Lead Public Health Researcher

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 354193**Salary**:

- £53,116- National minimum: £53,116 London minimum: £57,114- A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%**Job grade**:

- Grade 7**Contract type**:

- Permanent
- Loan
- Secondment**Length of employment**:

- This role is being advertised on a permanent basis. If preferable, Loan or Secondment options will also be available for existing Civil Servants (Loan) and applicants from accredited NDPBs or any other employer (Secondment).**Business area**:

- DHSC - Primary Care and Prevention Group - Secondary Prevention**Type of role**:

- Other**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Leeds, LondonAbout the job

**Job summary**:
In DHSC, we are proud of our purpose - to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you’d like to work in, we’d love to hear from you.

This role sits within the Evidence and Evaluation team in the Strategic Evidence and Analysis Division.

The Evidence and Evaluation team plays a key role in supporting evidence-informed public health providing support across the whole of OHID in relation to research, evidence and evidence reviewing, and evaluation.

**Job description**:
The role of the team is to provide strategic leadership and supporting infrastructure for research and evidence, to provide specialist advice, expertise and training on evidence and evaluation, to produce a variety of rapid evidence reviews on high priority policy topics and provide hands on support for the evaluation of major policies.

The post-holder will work across all of these areas, meaning workload is varied. Key aspects of the role will involve leading the production of rapid evidence reviews, delivering evidence-related training, and supporting and providing expertise to policy teams in the commissioning of research, evidence reviews and evaluation. The post-holder will need to develop relationships with colleagues in similar roles across DHSC and other government departments, as well as policy teams leading on key policy topics and programmes both regionally and nationally. The post-holder will also interface with public health academics and others involved in supporting evidence-informed public health.

Key areas of work currently within the team include, developing and coordinating governance for research and evidence, developing and commissioning an evaluation of a workplace NHS Health Checks pilot, providing methodological expertise on a pilot randomised controlled trial of health incentives, and working with the Cabinet Office Evaluation Taskforce to deliver evaluation training.

**Person specification**:

- Leading the delivery of rapid evidence reviews and other outputs, ensuring they are appropriately planned, delivered on time, to high quality standards and in an efficient manner.
- Leading on cross-OHID methodological work relating to rapid reviews in public health, for example in considering reporting formats and the use of GRADE.
- Providing expert methodological advice and support for the development and commissioning of research, evidence reviews and evaluations on high priority policy topics. Ensuring that outputs are timely, relevant and high quality.
- Development and delivery of training to support the use of evidence and evaluation.
- Supporting the development and co-ordination of cross-OHID governance and infrastructure for research and evidence. This may include, for example, development of cross-OHID approaches for the identification and prioritisation of research and evidence needs and coordination of processes for commissioning research, evidence reviews and evaluation.
- Contributing to development of Evidence and Evaluation team priorities and the continuous improvement of our work.
- Line management of at least one Senior Public Health Researcher.
- The post holder will develop working relationships and communicate regularly with a wide range of individuals, internal and external to OHID and DHSC.

**Key skills and experience required for the role**

Essential:

- Educated to degree level with a degree in health, public health or social sciences
- Knowledge of public health and the role of evidence and evaluation in the delivery of public health policies and programmes
- Knowledge and experience in conducting systematic or rapid evidence reviews using appropriate methods and tools
- Prioritise own work effectively and to direct activities of others, including responding to sudden or unexpected demands
- Must be able to use initiative to decide relevant actions and make recommendations to Manager, with the aim of improving deliverables
- Excelle