Strategic Research Initiatives Coordinator
- Posted 30 January 2025
- Salary Grade 7, £40,247 - £45,163
- End date 27 February 2025
- LocationGlasgow
- Job Type Internal- for current UoG employees only
- Reference164812
Job description
Please note, this vacancy is open to current University of Glasgow employees only
Job Purpose
The University created a new Strategic Research Initiatives team in 2022. This team works in partnership with the University's four Colleges to create an integrated research support ecosystem that aims to enhance the collaborative research environment, ambition and culture across the University.
The Strategic Research Initiatives Coordinator is a crucial member of the team who provides professional expertise and support for the development, delivery, evaluation and continuous improvement of a creative and diverse portfolio of initiatives designed to foster collaboration and support academics to explore and develop new research ideas across disciplines. An exciting fixed-term opportunity as maternity cover for the incumbent role holder is now available, where the successful applicant will be responsible for coordinating the distribution of internal funding in support of new research projects designed to catalyse cross-disciplinary collaboration, oversee demand managed funding opportunities at an institutional level, and manage the administration of the University’s prestigious Lord Kelvin/Adam Smith (LKAS) academic recruitment schemes.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
1. Maintain a comprehensive awareness and understanding of College research portfolios and strategic research priorities, establish and maintain relationships with researchers and colleagues in College research offices, apply this specialised knowledge and understanding to the proactive identification of opportunities for strategic collaboration across and beyond the University, creating connections between relevant researchers and signposting to potential funding opportunities.
2. Lead the overall coordination and manage the day-to-day administration of the University’s Lord Kelvin / Adam Smith (LKAS)academic recruitment schemes and their c. £30M budget. This will include acting as the first point of contact for all pre-and post-award queries from researchers and College research offices, providing advice on eligibility queries, the timely processing of LKAS applications, communication of application outcomes, the provision of data and reports for the Vice Principal for Research & Knowledge Exchange, post-award coordination of budget reprofiling requests and ensuring that the scheme effectively contributes to the realisation of the University’s Research Strategy.
3. Oversee the coordination of the University’s response to demand-managed funding schemes requiring a University-level selection process c. 20-30 funding calls per year. To include promoting calls, coordinating the institutional response with College research offices, administering the internal triaging and review processes, convening assessment panels and distribution of all relevant assessment materials, and communicating outcomes to applicants and College research offices.
4. Lead & coordinate the development, delivery, evaluation and continuous improvement of a creative and diverse portfolio of initiatives designed to foster collaboration and support academics to explore and develop new research ideas across disciplines.
5. Design and coordinate University-wide inclusive calls for proposals for potential cross-disciplinary research topics and themes, including call promotion, responding to queries, collation and evaluation of proposals, communication of proposal evaluation outcomes, working with the proposing academics to develop and deliver relevant activities, post event evaluation and reporting.
6. Manage the distribution of internal funding to support new research projects with the aim of catalysing cross-disciplinary collaboration, including fund promotion, liaison with College research offices on the design of internal processes, responding to queries, collation of applications, coordination of internal peer review, post award tracking, evaluation and reporting.
7. Perform a comprehensive data management and analysis role to support the Strategic Research Initiatives portfolio and projects, including: maintaining relevant data in University systems; ensuring data quality and accuracy; and, using skills in data analysis and visualisation, extracting, analysing and interpreting data from internal and external systems to support decision making and the delivery of institutional research-related strategies.
8. Manage a portfolio of concurrent SRI projects to include driving each project lifecycle including project initiation; management of the project and its resources; agreement of the technical and quality strategy; establishment of robust delivery schedules and applying discretion in co-ordinating project delivery activities to meet project outcomes.
9. Manage the application process for new University designated Research Centres ensuring all relevant materials are made available to the Research Policy & Strategy Committee to aid their evaluation and decision-making. Manage the annual reporting process for existing University designated Research Centres to include responding to queries, collation of reports and communication of report evaluation outcomes
10. Maintain the Strategic Research Initiatives portfolio Teams sites, SharePoint and affiliated webpages. This includes creating content for sites and webpages, as well as liaising with relevant colleagues to collate content.
11. Supervise, mentor and train less experienced members of the team to ensure their effective development.
12. Perform other duties as requested, consistent with the grade level of the position and agreeing appropriate prioritisation of work with line management or other relevant stakeholders as needed.
Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience
Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential:
A1 Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 9, [Ordinary Degree, Scottish Vocational Qualification level 4], or equivalent in a relevant discipline/business area with evidence of continued professional development in an area relevant to the role.
A2 Thorough knowledge of project management methodologies, data management processes, records management, GDPR and data protection in a public sector environment.
A3 Authoritative knowledge and experience of the Higher Education research environment and the research endeavour.
Skills
Essential:
C1 Strong service and delivery focus, balancing systematic planning and attention to detail in a fast-moving environment.
C2 Strong interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to interact with a wide range of stakeholders, influence individuals and groups, and work collaboratively across organisational boundaries.
C3 An understanding of the importance of behaving in a professional manner and using tact, discretion and diplomacy in dealing with potentially sensitive matters.
C4 Highly effective written and oral communication skills, including presentation skills and the ability to communicate confidently and clearly.
C5 Project management skills, including the demonstrated ability to work with minimal supervision to plan, research, monitor and manage multiple projects simultaneously involving a variety of contributors, deliver work to meet internal and external timescales, maintain high attention to detail, drive continuous improvement and deliver regular and robust reporting.
C6 Analytical and problem-solving capability with the ability to work logically through a wide variety of challenges, from information-gathering, through analysis and interpretation of the situation, to identification and recommendations for solutions, and to decision-making leading to a satisfactory outcome.
Experience
Essential:
E1 Experience of successful collaborative working across a large organisation, interacting with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders, from different backgrounds and at varying levels of seniority.
E2 A sound grasp of the dynamics of the relationships between the different components in a large organisation, sensitivity to differences in priorities and ways of working and the ability to navigate a complex matrix environment.
E3 Experience of project management and planning, organising, and setting priorities over short-, medium- and long-term periods.
E4 Experience of event organisation, delivering inclusive events that vary in scale and target audiences.
E5 Experience of designing and evaluating physical and digital events for diverse groups of stakeholders, particularly researchers.
E6 Experience of budget management.
E7 Experience of analysing/evaluating/interpreting data to inform decision-making and service improvements, and to inform the drafting of papers and reports for various audiences.
E8 Experience of using initiative to solve problems.
E9 Experience of developing web content using T4 or similar web content management tool.
Terms and Conditions
Salary will be Grade 7, £40,247 - £45,163 per annum.
This post is full time (35 hours p/w) and fixed term to cover maternity leave for up to 12 months or until the substantive postholder returns.
Please Note: The University would consider a secondment opportunity for this post. Applicants should seek clearance for release for secondment from their line manager before making a formal application.