Subject Matter Expert (SME) – Biodiversity Information Systems

Education: Graduate / Master's or PhD — Ecology, Conservation Biology, Biodiversity, Environmental Science (or related)

Experience: 3-4 year n biodiversity/conservation field

Core skills

• Taxonomy / species reference database / taxonomic nomenclature
• Habitat & ecosystem classification
• Biodiversity data governance / data validation rules
• Conservation status, endemic & invasive species classification
• Biodiversity indicators & national reporting
• CBD, CITES, Ramsar, CMS, GBF, IPBES, Nagoya Protocol, Cartagena Protocol, UNCCD (international convention compliance)
• AI-assisted species identification — validation, confidence thresholds, model evaluation
• GIS / spatial biodiversity data (conceptual, not GIS engineer)
• Field survey protocols, species ID criteria, biodiversity metadata
• National/regional biodiversity database management
• Protected area / wildlife conservation management
• Training & capacity building, scientific standards manual authoring

Nice-to-have: Gulf/Middle East biodiversity programme experience

Likely candidate sources:

• Environment Authority (EA) current/former staff (Biodiversity, Nature Reserves, Marine Environment departments)
• Sultan Qaboos University – College of Science, Biology Dept (ecology/conservation faculty & PhD alumni)
• Environment Society of Oman (ESO) — researchers/technical staff
• IUCN Oman national committee members
• Regional conservation NGOs (e.g. marine turtle, Arabian Oryx, mangrove programmes)
• Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries & Water Resources (biodiversity-adjacent scientists).