The University of Montpellier is recruiting - technical support unit for the IPBES

UM has entered into an agreement with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Secretariat to host the technical support unit for the IPBES (“transformative change assessment” for
the period from March 2022 to 2025.

Under this agreement, UM seeks to recruit 3 persons full-time under fixed-term contracts:

• Lead program management
• Associate program management
• Program management assistant

Purpose of the technical support unit
The purpose of this unit is to support the production of the IPBES assessment of the underlying causes
of biodiversity loss and the determinants of transformative change and options for achieving the 2050
Vision for Biodiversity.
The technical support unit will work in close collaboration with the IPBES Secretariat, under the
direction of the Executive Secretary, to ensure that the assessment is implemented in accordance with:

• the scoping report of the assessment as set out in annex II to decision IPBES-8/1,
• the procedures for the preparation of IPBES deliverables set out in annex I to decision IPBES-3/3,
• as well as other rules and procedures of IPBES and decisions of the IPBES Plenary.

Duties of the technical support unit
The TSU will have the following duties:

 Preparation and maintenance of an updated timeline and implementation plan for the
assessment and support, as requested by the Executive Secretary, to the Plenary, Bureau and
Multidisciplinary Expert Panel, and the Secretariat in tracking progress in the preparation of the
assessment;
 Organisation of online and in-person meetings of the expert group including procedural and
logistical arrangements for:

o Online management committee meetings (co-chairs, members of the Secretariat,
including technical support unit, dedicated Multidisciplinary Expert Panel and Bureau)
o 3 author meetings involving 3 co-chairs, 15 coordinating lead authors, 75 lead authors, 10
review editors and 4 Multidisciplinary Expert Panel and Bureau members: one in 2022, two
in 2023;
o 3 meetings with around 20 participants to develop the summary for policymakers in 2023
o Organisation of the participation in the eleventh session of the IPBES Plenary of 2 co-chairs
and 6 coordinating lead authors or lead authors.

 Support to the preparation of any documents, reports and communications that form part of the
work of the expert group, ensuring their timely delivery;
 Coordination of peer review processes of drafts of the assessment in line with the procedures for
the preparation of IPBES deliverables;
 Coordination of the finalisation and design of the outputs, including obtaining the necessary
permissions and ensuring appropriate attribution of graphics, figures, and other sources displayed;
 Collaboration with the task forces on capacity-building, knowledge and data, indigenous and local
knowledge, policy tools and methodologies and scenarios and models with regard to the
implementation of relevant approaches and guidance in the assessment;
 Provision of input, if requested by the Executive Secretary, to any review of IPBES; as well as
coordination with other IPBES deliverables, in particular the thematic assessment of the
interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food and health in the context of climate change (“nexus
assessment”), to ensure complementarity and synergy between the two assessments and to avoid
duplication of scope and work;
 Maintenance of a register of appropriate contacts (organisations and experts) that might be called
upon to support the work of the expert group;
 Monitoring and management of the overall budget for the “transformative change assessment”
(up to 600 k€ per year);
 Preparation and submission of narrative and financial reports to the IPBES Executive Secretary on
a 6-month basis.

The details for each position are available bellow.