Land Relations Researcher
Who We Are + What We Do
The Land Institute co-leads the global movement for perennial, diverse, regenerative grain agriculture at a scale that matches the enormity of the intertwined climate, water, and food security crises. An independent 501c3 non-profit founded in 1976, the organization seeks to reconcile the human economy with nature's economy, starting with food. The transdisciplinary team of scientists and global partners are developing new perennial grain crops, like Kernza®, and diverse cropping systems that function within nature's limits while researching the social transformation required for a just, perennial human future.
Position Description
As the Land Relations Researcher, you will engage community partners and research collaborators in participatory processes that help inform how the perennial grain agriculture movement develops and grows. You will manage several specific projects that investigate human cultural responsibilities and relationships to plants and land, including the place and region in which our organizational headquarters is located.
Drawing upon your academic expertise and hands-on experience, you will bring creativity, curiosity, and ethical and analytical rigor to the process of facilitating and adapting participatory and community-engaged research. Over the next few years, your work could lead to trustworthy partnerships and new insights about how people involved in the perennial movement can share knowledge, make decisions, and build diverse food cultures.
This transdisciplinary role is grounded in the organization’s Perennial Cultures Lab, reporting to the Director, and requires highly cooperative, cross-functional and public engagement. You will join a dynamic, growing organization and contribute to our understanding of the connection between cultural and agricultural change.
Primary Responsibilities + Expectations
Manage participatory research projects - 35%
• Contribute to the design of participatory and community-engaged research projects, for example investigating perennial grain staple food cultures; governance of traditional, Indigenous, and local knowledge and intellectual property in perennial grain crop development; and management and stewardship of the organization’s nature area
• Research the academic and practitioner literature on key topics and context to inform projects and situate efforts with regard to particular communities, plants, and places
• Collaboratively decide specific methods and purposes for engagement (e.g. informing, consulting, involving, collaborating, empowering), in alignment with organizational and lab strategy and values
• Develop tools like a relationship matrix to identify and prioritize individuals and groups for potential engagement
• Engage a range of relevant agricultural and cultural stakeholders in participatory processes, including through understanding and respecting their needs, priorities, and capacities and navigating differences and conflicts
• Create and implement tactical plans to meet goals while working within budgeted resources (research project budgets) and timelines
• Lead and facilitate inclusive, purposeful meetings both internally and externally (visits, interviews, discussions, workshops, gatherings, etc.) that advance participatory research processes, with in-person activities focused in our home hub region of the central Great Plains
• Travel to relevant meetings, conferences, and events to grow understanding of participatory research and steward partner relationships
Analyze, manage, and synthesize participatory research project data - 25%
• Create and abide by project data governance and activity protocols, including relevant informed consent, for scientific and ethical integrity
• Manage data (primarily qualitative) across project life cycles, including data collection, storage, outputs, and access
• Analyze and interpret project data (primarily qualitative) and feedback to provide new knowledge, generate ideas, and inform actions and next steps
• Apply resulting insights and knowledge to iteratively improve current projects and help design future participatory research efforts
Communicate participatory research project processes and results - 20%
• Develop and contribute to outreach and communications related to project opportunities and activities
• Help write and create resources based on project findings, for example research methods toolkits, governance systems, decision-making frameworks, and community agreements
• Create and share visualizations of research processes (components, timelines, etc.) to support partner understanding and engagement
• Identify and implement ways to collaborate with project partners on communicating results and products, such as through co-authorship and acknowledgment
• Share project learnings and impacts–through presentations, publications, reports, and other activities–in ways that are accurate, compelling, and accessible to multiple audiences, prioritizing returning results to partners
Participate in growing a strategic, inclusive learning culture - 20%
• Provide input on organizational and lab strategy
• Connect mission, strategy, and values to your activities and choices
• Practice organizational competencies (see below)
• Collaborate and consult as you make decisions
• Engage in individual and group reflection and evaluation
• Give and receive feedback and apply lessons learned
• Participate in staff and lab meetings, organizational events and teams, and lab cross-training
• Seek understanding of programs and activities across the organization
• Share updates and results from your work
• Participate in co-mentoring
• Engage in professional development
Organizational Competencies
• Mission Driven: You are passionate about the mission of The Land Institute and are interested in aligning your skills and personal genius to benefit this work.
