Safeguarding Research Specialist

This position is a part of the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA).

This position has a term length of 2 years and offers a comprehensive benefits package which can be viewed at: Faculty & Staff Benefits .

Location - North campus. This role is hybrid with a mix of remote and in person

Department summary

The Research Integrity Support (RIS) portfolio encompasses services which support the Institution and its researchers in the provision of effective and responsible administration of ethics requirements for all research involving human participants, all research, teaching, and testing involving animals, clinical trials monitoring, research contracts and all safeguarding research initiatives.  Within RIS, the Safeguarding Research program supports the review and risk / threat assessment of research, commercialization and technology transfer agreements.   Our program-specific review committees, Safeguarding Research Working Group (SRWG) and the Institutions researchers are supported by an administrative team that provides effective, comprehensive services ranging from University safeguarding research policy development, researcher training, committee support and review and risk/ threat assessments of individual applications, consultation on emerging issues and coordination of annual reporting to University, provincial and federal agencies.

Position summary

Reporting to the Director, Research Security, the Safeguarding Research Specialist supports the University’s research mission by providing significant content and process expertise to support preparation, submission, review and on-going administration of Safeguarding Research risk assessments for researchers in all Colleges, Faculties, Departments and administrative units.  As a key member of the Safeguarding Research administration team, this role supports and advises researchers and their staff on the preparation of risk assessment forms, which includes drawing on an extensive knowledge of safeguarding research issues and requirements, knowledge of National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships and compliance with Institutional policies and procedures. This position supports and advises the program-specific committees and the SRWG Chairs and members with regard to compliance with applicable guidelines, regulations, policy and legislation.  The position conducts or contributes to training and education activities for a range of audiences, including Committee members, internal Faculty, trainees and research team members. In addition, this position contributes to the development of written standard operating procedures and guidelines for use by all the committees, reviewers and researchers.

The duties of this position are diverse and complex and require significant independent work and decision-making in a high-volume fast-paced work environment.  The Safeguarding Research Specialist must maintain an in-depth and detailed understanding of University policy and procedures, funding agency guidelines, provincial and national guidelines, regulations and legislation, and best practices which provide the framework for their critical thinking and decision making. The Specialist must have strong knowledge of research security, in addition to a broad knowledge of technical procedures and terminology commonly used in open source intelligence gathering and safeguarding research activities. 

Duties

Application / Researcher Support

• In accordance with UA policy, receive and process safeguarding research / research security risk assessments for review by program-specific review committees, the Safeguarding Research Working Group and/or acceptable delegated reviewer (ie. AVP and/or Sub-Committee).
• Conducts an independent pre-review and communicates requests to researchers related to conformance with application standards, while also advising of appropriate methods and/or accepted practices to address these issues.
• Post review, communicate changes requested by reviewers to applicants and assist researchers to develop appropriate solutions to problems identified by the reviewers.
• Take effective action to advance applications that are delayed in the process due to poor understanding, missing documentation, or other issues.
• Participates in the ongoing monitoring of projects and partners to identify any new or evolving risks.
• Undertakes and supports (as applicable) the internal and external (such as open source due diligence review of research partners, dual-use evaluations, Health, Safety & Environment review process, research data management safeguards and others).
• Assist applicants and staff with accessing and troubleshooting technical issues with internal IT systems used for managing applications, refer for specialized support as required

Reviewer, Committee & Meeting Support

• Scheduling, setting agenda, recording, and preparing minutes for program-specific review committees and Safeguarding Research Working Group meetings. 
• Responsible for orientation and training of new and current program-specific Committee and Safeguarding Research Working Group members including IT permissions, and drafting appointment and thank you letters.
• Share updated communication releases, guidelines and training materials to Committee and Working group members for ongoing sharing of knowledge and information.
• Through an in-depth understanding of the applicable guidelines, interpretations, best practices and regulatory requirements related to safeguarding research, the Specialist contributes to the review of a file and discussion at appropriate meetings.
• Identify ongoing education needs of the Safeguarding Research Working Group and application-specific review committees.
• Responsible for development and maintenance of the Safeguarding Research website and internal communications.
• Attend and provide administrative support for supplemental meetings that may occur to better support and streamline Committee business i.e; discussion items of non-compliance, Safeguarding Research policies and procedures, notifications to Researchers

Support for Safeguarding Research Program within the RIS portfolio

• Developing and delivering educational resources for researchers including application training, online system training and programs offered by relevant organizations (e.g. ISED, PSC, CSIS)
• Contribute to the development and process of approval of written standard operating procedures and guidelines including institutional SOP’s
• Participate in local, provincial and national organizations associated with the risk assessment and review of research safeguards.
• Participate in the Safeguarding Research Working Group, bringing forward process issues and requests for improvements
• Perform other duties as required.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree required.
• Knowledge of Canadian Safeguarding Research standards and regulations (ie. National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships, Human Pathogens and Toxins Act and Regulations, Canadian Biosafety Standard).
• Experience in open source intelligence gathering.
• Minimum two years of relevant work experience, in an academic research environment preferably.
• This position must have a demonstrated ability to consistently and effectively apply high level critical thinking, decision-making and communication skills in a high volume, fast-paced environment.  In addition, the individual must have well developed administrative and office skills, including knowledge of committee and meeting support techniques.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and University business systems (PeopleSoft, ARISE, Zoom, SharePoint etc.), and internet applications is essential.
• Must be a self-starter with proven initiative who can learn quickly and is willing to change direction as priorities change.
• Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team is required.

This position requires access to sensitive information and secure databases, the successful candidate must be able to be cleared for a Reliability Status security screening (see  https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/esc-src/personnel/information-eng.html ).

Note: Online applications are accepted until midnight Mountain Standard Time of the closing date.

We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those individuals selected for an interview will be contacted.