Research Development Manager

Job description

The Health Research Development team supports research income generation activity across the four health faculties at KCL. Academic staff in health faculties have multiple collaborations with colleagues in other faculties, requiring collaborative working with professional services and academic colleagues across the university. Our team focusses on helping faculties deliver KCL’s health research strategy. Our work is enormously varied and ranges from supporting the implementation of major organisational strategic priorities, to supporting individuals seeking their first research grant. We help group leaders, departments, schools and faculties develop their plans for grant acquisition, provide insight into funder priorities and processes, and support the development of grant proposals from concept, to drafting, to interview preparation.

In this new role, responsible to the Director of Research Development (Health) you will help deliver University and Faculty health research funding priorities, supporting the development and coordination of research funding applications to public and third sector funders. Increasing our existing support to the world leading Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, you will act as a key point of contact for the faculty, working closely with academic staff to understand their research funding goals, encouraging and supporting applications to appropriate opportunities from concept to award offer. Using your professional services and academic networks you will work with colleagues across the University to maximise opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Working with the research development team, you will deliver training activities for academic staff that increase awareness of research funding streams and capability to apply.

To thrive in this role you’ll bring a strong grounding in a relevant field of research with a good understanding or how health research funding works and experience of working in a research funding environment. You will be solution focussed, with an organised and adaptable approach and be able to quickly understand complex concepts. And you will bring the motivation and personal qualities to engage with senior academic staff and professional service colleagues to understand their goals and challenges and help address them. In return we offer an unbeatable learning environment, with opportunities to develop your career in a collaborative and highly valued team.

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract

This is a full-time post

Key responsibilities

1. Acting as first point of contact for a defined part of the health portfolio

a. Providing a visible and responsive research development service to academics

b. Developing a high level of awareness of the research goals and funding needs of individual academics in your portfolio

c. Building and maintain strong relationships with academic leaders in faculties and schools, to understand their research funding priorities and support needs

2. Grant application development

a. Working with faculties and schools to promote relevant recurrent funding opportunities

b. Working with academics to encourage applications to appropriate funding streams

c. Providing application advice and support for academics, from project scoping to funding scheme selection, providing advice and feedback on application drafts, securing institutional sponsorship and preparation for interview

d. Disseminate and promote high impact strategic funding calls, targeting relevant academic experts across disciplines to help build effective bid teams, then support applications

3. Scoping new opportunities for research investment

a. Identifying new funding calls and relating these to the research expertise within Health Faculties

b. Developing relationships with key sector funders and their personnel, to understand their goals and approaches to delivering them

c. Contribute to strategic projects that deliver insight and options for research development in research areas of importance to the University or individual Faculties

4. Provision of training

a. Providing training that increases capability to apply to specific funders and funding streams

b. Providing targeted training to faculties and schools in response to specific needs

5. Internal funding process management

a. Manage the delivery of internal funding schemes

b. Delivery of triage processes for external funding schemes

6. Team work

a. To work with colleagues in the Health Research Development team to agree priorities and responsibilities for new work, balance workloads and share best practice

b. To work with colleagues in the Arts and Sciences Research Development team to maximise “One Team” working across academic research interactions and in our research development practice

c. Promote effective academic partnership and interdisciplinarity in all of our work

d. Contribute to management reports and the collection and analysis of performance data

7. Working with others research management professionals

a. Build strong working relationships with research management staff in Faculties and the Research Management and Innovation Directorate to improve practices, systems and reporting that supports research grant applications

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

1. Graduate degree or equivalent experience in a subject relevant to health sciences

2. Experience of working in an academic research or research funding environment

3. Good understanding of the health research funding landscape and of the research development pipeline from concept development to application, through funder review processes

4. Experience of managing relationships with scientists, with a customer focussed mind-set: motivated to help academics find timely solutions to their problems

5. Excellent listening skills, able to quickly understand and explore key scientific concepts

6. Excellent communicator, able to interpret and explain complex information with clarity and confidence. Confident supporting individual and group conversations that deliver insight

7. Excellent writing skills, with demonstrable experience of delivering clear, structured outputs that deliver results

8. Excellent qualitative and quantitative analytical and problem solving skills, with a solution focussed approach

9. An engaging and inquisitive individual who thrives on building trusting relationships with experts and stakeholders at all levels. Builds and maintains good working relationships with colleagues to foster team spirit, commitment to the team and achievement of shared goals

10. Comfortable working independently, knowing when to ask permission and when to inform. Comfortable with ambiguity and able to work flexibly and at pace in a rapidly changing environment

11. Ability to achieve goals through influence and negotiation in a complex organisational environment

12. High level of work organisation, self-motivation, resilience and determination, drive for performance and improvement, and flexibility in approach and attitude

1. PhD or equivalent research experience in a subject relevant to health sciences

2. Experience of the scientific peer review process

3. Experience of contributing to strategic projects

Interview and assessments for this post are expected to be help in the week beginning the 22nd of May. Details will be provided to shortlisted applicants. Informal queries about the role can be directed to alasdair.rankin@kcl.ac.uk