Performance Psychologist - 58598 - UoB Sport - Band 500

Position Details 

UoB Sport

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK 

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £23,699 to £25,458, with potential progression once in post to £29,471

Band -  500

Part Time - 22.7 hours per week 60% FTE - Weekdays and some evenings and weekends

Permanent

Closing date – 16th September 2021

Our offer to you 

People are at the heart of what we are and do. 

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university.  We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. 

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential.  With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. 

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate.  We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work. 

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working.  In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. 

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site.  On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens. 

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham   

Job Summary

This post is a fantastic opportunity for a passionate sport psychology practitioner to join the University of Birmingham and work with performance athletes and teams as an integrated member of the University of Birmingham Performance Centre (PC). The PC is a multi-disciplinary sport science and medicine unit with the aim of supporting our elite dual career athletes in their transition from junior to senior international and supporting our Flagship & Performance teams in the pursuit of BUCS success. They will work closely with our head coaches in developing the performance environments and the mental skills of our athletes.  They will also work alongside other disciplines with the focus on optimising performance.

The successful candidate will be a key member of the team working with elite athlete scholars and high performance teams at the University. This includes senior internationals, junior internationals, BUCS champions and BUCS Championship winning teams.

Main Duties

The successful candidate will be responsible for the design, development and delivery of the sport psychology support to our athletes and teams. This will involve working closely with the coaches, performance centre practitioners, dual career programme team and external bodies (i.e. TASS, NGB’s):

• To support our head coaches in developing performance environments which optimises performance as well as wellbeing.  This will involve providing advice and guidance to coache through to the design and delivery of resources and workshops.

• To support our scholarship student-athletes from a sport psychology perspective as they transition on to, through and from our programmes (UoB scholarship programme & TASS programme). This will involve working in close partnership with the Performance Centre practitioners, coaches and Dual Career (DC) management team in the design, development and delivery of a comprehensive sport psychology programme.

• To design and deliver planned support, which may consist of 1-1 sessions, group sessions, training & competition observation, integrated ‘on-pitch’ support, and systems-approach support. Support will have the aim of developing a performance mindset, athlete self-awareness, individualised psychological skills and of facilitating the development of psychologically informed performance environments.

• To continually log, monitor and evaluate delivery with regard to programme aims and outcomes.

• To develop online resources for scholars and high performing teams to help with their professional and personal development.

• To assist the Performance Centre Lead in encouraging a psychologically informed environment and in facilitating effective interdisciplinary support within the PC through ensuring shared understanding, a common language and ongoing case-formulations.

• To work with PC practitioners, DC management team and coaches in providing support and advice on sport psychology topics or concerns.

• To liaise with the Performance Centre lead where there is any issue/conflict which may have arisen so that the appropriate action can be taken.

• To encourage and facilitate dual career aspirations through enabling effective management of the balance between sporting and academic commitments.

• To work within the guidelines and code of ethics and conduct of the British Psychological Society.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Good degree in sport psychology, psychology, sport science or discipline relevant to the psychological development of elite athletes.

• Sport Psychology qualification or working towards (i.e. British Psychological Society Qualification in Sport and Exercise Psychology: Stage Two)

Knowledge

• Sound knowledge of sport psychology theory, research and methods of applied practice.

• Awareness and understanding of the University environment and dual-career demands for elite student-athletes.

Skills

• Excellent communication skills (written & verbal), including confidence to present to groups

• Team player able to work as a member of a busy multi-functional team.

• Ability to work under pressure and show initiative.

• Use of Microsoft Access, Excel, Outlook and Word.

• Good organisational skills, the ability to plan effectively.

• An empathy with working within a student environment, with the desire to develop student sport.

Experience

• Experience of supporting the personal development of individuals through coaching and mentoring.

• Experience of delivering high quality sport psychology support to meet the needs of the client.

• Experience of working within a high performance multidisciplinary team

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.