Centre Coordinator - ARC CoE

• School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability

• Report to the Centre’s Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Director (Operations & Strategy)

• Support a nationally dispersed ARC Centre of Excellence through research management and governance of the Centre’s activities.

• Full-time opportunity until Jan 2027

• Based at St Lucia Campus

About UQ

As part of the UQ community, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside the brightest minds, who have joined us from all over the world.

Everyone here has a role to play. As a member of our professional staff cohort, you will be actively involved in working towards our vision of a better world. By supporting the academic endeavour across teaching, research, and the student life, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to activities that have a lasting impact on our community.

Join a community where excellence is at the core of our culture, contributions are valued and a range of benefits and rewards are available, such as:

• 26 weeks paid parental leave or 14 weeks paid primary caregiver leave

• 17% superannuation contributions

• 17.5% annual leave loading

• Access to flexible working arrangements including hybrid working options, flexible start/finish times, purchased leave, and a condensed fortnight

• Health and wellness discounts – fitness passport access, free yearly flu vaccinations, discounted health insurance, and access to our Employee Assistance Program for staff and their immediate family

• On campus childcare options

• Cheap parking (from just $5.75 a day)

• Salary packaging options

ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success

The Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture is a national research Centre which is administered by UQ and has Nodes at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), Monash University, Western Sydney University (WSU) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The Centre also has a number of domestic and international partner institutions. At UQ, the Centre has Chief Investigators from the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, School of the Environment, School of Mathematics and Physics, School of Law and the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI). The ARC CoE for Plant Success currently has 17 chief investigators, 13 partner investigators and 45 associate investigators and a team of ten full or part-time professional staff that support the Centre operations.

The ARC CoE for Plant Success will improve prediction for breeding and network analysis through new quantitative modelling technologies and enhanced knowledge of networks, mechanisms and their interconnectivity across scales from genome to phenome. It will further discover and predict utilization of mechanisms and networks for plant success and adaptation within and across species through a combination of novel phylogenomic, population genetics and ecophysiological approaches. With close attention to responsible innovation, the Centre will develop, adopt and promote responsible technologies, regulatory processes and best practice for plant innovation. With this uniquely multidisciplinary approach and team to match, the Centre will deliver new strategies to address the problems of food security and climate change, establishing Australia as a global leader in these areas.

About This Opportunity 

The Centre Coordinator position will support a nationally dispersed ARC Centre of Excellence through research management and governance of the Centre’s activities. The position will support the Centre Chief Operating Officer (COO), Centre Director, and other Centre staff to achieve Centre-wide research endeavours, as well as lead key initiatives. This role will also build strong working relationships between the Centre and key internal and external stakeholders.

Key responsibilities will include: 

• Develop strong relationships with an extensive network of internal and external stakeholders, including academic and professional staff at Centre Node institutions, to understand business needs, deliver effective, consistent services and to enable data collection for external statutory reports and research collaborations.

• Monitor compliance and risk management of the Centre’s obligations with the Australian Research Council (ARC), other funding agencies, university, industry, government and partners.

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with the relevant UQ service teams to ensure Centre compliance with UQ policies and procedures, governance protocols, and risk management frameworks, as well as any legislative requirements.

• Contribute to the monitoring and reporting of KPIs established for the Centre, working with the COO to produce performance trend analyses to inform Centre strategy and operations and to optimise achievement of the Centre’s objectives.

• Coordinate data sharing and management across Centre partners.

• Manage the mentorship program(s) of the Centre.

• Ensure all business support functions of the Centre are efficient and effective and meet compliance with the Australian Research Council and University requirements.

• Manage secretariat services for meetings as required, including organising meetings, developing minutes/notes and preparing meeting papers.

• Liaise and proactively engage with committee members to determine annual plans and coordination across all Centre committees.

• Working with the Centre Director, develop Centre related position and policy papers, as well as research advocacy initiatives.

• Manage key projects as requested by the Centre Director or the COO, including Centre events and/or workshops.

This is a full-time (100%), fixed-term position until January 2027.

At HEW level 7, the full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range $94,754.55 - $103,180.96, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $110,862.82 - $120,721.72 annually. As this role is covered by an Enterprise Agreement, you will also receive regular remuneration increases – at least once a year.

About You  

•  A university degree with at least four (4) years’ subsequent relevant experience; or extensive experience and management expertise in technical or administrative fields; or an equivalent combination of relevant experience and/or education/training.

• A university degree, with relevant experience in a university or similar environment; or an equivalent combination of relevant experience and/or education/training.

• Knowledge of and experience with research environments, with experience in project management and reporting with the ability to work well under pressure and constant concurrent deadlines.

• Highly developed interpersonal, influencing, and negotiation skills with demonstrated ability to build both internal and external relationships and networks with key stakeholders. 

• Highly developed written communication skills and a demonstrated ability to write formal proposals, position papers, and documentation to a publishable standard for a highly educated audience.

• Ability to provide critical advice and clarity of direction for a research centre (spanning disciplines, cultures, career stage, gender, community, industry, government).

In addition, the following mandatory requirements apply:

• Work Rights: You must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of this appointment to apply. Visa sponsorship is not available for this appointment. 

 
Questions? 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Mr David Tomlins at [email protected] . For application queries, please contact [email protected] stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line. 
 

Want to Apply? 

All applicants must upload the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Cover letter addressing the ‘About You’ section  

• Resume 

Other Information 

At UQ we know that our greatest strengths come from our diverse mix of colleagues, this is reflected in our ongoing commitment to creating an environment focused on equity, diversity and inclusion .  We ensure that we are always attracting, retaining and promoting colleagues who are representative of the diversity in the broader community, whether that be gender identity , LGBTQIA+ , cultural and/or linguistic , Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples , or people with a disability . Accessibility requirements and/or adjustments can be directed to [email protected] .

If you are a current employee (including casual staff and HDR scholars) or hold an unpaid/affiliate appointment, please login to your staff Workday account and visit the internal careers board to apply for this opportunity. Please do NOT apply via the external job board.

Applications close February 26th 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (Job Reference Number - R-35115). Please note that interviews have been tentatively scheduled for March 6th or 7th .