Impact and Communications Associate | Sponsorship May Be Available

Position: Impact and Communications Associate

Job Type: Full Time

Salary: Starting from £38,784, rising to £46,049

Location: Bath

Employer: University of Bath

Application Deadline: September 29^th, 2026

Full job description

Are you passionate about turning research into real-world change?

The Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) is seeking an experienced and motivated Impact and Communications Associate to join us on a full time, fixed term basis to help shape climate policy and practice through world-leading social science research.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the intersection of research, policy, communications, and public engagement, ensuring that evidence and insights reach the people who can drive meaningful action on climate change.

About the Role

As the Impact and Communications Associate, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring CAST’s world-leading climate research influences policy, practice and public debate. Working with colleagues, researchers, policymakers and external partners, you will:

Lead and ensure delivery of CAST’s communications, engagement and impact activities, ensuring research findings reach and influence key decision-makers.
Build strong relationships with policymakers, businesses, charities and other stakeholders to maximise the real-world impact of CAST’s research.
Develop high-quality communication and impact outputs and translate complex evidence into accessible and actionable insights.
Provide strategic oversight of the Centre’s communications and engagement work, including line management of the Communications & Engagement Officer.
CAST is committed to continuous improvement and innovation, providing plenty of opportunities to further shape and evolve this role (and your skills) over time.

About You

We are looking for someone who combines strategic thinking with excellent communication skills and a passion for climate action.
You will be comfortable working independently, building trusted relationships, and managing multiple strands of activity. You enjoy making sense of complex information and communicating insights in a clear and practical way. You will also work, and sometimes lead, effectively across teams to achieve common goals and outcomes.

Key requirements

Undergraduate degree in a social science discipline or equivalent experience.
Awareness of the latest developments in the field of climate change policy and practice.
Experience communicating complex information to diverse audiences in a variety of formats.
Experience planning and delivering successful communications or marketing campaigns and/or events.
Experience developing relationships with and delivering advocacy to decision-makers.
Experience responding to policy engagement opportunities, such as consultations and inquiries.

Key skills

Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
Ability to translate research findings into engaging and accessible content and messaging, including effective dissemination.
Strong organisational skills and ability to manage competing priorities.

Additional information

This is a full-time, fixed-term position until March 2030.

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Jennifer Wilkinson (jlw216@bath.ac.uk) or Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh on (lw2253@bath.ac.uk)

We consider ourselves to be a university where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equity and intersectionality receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students and encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and communities, particularly from under-represented groups, and value the positive impact that will have on the university. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for our students, staff, and community by reinforcing our Safer Recruitment commitment.

We’re very proud to be a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant. An accredited Disability Confident Leader; autism friendly university, committed to building disability confidence and supporting disabled staff.

What we can offer you

We’re continually expanding our benefits package to better support you and enhance your experience with us and the below is just an example of some of the many great benefits we offer:

Generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work life balance
Generous employer contributory pension schemes
Cycle to work scheme
Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
Staff discount at Team Bath gym
Staff benefits include discounted postgraduate tuition and language courses, alongside a wide range of personal and professional development opportunities such as apprenticeships, LinkedIn Learning, and more
Local discounts, including free entry to the Holburne Museum in Bath
A family-friendly workplace
An excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce
Relocation allowance
Visa reimbursement and Interest-Free Loan to help with the cost of some immigration expenses
Employee assistance services through Health Assured, including access to the Wisdom app