The Centre for Cross Border Studies

DIRECTOR

JOB DESCRIPTION

Background

The Centre for Cross Border Studies was set up in 1999 as an independent, university-linked research and development centre to stimulate new thinking and action on North-South and cross-border cooperation in Ireland. In the past 13 years it has established a unique reputation as a dynamic and innovative leader of high quality research, information and training on cooperation issues on the island of Ireland (and more recently, in Europe).

In that time it has commissioned and completed cross-border research projects on a wide range of subjects. Between 2009 and 2012 these includedprojects on the border region economy, hospital services, measuring the impact of cross border cooperation, spatial planning and cross-bordercitizens mobility information under the INICCO-1 group of projects funded by the EU INTERREG programme. Between 1999 and 2009 they included projects on cross-border telecommunications, health services, third level and adult education, teacher education, EU funding, local government, animal health, mental health, local sustainable development, local history societies, citizenship and science, public sector training, trade unionism, the Common Chapter, mobility information, and school and youth exchanges. Some of these projects have been carried out ‘in house’ although the majority have been tendered for and undertaken by outside contracted researchers.

The Centre has alsohelped set up and manages all-island networks for university presidents (Universities Ireland), providers of teacher education (the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South or SCoTENS) and spatial planning institutes (International Centre for Local and Regional Development). It has established three major websites: and It has managed North-South educational exchanges at every level. And it has trained civil servants from both jurisdictions in cross-border cooperation.

SCoTENS is seen as a particular success story. It has funded nearly 80 research, conference and exchange projects in the past nine years; organised 10 highly-regarded international conferences; and overseen 170 students doing a key part of their assessed teaching practice in the other Irish jurisdiction. Its Oxford University external evaluator has called it ‘an incredible achievement’.

Over the past 13 years the Centre’s funding has come from the EU PEACE and INTERREG programmes (by far the largest funders), the Irish Department of Education and Skills, Atlantic Philanthropies, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, and a range of other EU, public, private and charitable sector funders. It has also sold its research and conference services on the open market.

In recent years the Centre has extended its reach by joining the Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network (TEIN), which brings research and training institutes together from 10 European border regions who share the objective of strengthening European integration through building capacity for cross-border cooperation among public sector, business and civil society actors. It has also undertaken collaborative research with the Euro Institut in Kehl in Germany, a leading TEIN member. It currently has a funding application under consideration by the EU Europe for Citizens programme.

The Centre’s work has received plaudits from leading figures in both jurisdictions, including successive Presidents, Taoisigh and Northern Ireland First and Deputy First Ministers, the heads of the civil service North and South, and a range of government ministers, heads of government departments, business and trade union leaders, university presidents and community and voluntary sector leaders.

Its 2012 evaluation by Indecon Economic Consultants noted that the Centre’s stakeholders – including senior public servants and private sector personnel from both sides of the border – ‘have a high regard for the Centre and its work. The perceived strengths of the Centre are its knowledge and networks in respect of the Irish cross-border region. The Centre is seen as a small and flexible organisation, which “punchesaboveitsweight” in terms of its activities and reach, both nationally and internationally.’

The Centre currently employs six people: a director, a deputy director (research), a deputy director (finance and administration), an events manager, an information officer and a project administrator. Because of its small staff and large workload, working in the Centre requires flexibility, team working, very good personal and professional relations and many of the attributes of an ‘all rounder’ rather than an academic specialist. Thus the director and the deputy director (research) undertake research themselves as well as managing research projects.

Principal tasks

The Centre is now seeking a Director to succeed its founding Director, Andy Pollak, who has been in post since September 1999, and who will step down from this job in July 2013. The person appointed will have a very wide range of responsibilities:

