Public Affairs Officer

-Salary
**Circa £30,000 per annum**
Contract type
**Permanent**
Location
**Great Abington, Cambridge CB21 6AD (Agile; approximately 2 days a week from our office)**
Published

**in 2 hours**
- This is a _permanent_, _, full time_ vacancy_. _

**The Vacancy**

***

A permanent position has arisen in our friendly, busy and fast-moving Policy and Public Affairs team. The role will support Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) to seize opportunities for improving the political environment for dementia research, capitalising on opportunities to increase our impact in parliament and with government to strive for a cure.

The role will work closely with policy colleagues to help develop opportunities for influencing key stakeholders within and outside government and its agencies to help Alzheimer’s Research UK improve the dementia research environment. This is a very creative directorate, and the post holder will have opportunities to work on projects that take the charity in exciting new directions. The role is likely to include frequent work in Westminster and Whitehall and elsewhere in the UK.

**MAIN DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES**:
**Public Affairs**:

- Work with the policy and public affairs team, as well as the wider organisation, to help further develop and implement the public affairs strategy.
- Identify, develop and deliver proactive and reactive parliamentary activity to grow ARUK’s network of engaged, informed and supportive political stakeholders.
- Work across the policy and public affairs team to assist in developing tailored briefings and materials to further ARUK’s policy and public affairs ambitions.
- Keep abreast of the dementia research and political environments from national and international perspectives and use intelligence and insight to help inform the team’s work and direction.
- Provide analysis and insight on relevant legislation and policy guidance to help further and inform ARUK’s policy and public affairs work.
- Prepare parliamentary briefs, develop submissions for parliamentary questions and other opportunities presented through the parliamentary system.
- Lead on gathering information to measure our public affairs impact and report regularly, including across the organisation and up to Directors.

**Campaigns and awareness raising**:

- Work with the policy, public affairs, research and communications team to help deliver public campaigns and campaign messaging focused on ARUK policy objectives and help shape these messages for a political audience.
- Work with the communications and digital teams to help develop digital public affairs opportunities.

**Event and meeting management**:

- Planning and coordinating parliamentary events and conferences focused around ARUK key policy and public affairs objectives.
- Represent ARUK at parliamentary and other events and conferences, potentially including national party conferences.
- Co-ordinate and attend meetings with parliamentarians and stakeholders alongside senior staff and to provide briefings for staff.
- Liaise with colleagues, scientists, supporters and stakeholders at all levels.

**WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR**:

- Knowledge and interest in politics and public affairs
- Knowledge of the UK political system
- Experience of building positive relationships with influencers or supporters
- Confident working with computers - good knowledge of Word, Excel and Outlook
- Excellent personal communication skills, with the ability to communicate with people at all levels face to face and on the phone
- Ability to write professionally, with an ability to adapt communications for different audiences
- Ability to work with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail
- Good organisational skills and the ability to prioritise workload
- Professional and hard-working team player
- Enthusiastic and able to remain calm under pressure
- A willingness to show initiative
- Willingness to work outside of regular office hours and overtime during busy spells

**The Charity**

***

Alzheimer's Research UK is the UK's leading dementia research charity. Our mission is to accelerate progress towards a cure. Today 1 in 2 people will be impacted by dementia, either through caring for a loved one, developing it themselves or tragically both. But there is hope.

There has never been a more important and exciting time in dementia research. With promising new drugs in clinical trials that slow the progression of the diseases that cause it, and revolutionary new ways to diagnose them on the horizon, we are now at a tipping point. Working with the smartest minds globally and across the UK, with industry and academia, Alzheimer’s Research UK is uniquely placed to invest in the very best research identifying barriers to a cure and knocking them down so that there are more and better treatments for everyone with dementia. For the first time in history, we can see a future where people with dementia can get a swift and accurate diagnosis, and effective tre