We are offering a paid internship opportunity to work on an exciting new EPSRC-funded project, “Design Principles and Responsible Innovation for a Sustainable Digital Economy (PARIS-DE)”, funded under their Sustainable Digital Society call.
The PARIS-DE project is ensuring that the carbon emissions associated with digital technologies are aligned with the Paris Agreement of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius – ensuring we can benefit from digital technology without exceeding planetary boundaries. This is being achieved by developing a design framework for sustainable ICT – drawing on responsible innovation principles coupled with a systematic capture and documentation of environmental impacts.
As part of PARIS-DE, we have defined a sustainable research strategy as part of a broader responsible innovation approach. It is our plan that the project as a whole should measure and demonstrate its own carbon footprint, including seeking Paris-compliance in terms of a significant reduction in this footprint, and we believe this should be standard research practice.
The objective of the internship is to work with the consortium to put in place the underlying monitoring framework to underpin our sustainable research strategy. This will cover a range of areas including travel, technology use and food. This is exciting work that we believe can have a significant influence on research practice nationally and internationally. Applicants should normally have at least an undergraduate degree in a related subject (interpreted broadly) and should be engaged in further study.
Our consortium includes researchers from Lancaster University, the University of Oxford, King’s College London and the University of Sussex, as well as collaboration with Small World Consulting, experts in carbon assessment. PARIS-DE also involves working with a range of exciting industry and government partners, including the BBC, BT, Horizon, IBM and Defra’s STAR (Sustainable Technology Advice and Reporting) team. The successful intern will have access to experts from each of these teams, including the expertise in this area from Small World Consulting.
We are committed to family-friendly and flexible working and are happy to discuss working patterns that work best for applicants. The funding will cover a 10-week full-time internship running over the summer period (July to September). You are very welcome to contact Gordon Blair (g.blair@lancaster.ac.uk) or Marina Jirotka (marina.jirotka@cs.ox.ac.uk) to informally discuss your interest and requirements, and to answer any questions you might have. The internship can be hosted at any of the consortium sites.
We welcome applications from people in all diversity groups.
To apply, please submit a copy of your CV together with a short statement about your interest in this opportunity (max. 1pp) by email to both Gordon and Marina. The closing date for this is Wednesday 15th June at 4pm.