  • In consultation with the CCBS board, s/he will have responsibility for the strategic management and leadership of the Centre.
  • S/he will be responsible and accountable to the CCBS board for implementing the policies and strategies of the Centre; achieving the targets set by the Board; monitoring the Centre’s operating and financial results against budgets; and managing the allocation of capital, human and technical resources.
  • S/he will be responsible, in particular, for the following areas of the Centre’s operations: liaison with all clients and partners, personnel management, oversight of financial and office management (in consultation with the Deputy Director – Finance and Administration); oversight of research work (in consultation with the Deputy Director – Research); oversight of conference organisation and management (in consultation with the Events Manager); publicity and public relations.
  • S/he will lead the development of the Centre’s evolving research strategy; will develop productive working relationships with key policy makers in both Irish jurisdictions and in the EU who are involved in research policy and in the delivery of public services in the areas covered by the Centre’s research projects; produce relevant reports to the CCBS Board, the INICCO-2 Steering Committee and the Special EU Programmes Body, as required; and provide leadership to CCBS staff and researchers in the development, management, production, promotion and dissemination of research.
  • S/he will be responsible for all the Centre’s fund-raising activities, and particularly in developing research proposals to secure additional external funding or sponsorship. The outgoing director and deputy director (research) have raised over £6 million in the past 13 years.
  • S/he will be responsible for the implementation of eight projects under INICCO-2 (Phase 2 of the Ireland/Northern Ireland Cross-border Cooperation Observatory or INICCO), 2013-2015, funded by the EU INTERREG programme, in the Irish cross-border region. These projects are as follows: Towards a Border Development Zone; Budget and Evaluation Toolkits for Cross-Border Cooperation; Impact Assessment Training and Monitoring for Cross-Border Cooperation; Acute Hospital Specialities Mapping Tool; three CroSPlaN spatial planning projects (Executive Training and Animation; Shared Services, and Evidence-based Planning)(with ICLRD); and the Border People Cross-Border Mobility Information and Training project (phase 3) (see Appendix 1 for further details).
  • S/he will be responsible to the managing committee of SCoTENS (Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South) and to the NI Departments of Education and Employment and Learning and the Irish Department of Education and Skills for the delivery of all funded outputs under SCoTENS, and for providing its secretariat.
  • S/he will be responsible to the council of Universities Ireland and to the NI Department for Employment and Learning and the Irish Department of Education and Skills for the delivery of all funded outputs under Universities Ireland, and for providing its secretariat.
  • S/he will sit on the board of the International Centre for Local and Regional Development (ICLRD) and liaise with the ICLRD Director and Assistant Directors in their work, much of which is based in the Centre’s offices in Armagh.
  • S/he will work with the lead partner, the Euro-Institute (Kehl, Germany) to deliver the Centre’s outputs under Phase 2 of the Transfrontier Euro-Institut Network (TEIN)
  • S/he will be responsible for the production of all CCBS research publications, including its annual journal, The Journal of Cross Border Studies in Ireland.
  • S/he will make presentations at conferences and other public events on behalf of the Centre and will otherwise represent it at outside events. S/he will be available for media interviews in connection with CCBS activities at all times.
  • This is not an exhaustive list of tasks since the Centre is a fast-moving and flexible ‘generalist’ organisation which takes on a wide range of research, evaluation, training, information and networking work.

In terms of the INICCO-2 group of projects (2013-2015), s/he will be:

  • Responsible to the INICCO-2 Steering Committee, the CCBS Board and the Special EU Programmes Body for the management and delivery of outputs of all elements of the INICCO-2 group of projects
  • A member of INICCO-2 Steering Committee
  • Responsible for editing and bringing to publication all INICCO-2 research reports
  • Responsible for developing productive working relationships with key policy makers in both jurisdictions responsible for research policy and the delivery of public services in the areas covered by INICCO-2 research, training and animation – with a view to dissemination, implementation and sustainability
  • Responsible for leadership and direction to CCBS staff and researchers in the development, management, production and promotion of INICCO-2 research
  • Responsible for publicity and dissemination of INICCO research and related events, including oversight of the Information Officer and the organisation of an opening media launch and closing media event
  • Responsible for the tendering process to appoint Border Development Zone researchers and a marketing company for Border People.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

ESSENTIAL / DESIRABLE
Competencies /
  • Significant senior management and leadership experience and skills, including strategic management and the leadership and management of staff
  • Significant and successful fund-raising experience and skills
  • Significant experience in both managing and undertaking research, training and networking projects based upon both qualitative and quantitative methods, including publications
  • Experience of working on a cross-border basis in Ireland and/or Europe
  • High level of report-writing skills
  • A proven ability to communicate effectively orally, on paper and online, particularly to senior policy makers and practitioners in the areas being researched (candidates are required to submit three concise examples of personal written research work)
  • Competence inIT skills
  • Significant networking skills
  • An honours degree in a relevant subject
/
  • Experience of managing projects on a cross-border basis in Ireland and Europe
  • Experience of undertaking cross-border, all-island and transnational research, training and networking projects in Ireland and Europe
  • A postgraduate qualification, masters or PhD in a relevant subject

Presentation and intellectual ability /
  • A high level of intellectual skills, including research skills
  • A high level of demonstrable verbal communication skills, particularly to senior policy makers and practitioners in relevant policy areas
  • A high level of networking skills with policy makers, practitioners and researchers
  • Candidates selected for interview will be expected to make a 7-8 minute oral and Powerpoint presentation on their vision for this job and how they would implement their vision

Disposition and motivation /
  • A proven record of successful leadership
  • Proven ability to motivate and support staff development and to engender a spirit of team working
  • A demonstrable willingness to work hard and flexibly to achieve organisational goals
  • Strong commitment to the value of cross-border and all-island policy, practice and research
  • Evidence of ambition to achieve goals that are for the ‘common good’ of Ireland, North and South
  • Readiness to work cooperatively and supportively – and to strict deadlines – as part of a small, dynamic team at the Centre

Interests /
  • A strong and proven interest in North/South and cross-border cooperation in Ireland and Europe, and a strong belief in the value of such cooperation as a key part of the movement towards peace and reconciliation in Ireland and the integration of the European Union

Special factors /
  • Willingness to work out of the Centre’s Armagh office
  • Willingness to work irregular hours
  • Full, clean driving licence and access to a car

APPENDIX 1

The Ireland-Northern Ireland Cross-border Cooperation Observatory Phase 2 (INICCO-2) projects

Building on the outputs of INICCO-1 (2009-2012), the three strategic themes of the INICCO-2 group of projects are:

-to address the disadvantages and under-development of the Irish Cross-Border Region;.

