Company Description

Sprout Climate helps communities “bounce forward” by using data storytelling, citizen science, and climate expertise to support local resilience initiatives. The organization focuses on turning community knowledge into actionable insights, enabling residents to advocate for what they need and co-create solutions that move beyond basic survival toward thriving futures. Sprout works at the intersection of community experience, data, and climate action, building bridges between people, organizations, and sectors that are often disconnected.

Rather than positioning itself as the sole expert, Sprout empowers communities to tell their stories with data, mobilize collective action, and form durable partnerships for climate resilience.

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Heat Intervention Researcher to support research, assessment, design, and evaluation related to community-based responses to extreme heat.

The ideal candidate will bring strong subject-matter expertise in extreme heat, heat resilience, climate adaptation, or public-health-oriented heat interventions , combined with an understanding of how research translates into practical, community-level action.

This is a specialist volunteer role suited to someone who can independently conduct research, critically assess existing approaches, translate findings into practical recommendations, and contribute to the evaluation and refinement of pilot activities.

Key Responsibilities

- Conduct research on existing approaches to extreme heat intervention and community heat resilience.
- Undertake a jurisdictional scan of relevant programs, policies, interventions, and best practices.
- Assess existing approaches against defined criteria and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Translate technical research into clear, accessible recommendations for non-technical audiences.
- Develop research summaries, assessment frameworks, design briefs, and supporting materials.




- Contribute subject-matter expertise to the development of localized intervention approaches.
- Review findings from pilot activities and identify lessons learned.
- Support documentation of pilot observations, implementation issues, and community feedback.
- Recommend refinements to intervention approaches and testing protocols.
- Work collaboratively with community engagement, GIS/data, and research team members.
- Participate in weekly team meetings and contribute to iterative decision-making.

Required Skills & Qualifications
- 8+ years of relevant professional or research experience in one or more of:
- Extreme heat
- Heat-health interventions
- Climate adaptation
- Climate resilience
- Urban resilience
- Environmental/public health
- Community climate planning
- Demonstrated experience conducting applied research and evidence reviews.
- Experience evaluating programs, interventions, or pilot initiatives.
- Solid ability to synthesize complex research into actionable recommendations.
- Experience with qualitative and/or mixed-method research.
- Experience working with community-based organizations or conducting on-the-ground community engagement.
- Understanding of the particular challenges associated with extreme heat in an urban environment, preferably Toronto.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to work independently and manage research deliverables within agreed timelines.

Assets
- Experience with heat vulnerability or climate-risk assessments.
- Experience working with marginalized or climate-vulnerable communities.
- Experience in urban planning, public health, environmental science, or climate policy.
- Experience designing or evaluating community pilots.
- Familiarity with Toronto municipal policy, climate adaptation initiatives, or local data sources.
- Experience translating research into plain-language resources.

Ideal Candidate This role would suit a senior climate researcher, environmental professional, public-health specialist, urban resilience practitioner, academic, consultant, or policy professional who wants to apply their expertise to a community-focused initiative.

📌 Senior Heat Intervention Researcher | Volunteer (Toronto)
🏢 Sprout Climate
📍 Toronto