Job description

​​We are seeking to appoint a part-time (0.5FTE) ​Research Engagement and Support Officer​ to provide high quality engagement and administrative support to two research projects. Young Lives, Young Futures is an ESRC-funded study investigating how England’s vocational education and training system can better support the school-to-work transitions of the 50 per cent of young people who don’t go to university. But why is that better? is a Wellcome Trust project investigating what applied philosophy and ethics can bring to quality improvement work in health care.  

The balance of work will be split approximately 80% on Young Lives, Young Futures and 20% on But why is that better? Both projects are based in the friendly and vibrant Centre for Public Policy Research within the School of Education, Communication and Society in the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy.   

​The successful candidate will support the projects’ impact and engagement activities, including by designing and producing engaging communications, maintaining the project websites, ensuring a vibrant social media presence for the projects, and helping to organise project meetings, fieldwork and events. They will also provide the necessary administrative coordination and support for the Principal Investigators (Profs Sharon Gewirtz and Alan Cribb) and research teams to ensure the successful completion of the projects. This will include monitoring the budgets and assisting in financial reporting to the College and the funders.   

​They will have strong communications and organisational skills, an ability to engage and collaborate effectively with a range of audiences and project partners, and enjoy working both independently and as part of a team.​  

This post will be offered on a part-time (50%FTE), fixed term contract until 30th November 2024.

Key responsibilities

On both projects, the postholder will:   

• Support the day-to-day running of the projects (e.g. organising travel arrangements, fieldwork and transcriptions, liaising with project advisory group and collaborators,  and helping with practical arrangements for meetings, including knowledge exchange events) 
• Develop and maintain the project websites and a lively social media presence for the projects  
• Monitor the project budgets on a day-to-day basis, alerting the PIs of any potential over/underspends, making some purchase decisions, and assisting in financial reporting to the College and the funders  
• Provide the necessary administrative coordination and support for Profs Gewirtz and Cribb to help ensure that their projects are completed successfully and on time   

In addition, on the ESRC project, the postholder will be responsible for:  

• Developing, writing and editing informative and engaging communications both in print and online (e.g. news stories, press releases, blog articles and social media posts) to a high standard, ensuring they are suitable for a range of audiences (e.g. young people from diverse backgrounds, researchers, policymakers and policy organisations, employers, trade unions, grant-making organisations, and organisations and practitioners working with young people)  
• Identifying and liaising with social media managers of relevant organisations to help further publicise and disseminate the research   
• Coordinating, organising and publicising project events (e.g. knowledge exchange workshops for policy and practice stakeholders and high profile public engagement events)  
• Collecting, analysing and reporting on impact evaluation data (including through polls, questionnaires and conversations with event participants and collection of data on web traffic, report and resource downloads, social media activity and media coverage)   
• Helping to organise project, advisory panel and young advisory group meetings, taking minutes of meetings and keeping in touch with advisory panel members and project partners  

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.  

Skills, knowledge, and experience 

Essential criteria  

1.       ​Graduate level qualification or equivalent work experience   

2.       ​Strong communication skills, with excellent written and spoken English and an ability to engage and collaborate effectively with, and tailor communications for, a variety of audiences and project partners  

3.       ​Strong organisational skills, attention to detail and accuracy  

4.       ​Strong interpersonal skills, with ability to work proactively as part of a team as well as independently with a minimum of supervision   

5.       ​Interest and capability in using print, online and social media to support effective communication of, and engagement with, research  

6.       ​Interest and capability in events organisation  

7.       ​Knowledge and experience of budgets and balance sheets  

8.       ​Excellent IT skills including MS 365 and web content management. Knowledge of Microsoft Publisher would also be useful  

9.       ​An interest in education and health policy, and related questions about values and social justice  

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Desirable criteria

1.    ​M level (or above) qualification in a relevant area (e.g. social science)​  

Further information

The selection process will include a panel interview and a test to assess your knowledge of budgets and balance sheets and your research communication skills . You will not need to prepare in advance. The interviews and test will be held on 22 or 23 June.