Dementia is the greatest health challenge of our century. To date, there is no way to prevent it or even slow its progression, and there is an urgent need to fill the knowledge gap in our basic understanding of the diseases that cause it.
The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is the biggest UK initiative driving forward research to fill this gap. T
he UK DRI Headquarters team is based at UCL yet works across all six of the UK DRI host institutions. Collectively the HQ team is responsible for making the distributed UK DRI community function as a single institute, with a shared culture of intensely collaborative research.
The UK DRI Communications Team is responsible for the delivery of our ambitious national communications strategy for the entire UK DRI. This involves coordinating communications across six leading universities, ensuring one strong voice across our seven research centres, and building strong internal communications mechanisms to ensure the hundreds of individuals that make up the UK DRI collaborate, share ideas and solve problems together.
You will have excellent knowledge of Westminster, Whitehall and the devolved legislatures, experience of distilling complex information into digestible briefings for senior stakeholders, and a good understanding of the research funding ecosystem.
You will be a persuasive communicator, with excellent interpersonal skills that enable you to build strong relationships with both internal and external stakeholders, and you’ll have direct experience of policy development and building public affairs strategies and campaigns.
You will be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment and on your own initiative as part of a collaborative and dynamic team and be passionate about the mission and research of the UK DRI. We are now looking for an energetic, proactive and skilled public affairs and communications professional to help raise the political profile of the UK DRI through the delivery of an effective public affairs strategy, developing policy lines and recommendations that advance the ambitions of the UK DRI and our research. You will support the delivery of the UK DRI’s internal and external communications strategy by devising and delivering effective plans to engage and inform politicians, senior civil servants and other decision makers. You’ll also work closely with the public affairs and communications teams of our funders and host universities, ensuring that UK DRI public affairs and communications activities align, and coordinating joint working and initiatives.
For a confidential discussion regarding the role, please contact Lucy Wilson (Director of Communications and Engagement), lucy.wilson@ukdri.ucl.ac.uk.
