Research Project Coordinator

Salary: £29,605 to £30,487 with progression to £32,982 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits . We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 01 May 2024

The Role

This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated individual to join the School of Computing as a Research Project Co-ordinator. Located at Newcastle University, you will primarily support an EPSRC funded project, entitled: Centre for Digital Citizens – Next Stage Digital Economy Centre.

The role holder will work closely with the project’s Principal Investigator, Professor David Kirk, Professor of Human-Centred Design and Co-Director of Open Lab.

The successful candidate will be primarily responsible for leading the coordination of the project. This will include organising multi-stakeholder events and meetings; documenting project activities and liaising with partner institutions (Northumbria, UCL, Edinburgh, Birmingham) and collating project data, such as journal and conference publications and outreach activities. You will also support the financial reporting, and administrative processes across the project. The role will be part of Open Lab’s support team and, as necessary, provide flexible support to Open Lab’s broader portfolio of projects.

This role is offered on a full time fixed term basis (up until October 2025)

To apply, please complete the online application and upload a CV and a covering letter. Please structure your covering letter as a supporting statement of no more than two sides. Please outline how you meet or exceed the requirements for the role holder as listed below.

For informal enquiries, please contact Hannah Jones (Strategic Project Manager) via email at [email protected]

For more information about the School of Computing, please click here

For further details about Newcastle University please visit our information page at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/about

Key Accountabilities

• Work with the Principal Investigator (PI) to develop a communications plan for the project, including workshops, conferences and other events
• Implement the communications plan, including arranging events (workshops and scientific meetings)
• Contribute to and maintain project and group websites, mailing lists and other social media outlets, including Twitter and LinkedIn
• Coordinate the administrative services for the assigned research project, working closely with other departments and services
• Represent the research projects and be the first point of contact for Newcastle University as well as visitors and stakeholders external to the University
• Assist with project planning. Manage and coordinate specific tasks and targets to meet project objectives and deadlines whilst working closely with PIs to ensure their projects remain on track and funders are kept informed of progress and changes as appropriate
• Support Steering Groups, Advisory Boards, Stakeholder Engagement Meetings, and other formal bodies constituted to oversee project delivery
• Collate, review, format and publish deliverables and other documents including reports required by funders and other stakeholders
• Build and maintain relationships with project partners across multiple institutions and facilitate effective internal communications across project teams
• Maintain financial records, manage outputs and impacts and publicise project outcomes
• Work closely with SAgE Project Support to ensure accurate record keeping and sound financial data management
• Any other duties within the scope and general nature of the grade which may be required

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Knowledge of the University processes
• Experience of web editing and social media marketing
• Experience of event management
• Has considerable recent relevant administrative experience in a co- ordinating role within a higher education establishment or other large organisation
• Proven written and verbal communication skills
• Working knowledge of financial record keeping and reporting and project management
• Works calmly and efficiently under pressure and to tight deadlines, with excellent organisational skills
• Has proven ability of establishing, reviewing and monitoring administrative systems in office environments
• Experience of acting as secretary in meetings, producing agendas, minutes and actions

Attributes and Behaviour

Planning and Organising

• Works in a planned and structured way
• Uses own and others’ time effectively
• Sets own priorities in conjunction with team and area objectives
• Plans workload and tasks in a systematic way
• Ensures that all activities are completed on time
• Uses systems and tools to ensure records and audit trails are clear and up to date
• Keeps work systems up to date, neat and tidy

Communicating

• Clear and concise; gets the message across to others
• Chooses communication tools appropriately e.g. selective use of emails and other channels of communication
• Able to adapt content of communication to the audience, changing style, tone and format appropriately
• Uses face to face communication regularly; team meetings, one to ones, informal discussions/chats, and briefing sessions

Team working

• Respects the expertise and contribution of others even if own opinion is different
• Shares relevant and useful information with others
• Keeps other team members up to date with progress
• Gets involved with team tasks
• Willing to help others and share workloads
• Supportive of team decisions
• Asks others’ opinion
• Respects the value that different views bring to the team

Finding Solutions

• Uses initiative to sort things out, is enterprising in effective use of material, financial and human resources
• Looks at ways of overcoming obstacles rather than coming to a standstill
• Confidently deals with a broad range of information
• Keeps an open mind to alternative ways of doing things
• Proactively anticipates and plans for likely problem areas or obstacles by assessing and managing risks

Qualifications

• A level (or equivalent) qualification, plus work experience in a relevant role; or substantial relevant work experience in a comparable setting

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are aDisability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 26920