Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) and Training Manager (Health Data) - Research and Knowledge Transfer - 98514 - Grade 7

School or Department: Research Delivery Team - MDS R&KT Office.

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £31,406 to £40,927, with potential progression once in post to £43,434 

Grade 7 

Full Time FTC with current end date 31/03/23

Closing date 21 November 2021

Background 

Working in partnership with members of the public to shape research is a priority of the College of Medical and Dental Sciences at the University of Birmingham. The post holder will sit within the health data team, with a dotted line into support from the growing Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement team. The successful post holder will lead on all aspects of involvement, engagement and training across a number of projects within the Research Delivery Team, focusing on the realm of health data; including PIONEER the Health Data Research Hub in Acute Care, COGSTACK and wider health data projects as required. 

The PIONEER Hub will collect, connect and curate health data when adults and children become acutely unwell from community health teams, the ambulance service and hospitals across Birmingham as well as acute care data from >150 NHS hospitals and sudden deaths in the community across the UK. The PIONEER Hub will allow innovative healthcare companies to develop, test and deliver new ways of caring for acutely unwell people, in partnership with NHS service providers and health researchers.
COGSTACK is an innovative project focused on automating the interpretation of free text fields in digital health records. Its aim is to use artificial intelligence to reduce errors and save the NHS significant time and the learning could be transformative for the way manual administrative tasks within the NHS are addressed.
The PPIE and Training Manager will work with the PPIE Lead to develop and implement the strategy on PPIE activities for key research activities related to health data. This requires building, developing and maintaining excellent relationships with diverse groups of patients and carers, patient and carer organisations, third sector organisations, faith organisations, and other stakeholders in the local and national health and social care economy.  

Job summary 

The aim of this role is to strengthen the development of PPIE and research collaborations within the College of Medical and Dental Sciences with a base in the Research Delivery Team in the College of Medical & Dental Sciences’ (MDS) Research & Knowledge Transfer (R&KT) Office.  More specifically, the PPI and Training Manager will facilitate and coordinate the following activities:

•    Working with PPIE Lead and management team to scope, develop and deliver Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Strategy for nominated research delivery projects.
•    Determining and meeting training needs across the health data portfolio.
•    Providing leadership to both researchers and public contributors on all public involvement and engagement and any training matters related to nominated research delivery projects. 
•    Connecting with PPIE networks to stay on top of best practice and implementing national PPIE guidance, such as that from the NIHRs Centre for Dissemination and Engagement.
•    Ensure patients and the public have meaningful and rewarding involvement in the work of the local research infrastructure.
•    Developing new ways of working with public contributors, which help embed principles and features of co-production. 
•    Building capacity, skills and expertise in Public Involvement and Engagement in nominated research programmes connected projects.
•    Capturing the impact of involvement and engagement activities. Contributing to the evidence base of public involvement through evaluation and reporting of public involvement activities.
•    Working with Birmingham Health Partners PPIE team for all cross-cutting matters, contributing to activities in the wider community and academic environments where this delivers demonstrable benefit to the local research initiatives/infrastructure.
•    Working with University Engagement teams to support the growth of public involvement and engagement in health and social care research in our diverse communities. 

Main duties

•    Work alongside PPIE Lead to scope, develop and deliver PPIE strategy of any nominated research delivery projects.
•    Be a first-point of contact for public contributors and researchers in matters relating to Public Involvement and Engagement for nominated research delivery projects. 
•    Maintain and grow the network of public contributors for nominated research delivery projects, integrating with the management and governance of the nominated projects and providing support to public contributors in their roles. 
•    Build strong relations with service users, third sector organisations and diverse, local communities.  This will help ensure public contributors reflect the diverse communities of those impacted by the research.
•    Identify barriers to public involvement and engagement and develop inclusive strategies to overcome these barriers.
•    To lead on engagement and communication activities to share information about and learning from any nominated research delivery projects, with a view to improving public understanding of research. Engagement activities include online and face to face events, either lead by owned projects or participating in opportunities through third parties. Communications may involve written pieces for a public audience and maintenance of website and social channels, for example.
•    Support capacity development through teaching, training and drop-in sessions to enhance skills and knowledge in public involvement, more broadly than the nominated research delivery project.  
•    Gather feedback from researchers and public contributors on public involvement activities to inform the future development of ways of working. 
•    Contribute to outputs, including conference presentations, articles, such as blog pieces, project reports and funding applications. 
•    Ensure public contributors are reimbursed expenses and honoraria.
•    Inform regular reporting activities for funders. 
•    Work in partnership with regional and national PPIE professionals to coordinate Public Involvement/Engagement projects and activities. 
•    To develop and maintain a strong and up-to-date knowledge of developments in PPIE and to disseminate information to members of the various research initiatives as deemed appropriate.
•    To take the lead on determining training leads across health data projects. Work with researchers to develop and deliver training as required.
•    To carry out tasks related to administration, writing minutes, planning and conducting mailings, developing systems for monitoring return of information, keeping records of progress, writing letters to organisations, report-writing, data entry, producing communication bulletins/newsletters, carrying out desktop research tasks.
•    Work with Project Leads and R&KT Office colleagues to develop coherent and achievable strategies relating to internal development and external funding; assist with the identification of appropriate funding opportunities and inform the preparation of both major and routine funding applications.
•    To assist other ongoing activity within the Research & Knowledge Transfer Office as required.
•    Duties and responsibilities within the post and the obligations placed upon post holder may vary and develop over time. Any resulting changes will be subject to consultation with the post holder and line manager within the College of Medical & Dental Sciences’ Research & Knowledge Transfer Office, through the agreed annual review process.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience 

•    A graduate with a good honours degree with experience in health or social science or related subject and/or the education sector.
•    Proven knowledge and experience of managing public involvement and engagement in health and social care research. 
•    Experience developing and delivering training to a range of audiences.
•    Good understanding of key issues in public involvement, diversity and inclusion and relevant national policies and strategic documents. 
•    Proven interpersonal and communication skills with ability to work with a range of partners including researchers, NHS staff, local authorities, third sector organisations and service users and community groups.
•    Excellent organisational and time-management skills to manage and deliver a range of initiatives and projects to tight deadlines.
•    Experience of designing and delivering public involvement and engagement events for a range of audiences. 
•    Flexible approach to working, including problem-solving skills, ability to adapt to unforeseen demands and a desire to develop skills and knowledge.
•    Proven experience of supporting the planning, management and delivery of long-term complex projects involving multiple agencies and individuals.
•    Ability to write clearly for a range of outputs including: reports, funding applications, websites and social media platforms. 
•    Enthusiastic and highly motivated, with the ability to influence and inspire others.
•    An ability to work proactively, with little supervision, under pressure and to deadlines, making decisions confidently.
•    Excellent IT skills, including Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook), the internet and social media.
•    Awareness and ability to comply with data protection legislation for monitoring and evaluation purposes and ensure that all activity complies with these demands. 
•    Ability to deal with matters of a confidential or sensitive nature. 
•    Be able to work flexibly with occasional evenings.
•    Ability to travel within the region and to national meetings when required.

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working