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About the Role
This is an exciting opportunity to work as part of the academic support team in the new Centre funded through Research England’s Expanding Excellence in England Fund (E3) and work alongside the Centre Director and a multidisciplinary and cross-faculty research team.
The Centre for Protecting Women Online is based at the Open University’s Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) and it builds on the existing expertise and research excellence at the OU to respond to modern challenges facing online spaces – specifically those related to Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). The aim of the research team is to develop the Centre’s staff, foster an inclusive and collaborative working culture and, by welcoming UK and international visiting fellows into the Centre, build capacity in England to tackle and reduce online violence against women and girls. The Centre is committed to capacity building to enable its long-term sustainability, fulfil its strategic research and impact agenda, diversify income and future research funding. It will work with local partners to achieve local and regional impacts by co-designing outputs and interventions that combine research and practice to overcome barriers to tackling online VAWG.
The Research and Impact Manager will support and work with other staff members (academic and academic support) in the delivery of Centre’s objectives. They will manage the Centre’s research, Knowledge Exchange (KE) and impact activities, liaise with network of partners, internal and external stakeholders and support development of the Centre’s engagement activities.
The key focus of the team is to support the growth of research, knowledge exchange, scholarship and commercial activity as well as partnership building initiatives to diversify income, provide effective service to academics and enhance reputation.
What we can offer:
- Opportunity to be a part of a new initiative committed to developing research and impact agenda and partnership building.
- Opportunity to manage centre’s core activities as part of the team that helps researchers deliver ground-breaking research, impact of which can be seen across different sectors and disciplines.
- Work alongside the centre’s academic research leads and professional services staff across the faculty, university and beyond.
- Training and development relevant to the role.
- Involvement in a community that takes pride in the development and implementation of the Open University’s Social Mission.
- Contribute to the delivery of the OU Research Plan
- Training and development relevant to the role.
Key Responsibilities
Research Management
- Manage the Centre’s income generation activities.
- Support bidding for external funding (pre and post award) including horizon scanning of funding opportunities, costing/pricing, approvals, development etc.
- Liaise with internal and external stakeholders effectively (Finance, Legal, Research, Enterprise and Scholarship, Business Development Unit, Development Office, Learner and Discovery Services).
- Manage the Centre's Knowledge Exchange (KE) and impact activities and processes, including collation of evidence and preparation of reports.
- Support Senior Manager in financial monitoring and reporting on internally and externally funded projects.
- Support Director and Senior Centre Development Manager in reporting on Centre's and projects’ milestones.
- Carry out administrative tasks associated with the role, such as attending group management meetings, governance and reporting on activities.
- Deputise for the Senior Centre Development Manager (as appropriate) and provide cover for members of the FBL Research, Enterprise, Scholarship team as needed; share skills to extend expertise of the team as a whole.
Comms and Public Engagement
- Coordinate the Centre’s networks and partnerships.
- Develop a programme of engagement that supports vision of the Centre.
- Develop and manage the Centre's comms strategy alongside the central comms team; liaise with Central and Faculty based Comms teams and other internal stakeholders as appropriate.
- Stay up to date with Centre’s remit and research/KE developments.
- Promote the Centre externally including virtual presence and social media platforms (website, blogs, newsletters).
- Undertake horizon scanning of new comms and engagement opportunities and keep up to date with developments in public engagement.
- Provide advice and support to members of the centre (staff and PhD students), in planning, co-creating and delivering engagement activities.
- Work in collaboration with the Centre’s Director, Research Team, Senior Centre Development Manager and Centre Coordinator to support and operationalise Centre’s core strategic priorities.
- Plan, conduct, analyse and report the findings from evaluation of engagement activities.
- Prepare briefings and updates for various stakeholders and audiences.
- Liaise with other units at the Open University on Knowledge Exchange, policy, comms, impact etc.
About You
Essential criteria:
- Educated to a degree level or have equivalent experience in a relevant role.
- Previous operational and/or research management/grant administration experience.
- Proven experience in managing multiple projects and key internal and external stakeholder relationships successfully.
- Previous experience of setting and managing finance budgets.
- Proven analytical skills and the ability to interpret, advise on, and adhere to policy and procedures, excellent attention to detail.
- Awareness of the Higher Education (HE) funding environment, the Research Excellence Framework and the ‘Impact Agenda’.
- Understanding of effective social media engagement and management within HE/research context.
- Ability to work collaboratively and contribute to effective team working.
- Well-developed interpersonal and negotiation skills, enabling effective collaboration and influence in situations where there is no direct authority.
- Ability to work well under pressure and meet deadlines and adapt to changing priorities and reflect on stakeholder feedback.
Desirable criteria:
- A project Management qualification.
- Interest in the Centre’s remit.
Support with your application
If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.
What's in it for you?
At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).
Flexible working
We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.
Work location
It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where you can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that attendance on our Milton Keynes campus will be required. There is an expectation that you will work from our Milton Keynes office at least 1 day per week but this role requires flexibility to attend campus according to business need and so there will be occasions when attendance more than once a week is required.
Next steps in the Recruitment process
If shortlisted, we anticipate interviews taking place online on 7th or 8th September.
Early closing date notification
While most roles will remain open until the advertised closing date, applications may be reviewed on an ongoing basis. In some cases, vacancies may close earlier if a sufficient number of suitable applications have been received and equality impacts have been appropriately considered. All roles will remain advertised for a minimum of one week before any early closure is implemented.
If you have started an application or were in the process of applying when the advert closed, we encourage you to get in touch. We are committed to understanding individual circumstances and can offer further support where needed, including reasonable adjustments for applicants with protected characteristics.
How to apply
To apply for this role, please submit the following documents:
- CV
- Supporting Statement (Your Supporting Statement should be no more than 1000 words and should outline how your current skills and experience meet the Essential Criteria listed above).
You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.
