Strategic Research Initiatives Officer

**Job Purpose**
The Strategic Research Initiatives Officer will provide professional and organisational support for the coordination and delivery of activities managed by the Strategic Research Initiatives team in the Research Services Directorate. This will include providing comprehensive financial and administrative support for the distribution of internal funding designed to catalyse cross-disciplinary collaboration, coordinating demand managed funding opportunities at an institutional level, and administering the University’s prestigious Lord Kelvin / Adam Smith (LKAS) academic recruitment schemes.
The Strategic Research Initiatives 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.

**Main Duties and Responsibilities**-2. Responsible for the day-to-day coordination of the University’s response to demand-managed funding schemes requiring a University-level selection process c. 20-30 funding calls per year, working in collaboration with College Research Offices.
3. Responsible for the day-to-day administration of all internal funding schemes managed by SRI, including provision of data and reports, post-award coordination of budget reprofiling requests and ensuring that internal funding schemes effectively contribute to the realisation of the University’s Research Strategy.
5. Responsible for clerking internal panels convened to assess demand managed opportunities and internal funding schemes. Support includes: selecting dates and organising meetings; preparing and collating papers; taking accurate minutes and compiling action/decision logs; ensuring actions are completed and decisions communicated; and updating and managing tracking spreadsheets.
6. Provide data management support to 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.
7. Provide project management and administrative support as required to projects managed by the Strategic Research Initiatives portfolio, including supporting new activities to deliver on the research strategy.
8. Provide comprehensive event organisation and management support for activities to be delivered by the Strategic Research Initiatives portfolio, including identifying dates and booking venues, organising suppliers where required (e.g. catering etc), setting-up and being responsible for registration, handling queries from participants, and dealing with any problems in a professional manner.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Engage in reasonable professional development activities as appropriate.
12. Contribute to the enhancement of the University’s international profile in line with the University’s strategic plan

**Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience**

**Knowledge/Qualifications**

**Essential**:

A1 Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post having acquired the necessary knowledge and skills through personal development and progression in a similar related role(s). Or, educated to at least Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 8 (Scottish Vocational Qualification level 4, Higher National Diploma) or equivalent, and experience of personal development in a similar role.
A2 Knowledge of project management methodologies, data management processes, records management, GDPR and data protection in a public sector environment.
A3 Detailed knowledge and experience of the Higher Education research environment, the research endeavour and University systems.

**Skills**

**Essential**:

C1 Demonstratable interpersonal skills with the ability to interact with a wide range of stakeholders, work collaboratively across organisational boundaries and behave in a professional manner using tact, discretion and diplomacy.
C2 Ability to use initiative, work independently and proactively to progress projects and, with line management support, to successfully challenge existing practice to bring about change and service improvement as required.
C3 Effective written and oral communication skills, including presentation skills and the ability to communicate confidently and clearly.
C4 Excellent organisational and project management skills, including the demonstrated ability to coo