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An opportunity exists for a Seed Bank Data Resources Assistant to join the seed biologists and conservationists at the Millennium Seed Bank, based at Wakehurst Place in West Sussex, up until March 2025.
The role
As a member of the Seed Collections team, within Kew’s Science Collections Department, you will provide vital support to the team, by maintaining high standards in the management of data associated with the Millennium Seed Bank’s global collections; mainly, but not exclusively through data capture.
Reporting to the Seed Collections Manager, with technical oversight provided by the Seed Bank Data Resources Manager, you will also work closely with the current Seed Bank Data Resources Assistant. You will mainly be responsible for data entry (manual and electronic) from incoming seed and herbarium collections, into ‘EarthCape’ (RBG Kew’s Integrated Collections Management System). This will include data from all collections, including conservation and research, either from the UK or overseas.
More details
Day to day tasks include: checking that the field data relating to the MSB collections is entered to a consistently high standard; liaising with the Seed Curation Managers, the Seed Collections Team; Conservation Partnership Coordinators and partner organisations to clarify queries regarding the data; and to geo-reference collection data, where necessary. You will also check incoming data to ensure that plant names, etc. conform to MSB data standards. Other tasks include providing regular and routine statistics on the MSB Seed Collections, and carrying out teaching, supervising and outreach activities.
About you
Minimum essential qualifications and experiences are: three A-Levels or equivalent (including biology or a similar subject); experience of entering data into a database, a working knowledge of database software, such as MS Access; good working knowledge of MS Office (including Word, Excel, Teams and PowerPoint) and general office administration experience, including record keeping skills.
You will have excellent communication and interpersonal skills as the role has a significant team working and collaboration requirement. You will be methodical, with good attention to detail and accuracy; the ability to work unsupervised for a reasonable time is essential; along with the ability to plan, set and work to deadlines; while being adaptable and able to cope with increased workload on occasion.
This role is based at Wakehurst with the option of regular home working, subject to operational requirements.
About us
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) is a leading plant science institute, UNESCO World Heritage Site, and major visitor attraction. Our mission is to understand and protect plants and fungi for the well-being of people and the future of all life on Earth.
We are working to end the unprecedented extinction crisis and to help create a world where nature is protected, valued by all and managed sustainably. We will achieve these goals by drawing on our leading scientific research, unrivalled collections of plants and fungi, global network of partners, inspirational gardens at Kew and Wakehurst, and our 260 years of history.
Join us on our journey as protectors of the world’s plants and fungi.
