Consultancy Opportunity – RDM Capacity-Building Lead

Background

While all countries face the urgent challenge of climate change, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) encounter even greater obstacles. Launched in 2021, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s (FCDO) Climate Compatible Growth (CCG) programme supports LMICs in strengthening climate action and mobilising finance to shift investment pathways. CCG develops open-source analytical tools, datasets and modelling workflows – including OSeMOSYS and CLEWs (Climate, Land, Energy and Water systems) – and creates research with local partners to support national energy and climate planning.

OSeMOSYS and CLEWs, integrated with Decision-Making under Deep Uncertainty (DMDU) techniques, help governments navigate the uncertainties inherent in long-term planning for climate, energy, power systems, and water. These approaches identify strategies that are resilient across a wide range of plausible futures, adaptive as conditions evolve, and co-created with the institutions responsible for implementing them. Previous work led by Professor Jairo Quiros-Tortos, Deputy Director of CCG and Professor of Practice – Sustainable Transitions, has established the analytical foundation for national climate finance across more than 20 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa, including Botswana, Zambia, and South Africa, informing over $11 billion in climate finance in partnership with multilateral development banks.

Robust Decision Making (RDM) is central to this capability: a transparent way to stress-test strategies across thousands of plausible futures rather than relying on a single forecast. Building on CCG’s deliberative-modelling best practice (Plazas-Niño et al. 2025), Professor Jairo is leading the development of an open-access, model-agnostic RDM toolkit and workflow that connects scenario generation, exploratory modelling, vulnerability discovery, and trade-off visualisation, with open Python and Jupyter components that are model-agnostic by design by coupling to any energy or CLEWs-type model through a standard interface, rather than being tied to a single modelling framework.

The initial phase delivers one practical RDM workflow, a limited set of open software tools, two worked examples, introductory teaching material, and testing, release, and documentation – designed as a reusable global public good and to support HMG (including DESNZ) and international partners in stress-testing net-zero and energy-security strategies. This Terms of Reference covers the RDM Capacity-Building lead, who develops the introductory teaching materials and worked examples that enable others to learn and apply the workflow.

Objective of the Assignment

To develop the introductory teaching materials and two worked examples that enable researchers and policymakers to learn and apply the RDM workflow, ensuring the capability lives on after external engagement ends in line with CCG’s principle of treating capability building as a central deliverable rather than a by-product, and presenting the RDM workflow as model-agnostic so learners can apply it to whichever model they use.

Scope of Work

The consultant will be responsible for:

1. Teaching Material Design – Develop introductory teaching notes, exercises, assessments, and self-paced material that introduce RDM concepts and the workflow to researchers and policy analysts.
2. Worked Examples – Build two end-to-end worked examples that demonstrate the RDM workflow on representative energy / CLEWs-type cases, delivered as clear, annotated Jupyter notebooks.
3. Learner Pathway – Structure the material for self-paced learning and for use in open demonstration workshops and international training tracks, with a coherent progression from concepts to hands-on application.
4. Accessibility & Reuse – Ensure all materials are open, reproducible, and reusable as a global public good, aligned with the toolkit and its documentation.
5. Pilot Readiness – Prepare content so it can seed the stretch-phase two-week international training pilot (subject to further funding), including trainer-facing notes.

Expected Deliverables

The consultant will deliver the following (timelines to be confirmed on contracting):

Coordination and Oversight

The assignment is led and delivered by CCG at the STEER Centre, University of Loughborough, under the direction of Prof Jairó Quirós-Tortós, and forms part of the RDM workstream within CCG. The consultant will work closely with the RDM Implementation Specialist and Prof Jairó Quirós-Tortós, participate in regular technical reviews, and coordinate with the other RDM roles (Implementation Specialist, Developer, and Capacity-Building lead) to ensure the toolkit, worked examples, and teaching materials remain aligned. Deliverables will be subject to quality-assurance review before open-source release.

Duration and Commitment

The assignment covers an estimated delivery of the teaching material and two worked examples within the current financial year, with start and end dates to be confirmed at contracting. It is estimated that this project will require a total of 50 work days. The consultant is expected to be available for scheduled technical reviews and, where relevant, demonstration workshops. Flexibility to respond to iterative feedback is essential; a stretch phase (subject to further funding) may extend the work into a fuller technical package and international training pilot.

Experience and Qualifications

The consultant should have the following experience:

• A Bachelor’s/Undergraduate degree in environmental science, energy, engineering, or a related scientific or technical field, with a Masters degree considered an advantage.
• Relevant professional experience (at least 5 years) in capacity building, technical training development, or teaching.
• Significant practical experience developing technical training or teaching material, ideally in energy modelling, DMDU/RDM, or a related quantitative field.
• Ability to build clear, annotated Jupyter-based tutorials and self-paced learning content.
• Sound grasp of RDM/DMDU concepts and of energy / CLEWs-type models (eg OSeMOSYS, MESSAGE, TIMES, PyPSA) sufficient to teach the workflow accurately.
• Good pedagogy and instructional-design skills, with attention to accessibility and reproducibility.
• Ability to align teaching content with an evolving software toolkit and to work as part of a small technical team.

Expressions of Interest

You are invited to submit the following:

• A CV
• A support statement providing detailed evidence of meeting the mandatory requirements for the position
• Confirmation that you have or are able to obtain professional insurance cover  

Please submit your expression of interest to Clare McGuire on C.McGuire@lboro.ac.uk by 5pm on 16 November 2026.