Chair within the field of Technology Sectoral Analysis (Two posts)

The Imperial jobs site will be temporarily unavailable from 16.00pm Friday 23rd February to 12.00pm Wednesday 28th February as we move to a new Job site platform. 
We will not be accepting applications or advertising vacancies during this period.
Applications started, not yet submitted by 16:00 23rd February will need to be started again on the new platform.
For further information and how to submit an application or set up job alerts again please visit our FAQs for new job site platform transition

Please note the URL (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/ ) will be the same.

Applications are sought from outstanding academics with an Engineering and/or Business School background to be appointed as the inaugural Co-Directors for the newly established Centre for Sectoral Economic Performance (CSEP). One Co-Director will be appointed with the Dyson School of Design Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, while the other Co-Director will be appointed within the Imperial College Business School . As well as holding Co-Director roles, you will hold open-ended Chair positions within the relevant departments. You must have a world-leading track record of accomplishment in translating rigorous research into strategies and policies that address both firm-level and national competitiveness, as well as influencing governmental policy.

The Centre for Sectoral Economic Performance (CSEP) has been established to build a national resource to help ensure that the UK’s high-value science and technology-based industries are globally competitive in the 21st century. The Centre is a collaboration between Imperial College’s Business School and the Faculty of Engineering , made possible by generous support from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. It builds on foundations established through our recent sectoral studies on biopharma, telecoms and medical devices , and currently underway on the fine chemicals industry. The mission of the Centre is ambitious:

• To help improve the competitiveness of the UK economy by focusing its research on the industries / sectors with the greatest potential for global success, and deepening knowledge on value generation, innovation, and productivity.


• Based on the research findings, engaging with influential audiences in industry, government and academia to develop implementable recommendations, strategies, and policies that result in value generation and societal equity.


• Become the go-to place for researching and advising on the readiness of UK industry to anticipate and accommodate forms of market and technological disruption.

In your role as the Co-Directors, you will have overall responsibility for delivering the Centre’s goals and objectives. You will also be responsible for the overall running of the Centre, its strategic development, guiding the development of new themes and projects, engaging in research translation activities, and monitoring Centre activities to ensure compliance with its governance processes.

You will have the opportunity to build and shape this new brand-new international centre that will located in the heart of central London, liaise and work with colleagues across academia, industry and government in the UK, as well as direct recruitment of new staff to the Centre, including our new inaugural David Sainsbury Fellows (Post-doctoral researchers) and David Sainsbury Scholars (Ph.D. students).

To succeed in this role, you will need:

• A very strong track record in research leadership and scholarship, including managing major research programmes and / or research centres;


• Experience of research on key economic sectors and industries, including issues relating to factors driving value creation and competitiveness, and/or innovation and scale-up of emerging technologies and businesses;


• Experience of working across business and engineering sectors, and conducting collaborative research across public, private and academic sectors;


• A very good understanding of the UK policy and institutional environment and its implications for industry competitiveness;


• Experience of research translation into policy and business to deliver impact, and a strong track record of industry, government, policy engagement;


• And an international experience and outlook.

Full information on duties, responsibilities and criteria for the post can be found in the Job Description.

Proposed interview date: 11 April 2024.

You will commence your appointment before 1st October 2024.

Please see our further particulars for more information about the College and the benefits available to staff.

The successful candidate for the Engineering post will also be expected to provide research leadership in the Dyson School of Design Engineering.

For further information about the post:

• For the Co-Director role based within the Business School please contact Professor James Barlow, Chair in Technology and Innovation Management, Email: [email protected].


• For the Co-Director role based within the Dyson School of Design Engineering, please contact Professor Robert Shorten, Head of the Dyson School of Design Engineering, Email: [email protected].

For further information and advice on the application process contact Maria Monteiro, Senior Appointments Manager, Email: [email protected]

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA),which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level.http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research /