Postgraduate Placement, Fishing Vessel Data Analysis and Mapping

The role Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is seeking a postgraduate to join an exciting fixed-term placement delivering a high-priority marine evidence project. The role will focus on analysing and mapping four years of fishing vessel positional data collected through Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS), helping to provide the robust spatial evidence needed to support sustainable marine management and conservation in Welsh waters. Key Responsibilities: • Process, clean, and analyze high-volume spatio-temporal VMS and AIS fishing vessel tracking datasets. • Perform spatial analysis and generate detailed marine activity map layers using GIS software (ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, R, Python). • Produce spatial density maps, fishing effort models, and spatial statistics to inform marine policy and habitat protection. • Prepare technical reports and spatial evidence deliverables for marine planners and environmental managers. Qualifications: • Postgraduate qualification (or currently pursuing) in Marine Science, GIS, Spatial Data Science, Environmental Management, or Geography. • Strong skills in spatial data analysis, GIS mapping, and processing tracking/spatio-temporal data. • Experience with R or Python for spatial data manipulation is highly desirable.