Research Theme Manager UK DRI

Vacancy Reference Number

B02-04715

Closing Date

24 Mar 2023

Salary

£47,414 - £55,805

Address

UCL- School of Life & Medical Sciences (B02) Hybrid (20% - 80% on site)

Duration

Maternity cover

The UK Dementia Research Institute
Dementia is the biggest health challenge of our century – currently affecting fifty million people worldwide, projected to triple by 2050, with huge financial, emotional and social impact on patients, their carers, families and friends.

Dementia is caused by a set of complex neurodegenerative disorders, with Alzheimer’s disease accounting for about 60% of cases. To date there is no way to prevent or even slow the rate of progression of dementia – this is because there is still a major knowledge gap in our basic understanding of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.  The UK Dementia Research Institute(UK DRI) is the biggest UK initiative supporting research to fill this gap.

We are a globally leading multidisciplinary research Institute of 800 staff investigating the spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders causing dementia, driving a step change in our understanding of the disease and accelerating the discovery, development and delivery of interventions that will help diagnose, treat and ultimately prevent dementia. 

Our seven UK DRI research centres are based at University College London, the University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, Edinburgh University, Imperial College London and King’s College London with our 800 researchers focusing on different aspects of dementia and developing new technologies and approaches for research, diagnosis, treatment and care.

The UK DRI is a joint £290 million investment from the Medical Research Council, Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK.  We recently successfully completed our first quinquennial review and secured funding for the next 5 years.

The UK DRI Headquarters Team
The UK DRI HQ team is based at UCL and works across all six 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, common policies on hiring, communications, capital investments, finances and other operational challenges, a single tech tranfer programme, and shared external collaborations.

UK DRI HQ comprises a dedicated team bringing a range of expertise to support the work of the UK DRI’s seven centres, with specialisms in Business & Innovation, Communications, Finance, Human Resources and Scientific Affairs. The team work closely with Centre Managers, Centre Directors and researchers across the Institute to collaborate, share ideas and provide expert advice.As the UK DRI expands across its seven centres it becomes increasingly important to ensure the effective coordination of essential activities supporting collaboration across the UK DRI scientific network.

About the role

Game changing progress in dementia research requires a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to deliver groundbreaking science, identify new opportunities, avoid duplication of work and ensure efficient use of equipment and resources.

To meet these demands the UK DRI has established cross-centre groups focused on specific themes within dementia research. Each thematic group brings multidisciplinary expertise from across the seven UK DRI centres to explore crucial questions, develop new technologies, explore experimental and therapeutic approaches, and share and make better use of data and data analytics. Themes also provide an opportunity to engage with external statekholders from the broader scientific community and industry.

The role of Research Theme Project Managers is to drive the Themes’ activity, working closely with the Scientific Leads to coordinate communication and knowledge sharing between researchers across the seven centres, as well as the HQ team and the wider thematic communities. They will be responsible for managing the theme budgets along with logistics on behalf of the theme membership, organising meetings, workshops and events, and establishing strong working relationships between researchers across the whole UK DRI.

We are looking for strongly motivated, communicative scientific project managers with interest in neurodegenerative disorders and, ideally, experience of delivering events and coordinating communications across a diverse group.

This role is based at the UK DRI London Headquarters at UCL and may involve frequent travel to the other UK DRI host institutions, and the nature of this role will require occasional attendance at out-of-hours activities.

This post is to provide maternity leave cover and is available from July 2023 until May 2024.  This post is available for UCL secondment.

About You

We are looking for strongly motivated, communicative scientific project managers with interest in neurodegenerative disorders and, ideally, experience of delivering events and coordinating communications across a diverse group.

Key Requirements

You will have a degree in neuroscience, biomedical sciences or a cognate area with contemporary understanding of biomedical neuroscience and dementia research and experience of formal project management in a scientific or technical environment.  Your experience of organising and managing events and utilising communication channels to disseminate information, coupled with your interpersonal skills and communication skills will enable you to build strong working relationships with collaborators and stakeholders.  Effective time management and IT skills, along with the ability to prioritise and coordinate multiple activities will enable you to manage competing demands effectively.

This role is based at the UK DRI London Headquarters and may involve frequent travel to the other UK DRI host institutions, and the nature of this role will require occasional attendance at out-of-hours activities.

The post is to cover a maternity leave and is available from July 2023 to May 2024. This post is available for UCL secondment.

Your application should include a CV and a Cover Letter: In the Cover Letter please evidence the essential and desirable criteria in the Person Specification part of the Job Description.   (By including a Cover Letter, you?can leave blank the 'Why you have applied for this role' field in the application form, which is limited in the number of characters it will allow.)

If you have any queries regarding the application process, please contact Barbara Hehir (UK DRI Director of HR), barbara.hehir@ukdri.ucl.ac.uk

For informal enquiries on the role please contact Dr. Giovanna Lalli (UK DRI Director of Scientific Affairs), g.lalli@ukdri.ucl.ac.

What we offer

Salary

The post is graded as UCL Grade 8 with salary in the range £47,414 - £55,805 per annum including London Allowance.

Probation

Appointments are subject to a probationary period of 9 months.

Hours of work

Full time, 36.5 hours per week; times of work are as determined by the line manager or Director.

Annual leave

Annual leave is 27 working days for a full-time member of staff + 6 UCL closure days in addition to 8 Bank Holidays.

Pension

Appointments are superannuable under the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).

Other benefits

UCL is a dynamic, global university based in one of the most exciting capital cities in the world. Not only does working at UCL offer the opportunity to work with some of the greatest intellects in the world, it also offers competitive terms, conditions and benefits to its staff. In the 2013 UCL staff survey, 83% of staff would recommend UCL as a good place to work and 86% are proud to work for UCL.

As part of the UCL community you can access free lunch hour lectures, exhibitions and museums and collections. On campus UCL has the Bloomsbury theatre hosting a range of performances and a series of bars, cafes and other facilities, which UCL staff can use.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent.  We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. 

We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce.  These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. 

The UK DRI is actively seeking to increase diversity among its research and technology community, including an equitable representation of men and women at senior research and technology level. The UK DRI therefore especially encourages applications from women, from black and black British ethnic groups, from Asian and minority ethnic groups and from those with non-standard career paths. Appointment will be made on merit. We are open to considering flexible and part-time working arrangements. UCL and UK DRI are committed to helping staff balance work and life commitments through it’s part-time and flexible working policies and family friendly support. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/equity-edi/family-friendly-policies