Job Description

The post holder will be required to work within established ethics and governance review processes and integrity procedures, developing an understanding of these processes and procedures and providing support as required. The role will require the use of initiative and judgment to resolve day-to-day problems brought to the team by researchers or process-based problems. There is scope for the role to involve management of small projects, dependent on experience. The post holder will have excellent organizational and communication skills to support with the convening of investigation panels and collation of all relevant documentation and to be the lead coordinator for departmental wide training requests. They will also have excellent communication and people skills to liaise with staff and students, acting as one of the first points of contact for the Research Governance, Ethics and Integrity Department. They will support with the management of the email inbox for each of the teams, providing clear responses to routine queries and escalating to the relevant colleague for non-routine queries.

The post holder will be able to work to tight deadlines and priorities their own workload and will have excellent IT skills. This is a busy and varied role based within a rewarding and stimulating environment.

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract.

To undertake a range of administrative duties in support of the work of the Research Governance, Ethics and Integrity teams. The general tasks outlined below will be undertaken by this post on a day-to-day basis, while the team specific tasks will be undertaken on an ad-hoc basis, with workload managed/overseen by the Head of Research Ethics and Governance.

• To act as one of the first points of contact for the department, responding to routine queries received through each team’s generic email inbox and appropriately escalating non-routine/complex queries as needed.
• To lead on the co-ordination of requests for training for one or more of the teams, liaising with the requestor to clarify requirements where required, and ensuring that the correct departmental leads are notified and supported.
• To act as the departmental lead for all updates to our webpages (internal and external).
• To lead on the creation and dissemination of the departmental newsletter, liaising with relevant team members for content and developing engaging and informative content.
• Supporting with the preparation of communications to the research community from each of the three teams.
• To contribute effectively to the continual development of departmental wide policies and processes.
• To ensure that strict confidentiality is maintained at all times when dealing with confidential and sensitive information.
• To use initiative ensuring that if any problems arise in the processing of any applications that these are dealt with appropriately and consistently.
• Preparing and disseminating the Research Ethics participant recruitment circular.
• To support with the scheduling of Committee meetings and preparation and circulation of papers. This will include sending out of meeting agendas and taking minutes at meetings.
• To support with recruitment and induction of committee members.
• To develop an understanding of our research governance review processes and systems to enable provision of administrative support with the processing of applications of all risk levels.
• To use initiative ensuring that if any problems arise in the processing of any applications that these are dealt with appropriately and consistently.
• To support with the maintenance of the research governance systems, KDPR and EDGE setting up new study records and uploading documents.
• To manage the set-up of accounts in clinicaltrials.gov to enable our research community to make their research publicly available.
• To develop an understanding of the UK GDPR and how this relates to the collection and analysis of human subject research data.
• To develop an understanding of our Procedure for Investigating and Resolving allegations of research misconduct and support the Research Integrity Office with the processing of enquiries.
• To support with the scheduling of Panel Investigation/Inquiry meetings, organization of investigation materials and management of secure Microsoft teams channels for individual investigations/inquiries
• To support with recruitment and induction of panel investigators as required.
• To support with the maintenance of the research integrity issues log and research misconduct tracker, ensuring records are accurate and up-to-date.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Degree/Equivalent or a minimum of one year’s relevant administrative experience.
• General administrative experience.
• Demonstrable experience of providing clear and concise advice/guidance.
• Experience of working independently and showing initiative.
• Effective oral/written communication skills.
• Ability to relate to staff and students.
• Ability to priorities workload and be flexible as required.
• Accuracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• Patience to deal with demanding applicants.
• Experience of working in a HEI
• Knowledge of website packages
• Committee Serving experience