Would you like to use your scientific expertise to help improve food safety and public health in Scotland?
As a Chemical and Regulated Products Risk Assessor at Food Standards Scotland (FSS), you will provide specialist scientific advice and risk assessments on regulated products and the chemical safety of food and feed, supporting robust risk management decisions.
Based in Risk Assessment Branch within FSS's Science Division, you will lead on the provision of technical advice concerning regulated products and chemical food safety, collaborating with colleagues at FSS and the Food Standards Agency. You will ensure all FSS policy development and operational delivery functions relating to regulated products and chemical food and feed safety are evidence-based.
Responsibilities
Lead FSS’s input into regulated product risk assessment as part of the UK Risk Analysis process. This includes liaising with FSS, FSA and policy colleagues across the UK in relation to chemical food and feed safety, animal feed, and regulated products.
Provide expert scientific advice on regulated product and chemical food and feed safety, including input into FSS, UK, EU and international guidance and technical standards. This involves undertaking structured reviews of scientific evidence, co-ordinating input from policy and enforcement leads in FSS and consulting with external stakeholders.
Evaluate technical dossiers and papers (regulated products and chemical food and feed safety) and present your findings in written and oral form.
Lead on the provision of risk assessments on chemical food and feed safety, and provide advice to Incidents colleagues on the contamination of food and feed.
Maintain an up-to-date and in-depth knowledge of relevant subject areas, and engage with the scientific community and the food industry to identify FSS’s evidence needs on the chemical safety of food and feed.
Represent FSS’s interests at technical meetings and working groups, including UK Scientific Advisory Committees and local government public health committees.
Design and commission evidence requirements in relation to chemical food safety. Oversee the work of contractors to ensure work is delivered according to agreed timescales and budget.
Deliver high quality science communication on regulated product and chemical food safety behalf of FSS. This includes the production of written and oral briefings for senior management, engagement with the wider scientific community, and translation of complex scientific concepts to present accurate lay summaries.
Qualifications
A scientific degree in a relevant subject such as toxicology, chemistry or biochemistry or another related field.
Success Profile
Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on.
Technical / Professional Skills:
Building and applying knowledge. Understands and objectively, and effectively, applies scientific and engineering approaches with rigour and integrity. This may be through gathering and analysing information, producing effective literature reviews, critiquing techniques, designing or conducting research, undertaking fieldwork, computational modelling, writing evaluations and / or contributing to knowledge sharing including peer reviewed journal papers.
Communicating science and engineering for government. Understands how to provide scientific, technical or engineering advice to policy. Understands and promotes the significance of this advice and evidence in policy making, and helps develop systems that promote its use. Evaluates the use and impacts of evidence-based policy across government throughout the policy lifecycle. Communicates advice and evidence in a clear, unbiased and understandable manner to non-specialists by considering audience needs and background, and understanding how advice will sit within the policy landscape.
Experience:
Post-graduate experience such as in industry or government of applying knowledge of a relevant scientific speciality in an appropriate field such as food safety, public health or animal health.
You must have confidence and expertise in managing and directing the workload of yourself and others, relationship building, reviewing scientific evidence, undertaking analysis and drawing robust conclusions, preparing and delivering presentations and report writing.
Behaviours:
Making effective decisions – Level 3.
Changing and improving – Level 3.
Seeing the bigger picture – Level 3.