• Courageous: You do not retreat or shy away from hard things. You face challenges and conflict with professionalism, grace, and resolve.
• A Boundary Spanner: You bring an interdisciplinary skill set and you model self-awareness in your own preferences. You are motivated to always be learning and you adapt to span boundaries with people across a range of different perspectives.
• Inspiring and Inspired: You are inspired by the people around you, finding and harnessing the genius in your colleagues to meet the organizational objectives, and you are inspiring to others through example and your own genius applied.
• Growth Mindset: You have the vulnerability to know what you don’t know, admit your flaws, and learn from others to grow and develop yourself and the organization.
• A Creative Collaborator: You believe in the power of a diverse collective to generate ideas and solutions. You excel at strategic thinking, being open to new perspectives, and managing innovation. You bring a playful, positive approach to the work and like meeting new people and deepening connections with those you already know.
• Excited by Change: You embrace nascent and evolving situations and enjoy engaging new people, ideas, and possibilities. You think about change holistically: internal, external, organizational, and cultural. You like iterating systems, building efficiency, and operationalizing design. You are willing to jump in and contribute to new projects as needed.
Who You Are
• You hold a Ph.D. with research experience in the social sciences, arts & humanities, or interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary studies, with a focus on participatory research methodologies and practices
• You are committed to place-based learning and community engagement
• You have developed and managed projects that involve multiple disciplines or communities
• You are enthusiastic about hopeful approaches to landscape-scale, system-wide agricultural and food system change through perennialization and diversification
• You have strong relationship-building and communication skills, especially in building and working with diverse groups of people, including racial and ethnic, economic, cultural, geographic, and generational diversity
• You have experience identifying and addressing barriers to diverse, equitable, and inclusive participation in food systems
• You have interest in or experience with efforts to advance food sovereignty, food security, food justice, and community well-being
• You have some level of fluency with North American Indigenous communities with regard to Tribal agriculture, education, governance, and more
• You are highly collaborative and cooperative
• You have demonstrated experience designing, facilitating, and managing the details of meetings and gatherings that effectively engage diverse audiences
• You are gifted at listening deeply to build understanding
• You are proficient in collecting, analyzing, and communicating data, primarily qualitative data, to broad audiences
• You are excellent at time management and prioritization
• You have a keen interest and experience in gathering, synthesizing, and applying insights through feedback and reflection processes
• You have a proven ability to create and deliver public presentations using visual, verbal, and written content to convey information
Hours
• Generally available to work forty hours per week via in-person and digital meetings, primarily from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Central Time on weekdays when most of our staff and collaborators are working
• Some evening and weekend hours will be needed for conferences, special events, and public program activities
• We are flexible for caregivers who might need to provide rides or support, attend appointments, or be available for caregiving
Location + Travel
• Based at The Land Institute’s main campus in Salina, Kansas, USA
• Estimated travel is up to 25% of the time for community partner visits and collaborations, project meetings, conferences, and organizational and lab meetings
• Primary travel will happen in the United States, but international travel may occasionally occur on an infrequent basis
• You will have a laptop computer and access to commuter vehicles along with appropriate travel budget and mileage reimbursement
Environmental + Working Conditions
• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer and phone
• Work in a general office environment
• Travel in varying conditions (up to 25%)
Compensation + Benefits
The Land Institute offers an excellent benefits package and competitive salary commensurate with experience. The salary range for this position is $75,000-94,000 annually.
• Remote-friendly work environment
• Paid parental leave
• Competitive, equitable compensation
• 403(b) Retirement
• 403(b) Employer contributions
• Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Employer-Provided Life Insurance
• Flexible Spending Account
• Dependent Care
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Voluntary Life Insurance
• Accidental Insurance
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Paid holidays
• Generous paid time off
• Complete laptop workstation and set up for remote work
To apply: We encourage all interested applicants to apply, even if they don't meet every requirement, as we value diverse experiences and a strong willingness to learn. Please submit your resume/CV and letter of interest by May 1, 2025.
The Land Institute is an equal opportunity employer and embraces the opportunity to provide employment to qualified individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. We are pleased to provide reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
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