Senior Research Administrator (Nihr)

Salary: £29,605 to £30,487 with progression to £32,982 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 31 January 2024
 

The Role

We have an exciting opportunity to join the new NIHR Research Support Service National Specialist Centre for Public Health as a Senior Research Administrator.

This is a key role in this new National Specialist Centre for Public Health reporting to the Operations Manager - Selina McCarthy - and working closely with the Chief Operating Officer, Centre Director and Deputy Director, you will have a leading role in the administration of this new £22M NIHR investment to support Public Health Research in settings outside of the NHS. 

We have a hybrid approach to working and are happy to discuss flexible working requirements with you.

The role will be based in the Baddiley-Clark Building in the Public Health Sciences Institute (PHSI) at Newcastle University.

Our vision is to develop the infrastructure, capacity, and capability to support practitioners and researchers to carry out high quality public health research, outside the NHS, to produce robust evidence to improve population health and reduce health and care inequalities.

As the Centre’s first point of contact, you will develop excellent working relationships with stakeholders across England. You must therefore be a confident communicator, with a passion for outstanding customer service.  You will have a keen eye for detail, developing and implementing effective and efficient administrative processes. Excellent project, time management and organisational skills are therefore essential, as well as the ability to manage a diverse and complex workload.

To apply for the position, we will need your CV and a personal statement outlining how you are suitable for the role, using examples to highlight how you meet the essential criteria as listed in the job description.

This is a fixed term position available until 30th September 2028.

For more information and an informal discussion, please contact Selina McCarthy, Operations Manager selina.mccarthy@ncl.ac.uk.

Interviews will take place on Thursday 15th February 2024.

About NIHR RSS Specialist Centre for Public Health 

The NIHR aims to increase the generation and use of public health research in non-NHS settings and has made substantial new investment of >£22 million in a National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) Research Support Service (RSS) National Specialist Centre for Public Health to support this. The Centre will be hosted in the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University along with the NIHR Research Support Service. Three satellites will be established across England under the leadership of the NIHR RSS National Specialist Centre for Public Health.  
 
The vision of National Specialist Centre for Public Health is to develop the infrastructure, capacity and capability to support practitioners and researchers to carry out high quality public health research, outside the NHS, to produce robust evidence to improve population health and reduce health and care inequalities. 

This post offers an exciting opportunity to be part of the team to establish this new Centre.

Key Accountabilities

• To provide support and coordination to the Director of the Centre, Chief Operating Officer, the Operations Manager and its stakeholders
• To communicate within the centre, across the university and externally across a network comprising University, Local Authority, and other and non-academic partners to maintain effective partnership working
• To act as the Centre’s main point of contact on a day-to- day basis, communicating clearly with the Centre team, Satellites, collaborators and stakeholders and University professional services staff
• To develop and maintain administrative systems and processes to enable reporting of management information.  To assess information needs, collate, analyse and make recommendations to support decision making on the centre’s activity
• To develop and maintain administrative systems and processes for the Centre’s Pre-Award Research Advice Service to ensure the timely provision of design advice.  Develop and implement appropriate systems for triage; response to clients; and the allocation and effective management of workload across the Centre and Satellites’ methodological expertise
• To ensure that day to day business is carried out effectively and monitor milestones of all aspects of the centre’s activity, ensuring that work package leaders are fully aware of progression and any delays/issues
• To line manage the Centre’s Core team administrators delegating work as appropriate and carrying out training, PDR, performance management as appropriate.  Monitor and review the workload of the projects.  Arrange for temporary help when necessary
• To maintain records/reports to meet both internal and external regulatory/reporting requirements
• To coordinate recruitment of staff, and liaise with the Operations Manager on appointments, resignations and contract renewal/redundancies for Centre staff
• To assist with the management of project finances including forecasting; liaison with the University’s Contract Financial Management Team to ensure financial transactions and reporting are managed in line with the contract; and holding regular meetings with the Operations Manager / Chief Operating Officer to ensure effective budget management
• To maintain oversight of invoices, expense claims etc. on behalf of the Centre’s team, ensuring all expenditure is against correct budget sub-headings.  Early escalation of all financial queries to the Operations Manager
• To organise meetings, conferences and other stakeholder engagement events e.g. Public Involvement and Community Engagement (PICE) events led by the centre team
• To contribute to a culture of continuous improvement and participate in Professional Services working groups as required

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

• Relevant recent administrative, project or people management experience in a large organisation
• Ability to interact professionally and confidently with all levels of an organisation
• Experience of working as part of a team providing effective support to senior staff
• Ability to work independently and manage unforeseen circumstances
• Excellent project, time management and organisational skills with the ability to prioritise workload, work under pressure and to meet multiple deadlines
• Experience of budgetary monitoring including use of financial management systems and reporting accurately on data and trends
• Able to identify and manage internal and external stakeholders, building relationships whilst meeting user needs. You will understand how to work with stakeholders and contribute to building relationship, using evidence to explain decisions made
• Experience of working independently, planning and prioritising your own workload, using initiative and judgement without recourse to senior staff
• Experience of developing and operationalising administrative systems.Proven ability to support complex committees, meetings and events, including drafting agendas, reports and minutes and evaluating the effectiveness and impact of events
• Evidence of a commitment to continuing professional development

Desirable 

• Experience of working in a research, local government or project management environment
• Experience of line management 

Attributes and Behaviour

• Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to communicate clearly and concisely in writing and verbally
• Demonstrable experience of building and maintaining a strong network of colleagues and contacts to achieve delivery of objectives
• Ability to manage projects to defined deliverables and meet audit requirements
• Proven ability to work to deadlines, organise own workload and work independently
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Excellent financial management skills
• Attention to detail
• A positive and supportive attitude; ability to work flexibly and cooperatively with others
• Excellent IT skills, including competent use of Microsoft Office (specifically Excel and Access)
• Flexibility with respect to working hours.

Qualifications

• Educated to NVQ Level 3 /A Level Standard OR equivalent in relevant discipline and English Language and Mathematics at GCSE Level 4 (or equivalent) plus work experience in a relevant role, OR substantial work experience in a similar role with evidence of success

 Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 26553