Research Associate - Nature Opportunities

About Global Canopy

Global Canopy is a data-driven nonprofit organization committed to delivering transparency and accountability concerning the environmental and social impacts of markets. Our core mission centers on ending deforestation, a vital step to meet urgent global objectives related to climate, biodiversity, and human rights.

Global Canopy's platforms, data, and analyses are utilized by Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, governments, and leading advocacy groups worldwide. Our global efforts concentrate on forested regions (notably in Latin America and Southeast Asia) and major consumer/financial markets including Europe, the US, Singapore, and China.

About The Nature Positive Programme

The programme aims to facilitate a financial shift—redirecting capital from activities causing nature loss to investments supporting nature conservation and restoration. While a staggering USD 7 trillion currently flows into nature-destructive activities, only USD 230 billion is dedicated to Nature-based Solutions. Addressing this imbalance requires both curtailing finance to harmful activities and significantly boosting funding for positive nature outcomes.

Many investors find it challenging to navigate this transition. Building on prior work such as The Little Book of Nature Business, the Nature-Positive Transitions initiative develops evidence, analysis, and innovations to mobilize investors, especially asset owners, towards aligning portfolios with nature-positive outcomes.

This ambitious programme collaborates with prominent partners including Oxford University, UNEP Finance Initiative, and UNEP's State of Finance for Nature initiative. It also integrates expertise from across Global Canopy on finance, corporate supply chains, and environmental and human rights impacts.

Role Overview

The inaugural project, undertaken in collaboration with Oxford's Nature Positive Hub, focuses on creating data infrastructure ensuring credible and comparable assessments of nature-related investment opportunities. This workstream aims to establish criteria to evaluate nature contributions, risk-adjusted returns, investability, and alignment with diverse asset owner mandates.

We are hiring two Research Associates with strong analytical and research expertise in nature or biodiversity finance to contribute directly to this data infrastructure workstream.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with partners to develop methodologies and frameworks assessing nature impact and risk-adjusted financial returns for nature investments, focusing on scalable opportunities.
• Design and build a data repository capturing nature-related investment opportunities, defining consistent models and conventions for data entry by multiple researchers.
• Identify and map nature-related investment prospects across sectors aligned with the established criteria.
• Conduct interviews with potential investees and investors, including asset owners, to enhance data completeness and quality.
• Manage research outputs adhering to project timelines while ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
• Co-author case studies and reports synthesizing project insights alongside the Nature Finance Content Lead and partners.
• Maintain ongoing technical collaboration with partners, including Oxford University and others.
• Coordinate consultations on technical aspects of the project and assist in organizing events to publicize findings.
• Contribute to monitoring, evaluation, donor reporting, fundraising activities, and long-term strategy development within the Nature Positive Programme.

Essential Requirements

• Hands-on experience in environmental research, particularly related to nature impact assessments.
• Strong financial analytical skills.
• Proficiency in data collection and modeling to support informed decision-making.
• Advanced programmatic data analysis skills, preferably using Python (pandas) for cleaning, structuring, and analyzing complex datasets, deriving metrics, and generating clear visual summaries.
• Proven track record managing multi-partner technical projects independently, meeting timelines and quality standards.
• Alignment with the mission and vision of Global Canopy and proactive, collaborative, and resilient work ethic.

Desirable Attributes

• Experience building robust data models using spreadsheets, low/no-code tools, or relational databases like PostgreSQL.
• Coding proficiency in Python to automate data processes.
• Familiarity with social impact analysis and the intersection of human rights and environmental issues.

Compensation and Benefits

• Annual salary of £50,000 (full-time equivalent) placed in Band D on the organization's pay scale.
• Permanent full-time contract for two positions, with mainly remote work and monthly office attendance in Oxford.
• Support for UK visa sponsorship available for successful applicants.
• 36 days of annual leave including public holidays, with the option to buy an additional 5 days.
• Employer pension contribution of 8%.
• Healthcare cashback covering dental, eye care, wellbeing, physiotherapy, chiropody, and more for employees and their children.
• Access to a confidential Employee Assistance Programme.
• A wide range of discounts and cashback offers for gyms, restaurants, holidays, and more.

Application Details

Candidates must submit a current CV along with responses (max 150 words each) to three questions related to data handling, environmental and financial investment analysis, and motivation for applying at this stage in their career.

The application deadline is Monday, 10 August 2026 at 9am BST, with early submissions encouraged. Interviews will be held remotely in late August and early September, including an assessed exercise for shortlisted candidates.