-to strengthen the institutionalisation of cross-border cooperation in Ireland; and

-to support better integration of EU Cohesion Policy and the EU 2020 priorities in public policy and practice, North and South.

The aims and outputs of the nine EU INTERREG funded projects are as follows:

  1. Towards a Border Development Zone

This research project, building on the proposals of the 2009-2012 action research project Cross-Border Economic Renewal: Rethinking Regional Policy in Ireland, will explore the potential of a joint economic development approach across the whole Irish and Northern Irish cross-border region. Its three specific aims, to be carried out through five scoping studies and an action conference, are to:

  • Stimulate a form of development that is uniquely adapted to the region, making maximum use of national and provincial resources in the two jurisdictions;
  • Stimulate the evolution of local resources and expertise, as identified in Cross-Border Economic Renewal, particularly by building on the experiences of the successful border region firms identified in that study;
  • By focussing on building the capacity of local authorities in both jurisdictions to promote this process, develop more effective public sector cross-border collaboration with the aim of having a major economic impact on the region.

The five studies will be: a) overall Border Development Zone strategy and structure; b) SME enterprise in goods and services with an export potential; c) tourism and recreation; d) agriculture, food and fish processing; e) low carbon initiatives, energy saving and renewable energy. CCBS’s main partner in this project will be InterTradeIreland. The action conference will be held in January 2013, and out of it will come working groups in the five areas to work on an implementation plan for incorporation into afunding application to the 2014-2020 INTERREG programme.

  1. CRoSPlaN-2 Shared Services

This project will be led by the Centre’s ‘sister’ organisation, the International Centre for Local and Regional Development (ICLRD). The benefits of harmonising cross-border planning in specific regions along the Irish border is something that has already been recognised by both Irish administrations (e.g. in the North-West Gateway initiative) and in the outputs of CroSPlaN-1 (part of INICCO-1) in the areas of inter-jurisdictional planning in Ireland and abroad; river basin management, and shared services.

This phase will expand on the research into shared services in Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Canada and the US. It will:

  • Engage public bodies in the Irish cross-border region to identify areas for implementation of shared services;
  • Develop two shared services pilot projects with cross-border region councils in areas like tourism, environmental services, emergency services and spatial planning;
  • Build on existing ICLRD research and facilitate collaboration between local councils and government in the two Irish jurisdictions to begin to implement it;
  • Promote exchange of good practice with councils elsewhere in Ireland and Europe.

The project’s activities will include one cross-border action research project; one conference; three thematic seminars and one technical workshop; two local authority initiatives supported; a learning network established; new Service Agreement prototypes developed; and online resources tailored to the needs of local authorities in the region.

  1. CRoSPlaN-2 Executive Training and Animation Programme

This project will be led by the ICLRD. It will continue the training and animation programmes undertaken by the ICLRD for the three cross-border local authority groups – EBR, ICBAN and NWRCBG – in the 2009-2012 period. Its aims are to:

  • Raise the awareness of the importance of operationalising spatial planning linkages between EU and central government territorial policies and territorial cooperation among cross-border region local councils;
  • Provide best practices to develop solutions to common problems through joint actions;
  • Address cross-border institutional fragmentation by developing collaborative frameworks to strengthen cooperation between border region councils;
  • Build the capacity of local councils to jointly articulate and present their initiatives to central government departments;
  • Complement the work of the three local authority cross-border groups by supporting emerging initiatives in areas such as tourism and economic development.

The project’s activities will include 10 training events; one strategic cross-border local authority initiative supported; 90 local government officials, councillors and community leaders trained; one solution to a cross-border problem addressed through joint action.

  1. CRoSPLaN-2: Evidence-based Planning

This project will be led by the ICLRD. Its aims are to:

  • Provide compatible 2011 census data from Ireland and Northern Ireland in an online and user-friendly format to support collaboration between central government departments in both jurisdictions and between local authorities in the cross-border region, and to present the policy implications of such data;
  • Update the all-island pilot deprivation index developed in INICCO-1 using the 2011 census data;
  • Provide analytical tools that will support evidence-based spatial planning on a cross-border basis;
  • Train practitioners, officials and elected representatives in the cross-border region in the use and interpretation of data;
  • Facilitate exchange of best practice in data capture among councils in the cross-border region.

The project’s activities will include the development of two new tools (an all-island digital atlas mapping the 2011 censuses and an updated all-island Deprivation Index); five seminars and four ‘data days’ to train 110 practitioners, policy makers and cross-border region officials and councillors in data use and interpretation.