National Capability Development Lead for Knowledge Exchange Evidence and Metrics
Join UCI to help build England's national capability for knowledge exchange data, metrics and evidence!
The Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation (UCI) is a leading UK centre of excellence dedicated to improving the evidence base and insights available to governments, funding agencies and universities to help them drive a step-change in university contributions to innovation through commercialisation and knowledge exchange (KE). Funded by Research England (UKRI), the English universities funding body, since 2020, our work has had a significant impact on the development of government policies related to commercialisation and knowledge exchange, and on university practice. UCI is based at the Institute for Manufacturing in West Cambridge.
Research England recently set out an ambition to develop a national capability for knowledge exchange(KE) data, metrics and evidence, particularly in the area of research commercialisation and impacts, in order to drive more informed evidence-led decisions about where and how to invest in KE to deliver increased value.
To deliver this ambition, Research England have provided funding to UCI to work closely with them to develop strategic and operational plans to guide the launch of this national capability by April 2025 and its future development.
We are now looking for a highly motivated, experienced, and collaborative individual to join the team as a National Capability Development Lead to develop, manage and lead this nationally and strategically important work programme.
You will work in close partnership with the team at Research England and other key stakeholders to develop detailed strategic and operational plans to launch this national capability. Key aspects of this role will include developing and refining its scope, identifying implementation options, and building key relationships and a national community of interest from across the English KE data and metrics ecosystem to aid delivery. You will also be responsible for delivering a major national conference in Spring 2024 aimed at guiding the development and launch of the national capability.
The ideal candidate will demonstrate an ability to produce high-impact, practical strategic and operational plans to guide the setting up of a national initiative, ideally with some experience of doing so in public, private or university settings through a collaborative approach. Excellent interpersonal, networking and communication skills are an essential requirement for this role to engage and build strong working relationships with senior decision-makers to develop work programmes and build stakeholder communities around a common vision. You will have the ability to understand the needs for improved knowledge exchange data, evidence and metrics to key stakeholders, and deliver complex work programmes to schedule. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a strong commitment to driving evidence-led policy and practice.
If you think you are the right candidate for this role, then we would be delighted to hear from you.
Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available until 5 April 2025 in the first instance.
Applications are welcome from internal candidates who would like to apply for the role on the basis of a secondment from their current role in the University.
Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.
Please ensure that you upload your Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a covering letter in the Upload section of the online application.
The closing date for applications is Monday 19 June 2023. Informal enquiries about the role are welcomed and should be directed to Tomas Ulrichsen, Director of the UCI, at tc267@cam.ac.uk. If you have any questions about the application process, please contact the HR Office at the Department of Engineering (hr-office@eng.cam.ac.uk, +44 (0)1223 332615).
Please quote reference NM36551 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.
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