apply

To apply please email AD-ARC@gov.wales.