UCI Policy and Impact Lead
Join UCI to shape the future of research commercialisation policy and university practice!
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. Funded by Research England (UKRI) 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.
We are now looking for an ambitious and collaborative Policy and Impact Lead to help us accelerate and expand our impact and build out our externally-facing activities. With funding now secured from Research England (UKRI) to expand our work and help build a national capability for knowledge exchange evidence, metrics and data, we have exciting work programmes developing in key areas including strengthening spinout ecosystems, the future of knowledge exchange metrics, and developing universities to drive breakthrough innovations at pace and scale.
Working closely with the UCI Director and the UCI team, the Policy and Impact Lead will be responsible for taking forward our impact agenda, contributing to the strategic development of the Unit and support its operational delivery, and building and maintain relationships with key stakeholders.
The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of research commercialisation, knowledge/technology transfer or innovation processes, practices and/or related public policies and have some relevant professional experience in this area, for example in a university, public policy organisation, think tank, consultancy, or private sector organisation. Excellent interpersonal, networking and communication skills are required for this role as you will be required to work collaboratively in teams to deliver complex projects and engage effectively with senior stakeholders and officials in the commercialisation ecosystem. In addition to this, you will have the ability to:
Develop and communicate high-level policy/practice-focused insights and messages emerging from research
Produce high quality policy / practice-focused reports, synthesizing key trends and insights from a wide range of primary and secondary sources
Deliver high impact workshops and events, and capture and communicate insights
You will also demonstrate a strong motivation to helping policymakers and university practitioners develop evidence-led policies and practices to accelerate the commercialisation of research.
If you feel you are the right candidate for this role, 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. We would also like candidates to provide an example of a piece of written material that demonstrates their ability to communicate a technical concept to a non-technical audience. Please also upload this document 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 NM36554 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.
The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.
The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.