Person Specification
Job Details /
Job Title: / Impact Acceleration Account Partnerships Officer
School/Dept/Institute & Centre: / Faculty of Science and Engineering
Reports to: / Faculty Research Manager (S&E)
Grade: / 5 / 1.0 FTE
Appointment period: / Fixed term until 31 March 2020
Current Location: / Mile End
Job Context
This role will work across the Faculty of Science and Engineering (and at times with other Faculties at QMUL) to support the Faculty in the delivery of the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) from 2017-2020. The IAA during this period will build on the work of several previous IAA awards, to develop new partnerships, strengthen existing ones and facilitate the greatest possible impact from QMUL’s EPSRC-funded research. Between 2017 and 2020, the IAA has three main aims:
• To provide mechanisms to increase interaction between EPSRC-funded researchers and external partners, allowing impact to be developed collaboratively.
• To deepen engagement with external organisations, including secondments and people exchange.
• To provide support to researchers to deliver economic and societal impact from EPSRC-funded research.
The role is based in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, which comprises of five schools and two institutes. The Faculty’s student population has grown both within the UK and overseas, in recent years and its research profile has strengthened considerably. The Faculty is focussed on establishing itself as one of the leading Faculties for Science and Engineering in the UK.
This post is part of the Professional Services Career Family at QMUL, which support functions across multiple sites, provides the infrastructure, and support for our research, teaching and learning activities.
Job Purpose
The purpose of this post is to support the delivery of the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA). This will involve working closely with existing business development and impact professionals, external partners and academic researchers to identify and facilitate the economic and societal impact of QMUL’s EPSRC-funded research.
The postholder will provide a high level of support to the Faculty Research Manager in the running of the award, identifying potential for creating impact from EPSRC-funded research including potential commercialisation partners for EPSRC-funded research, tracking and monitoring spend on the IAA award to ensure that the grant delivers on milestones, targets and deadlines.
Main Duties & Responsibilities
Under the general direction of the Faculty Research Manager the postholder will:
To organise and run a series of EPSRC impact sandpit events, including pairing researchers with representatives from external organisations, making logistical arrangements and managing funding competitions on the day.
Working with the Business Development team, to engage with new and existing external partners to ensure that sandpits and other activities are relevant to external organisations.
To work with existing EPSRC grant holders and the Business Development team to identify ways that IAA support can be used to accelerate the impact of EPSRC-funded research, matching them with external organisations and supporting the development of plans to deliver impact.
To deliver a flexible, agile and responsive service to academics and external partners in facilitating queries about the IAA and the work it supports, with a particular focus on building partnerships.
To work with colleagues in the Business and Partnerships team, Queen Mary Innovation and the Centre for Public Engagement to identify and support partners relevant to QMUL’s EPSRC-funded research.
To publicise the results of the impact sandpits, and the work of the projects funded by the IAA, both internally and externally.
To provide support for a small number of meetings relating to the EPSRC IAA account, particularly the IAA steering group which will include members from external organisations (meets twice per year). Duties to include preparing agendas and papers and minutes.
With the support of the Faculty Research Manager, track and monitor the IAA budget, and projects it supports, identifying potential underspend and issues as appropriate.
Assist the Faculty Research Manager in creating case studies and interim and final reporting for the Impact Acceleration Account to be submitted to EPSRC, including requesting regular reporting from those staff members funded through the EPSRC IAA.
Manage and administer internal funding rounds for IAA monies including developing a communications strategy to publicise funding calls, supporting the assessment process and liaising with successful project leads to ensure timely spend and reporting.
Capture evidence of impact from IAA projects and create case studies to share both internally and externally.
The above list of responsibilities is not exhaustive and the jobholder may be required to undertake other duties commensurate with the level of the role, as reasonable requested by their line manager.
This table lists the essential and desirable requirements needed in order to perform the job effectively. Candidates will be shortlisted based on the extent to which they meet these requirements.
/ Requirements / Essential / Desirable /Qualifications
Knowledge,
Skills and Experience / Educated to degree standard or equivalent work experience / Essential
A degree in a science subject / Desirable
Knowledge and understanding of different routes to impact, including commercial and non-commercial routes. / Essential
Demonstrable experience of undertaking project work, from planning stage to completion / Essential
Experience of events management / Essential
Financial training or experience sufficient to manage budgets/maintain financial records / Essential
Significant experience in HE or a similar/related environment, including experience of working within a research context. / Desirable
Experience of managing a research project or as a researcher on a project (eg as a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant / Desirable
Experience of working with both academic and non-academic partners, particularly industry partners / Desirable
Demonstrable ability to use initiative and judgement with recourse to seniors as needed / Essential
Ability to prioritise workload effectively and to work independently to progress long and short term activities to ensure delivery. / Essential
Accuracy and attention to detail / Essential
Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues and stakeholders at all levels, bringing different groups of people together with positive results / Essential
Good administrative IT skills including spread sheets, email, word processing, maintaining web pages and databases used as management tools / Essential
E – Essential: Requirements without which the job could not be done.
D – Desirable: Requirements that would enable the candidate to perform the job well.