Failure Modes of Engineering (FeME) is recruiting two part-time Earth Fellows to help reimagine what engineering can be in a world shaped by climate change and biodiversity loss. These roles sit at the heart of FeME’s mission to build an inclusive, globally connected community that addresses real-world challenges through care, equity and interdisciplinary collaboration. Earth Fellows work alongside the Edinburgh Earth Initiative and FeME’s academic and practitioner network to turn insights, data and stories into meaningful impact – supporting education, research, and community-driven climate solutions.
Role 1 – Earth Fellow: FeME Education (Failure Mode 1)
Time & term: 9 hours/week, fixed-term for 12 months from January 2026.
What you’ll do:
- Grow and curate the FeME Tapestry, showcasing diverse global contributions to climate-conscious engineering.
- Coordinate interdisciplinary summer student projects and help deliver a final showcase.
- Explore school-based challenge projects to inspire underrepresented groups into engineering.
- Translate learning into blogs, case studies and short reports for the FeME website.
Who it’s for: University of Edinburgh PhD student in 2025/26 with strong coordination skills, STEM education/outreach experience, and a passion for inclusive, interdisciplinary engineering education.
Apply: Submit via the University of Edinburgh jobs portal. Please review the Project Brief before applying.
The application deadline is 10 December and interviews will take place on 18 December.
Role 2 – Earth Fellow: FeME Climate Challenge Impact
Time & term: 9 hours/week, fixed-term for 6 months from January 2026.
What you’ll do:
- Clean, sort and summarise Climate Challenge 2025 datasets (transcripts, surveys, session outputs, prototypes, photos).
- Build robust systems for organising quantitative and qualitative data and ensure ethical handling and anonymisation.
- Produce clear visual and written summaries and contribute to internal reports and a slide deck.
Who it’s for: University of Edinburgh postgrad in 2025/26 with excellent attention to detail, experience in spreadsheets/qualitative coding, and interest in climate, inclusivity, and interdisciplinary research.
Apply: Submit via the University of Edinburgh jobs portal. Please review the Project Brief before applying.
Application deadline is 5 January and interviews will take place on 15 January.
Why join the Earth Fellows community?
You’ll collaborate with a dynamic team across the Edinburgh Earth Initiative, access co-working space, networking and development opportunities, and contribute to research-led impact, innovation, engagement and teaching.
About FeME
FeME is a collaboration led by the University of Edinburgh with partners including the University of Glasgow and Heriot-Watt University, funded by EPSRC. We apply the concept of “failure modes” to identify structural shortcomings in engineering and create pathways for inclusive, resilient, and adaptable practice.
Questions? For role-specific queries, consult the project briefs linked above; general enquiries can go to the FeME team at feme@ed.ac.uk.