Job summary

Expected Shortlisting Date:

28/01/2025

Planned Interview Date:

07/02/2025

NIHR funds health and care research that saves peoples lives. Help us showcase the impact of our research to policy makers, the public and health and care staff through this exciting new role.

We are seeking a dynamic, self-motivated and passionate person with experience overseeing and developing an organisation's Impact and Insight function.

Do you have experience working systematically, with a range of stakeholders, to ensure that high quality results are delivered on time?

Are you able to clearly articulate the impact of research to a wide range of stakeholders?

Do you have excellent analytical and problem-solving skills?

Would you like to lead a committed, driven, and professional team delivering evidence based evaluations?

The successful applicant will need to demonstrate how they meet the essential criteria of the person specification. If you do believe that you meet these criteria and have an interest supporting change and understanding how research can improve people's lives and benefit health and social care, then please do apply.

Please note NIHR will be closed on the upcoming bank holidays. Due to the festive period, you may not receive a response from the vacancy contact until the second week of January.

Main duties of the job

Working within a small friendly team, you will support the Assistant Director oversee a team performing a variety of Impact and insight tasks.

These include overseeing and providing leadership for evaluations and impact assessments of the schemes and programmes that form part of the NIHR Academys portfolio, representing NIHR Academy in various impact boards with senior colleagues and stakeholders etc.

The role requires working closely with impact colleagues across NIHR coordinating centres and the wider funding landscape to deliver evidence based evaluations demonstrating the difference NIHR has in both the UK and global setting.

About us

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has a mission to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. The NIHR plays a pivotal role in attracting, training and supporting the best researchers and complements the additional NIHR investment in world-class research facilities and a skilled research workforce.

This role is hosted by the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) and delivers the work of the NIHR, leading on policy, strategy and delivery in respect of academic training in England and working closely with other NIHR centres and the Science Research and Evidence (SRE) Directorate at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Specialist Programme Expertise and Leadership

Support the Assistant Director for Evaluation, Business intelligence and Impact in leading the development and delivery of the NIHR Academy and wider NIHR impact and evaluation strategy to meet NIHR vision Work with the Assistant Director - Evaluation, Business Intelligence and Impact and take a key role in identifying approaches for evaluating NIHR programmes Provide specialist knowledge of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methodologies and strategic planning Provide reports to an agreed standard to meet the requirements of NIHR Academy Executive Board Assist the Assistant Director for Evaluation, Business intelligence and Impact with the preparation of reports and papers for strategic and policy meetings and publication Evaluate outputs, formulate and present highly complex ideas of future reporting developments, while considering national strategic developments within DHSC and other funding organisations Apply specialist knowledge of writing and publishing peer reviews publications. Oversee the implementation and delivery of a range of new impact and evaluation initiatives, policies and projects as they arise for NIHR and NIHR Academy Produce analytical options papers in order to contribute to decision making and action planning Provide support and input into how evaluations and impact assessments can support business improvement plans Act as initial focal point for Impact and Evaluation queries, providing key support to the process for answering Parliamentary Questions Take a lead role in delivering NIHR evaluations for DHSC and ministers, working with colleagues across the NIHR Coordinating Centre. Take a lead role in commissioning evaluations leading to new impact and economic insights

Communications and Engagement

Identify and understand the business needs, prioritise, and implement Impact and Evaluation methods, policies and processes to meet those needs. Work with the Assistant Director for Evaluation, Business intelligence and Impact to identify impact and evaluation needs which will inform the on-going development of impact and evaluation procedures and support the strategic direction for NIHR Academy. Maintain regular liaison with Impact and MEL teams across NIHR and keep the NIHR Academy Executive Board informed of work progress or any issues Provide training for NIHR Academys programme management staff in the most effective impact and evaluations tools and processes to use to evaluate their programmes Work with the Business Intelligence lead, and data science colleagues to identify and implement processes such as AI or machine learning that can simplify the process of identifying insights from NIHR programmes Work with the Assistant Director for Evaluation, Business intelligence and Impact to take a leading role for developing and communicating highly complex and sensitive information relating to evaluation and impact developments, information requirements and research evidence in line with new national initiatives. Liaise with other national NIHR programmes, wider NIHR, Department of Health and Social Care staff, other key funders of health and social care research and the academic community as necessary Deliver presentations to NIHR stakeholder groups, internal and external Work closely with the wider NIHR Academy Evaluation, Business Intelligence and Impact team to ensure that they have sufficient insights to respond quickly to Information Requests and long-term Analysis

Technical

Provide specialist knowledge of quantitative and qualitative methods used to evaluate programs or individuals research outputs Be/Act as the domain expert and understand what information can be accessed and how this should be analysed for impact and evaluation purposes Use specialist knowledge of qualitative methods to derive the best methods for deriving insights from NIHR Academy programmes and individual researchers Ensure the NIHR Academy Executive is up to date with developments in appropriate methodologies Plan and implement projects appropriate to the role Information Resources Records personally generated information Staff Management and Supervision Provide leadership for 5 staff members and line management on an individual basis including the direct supervision of 2 staff, objective setting, appraisals and appropriate personal development plans.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Educated to Masters level (or equivalent experience) in a social science, health science, mathematics or other relevant research methodology discipline

Desirable

Educated to PhD level (or equivalent experience) in a social science, health science, mathematics or other relevant research methodology discipline

Other Criteria

Essential

Skills & behaviours Ability to work accurately with attention to detail to identify data errors, inconsistencies or gaps to achieve standardised, consistent and reliable outputs Ability to analyse, interpret, and present highly complex scientific and policy information for different audiences Able to demonstrate project management techniques to deliver quality outcomes to deadline, identifying risks and making contingency plans Ability to maintain confidentiality

Experience

Essential

Significant experience of research and impact assessment Significant experience delivering evidence-based evaluations Writing and publishing peer reviewed publications Experience leading a team An understanding of public sector health research and its management An understanding of health research capacity development Specialist knowledge of quantitative and qualitative methods and data analytical tools SPSS, NVivo etc An understanding of research impact assessment methods such as MEL Knowledge of Information Governance, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applying for ethical approval

Desirable

Experience leading a cross organisational functioning team

Skills & behaviours

Essential

Ability to tackle complex problems, identify interdisciplinary solutions and implement them Effective liaison skills with the ability to deal tactfully with a broad range of stakeholders Think strategically Leading inclusively by example Giving purpose and direction which includes involving people in deciding what needs to be done Getting the best from others Identifying opportunities and approaches to achieve goals and improve results Ability to work as part of a team, build and maintain good working relationships both internally and externally to the organisation Excellent time management and organisational skills, to anticipate fresh demands, and to delegate effectively Highly developed interpersonal skills with the ability to deal effectively with confidential, sensitive or contentious information Ability to set goals and standards Ability to take personal responsibility Ability to evaluate quickly and resolve problems, escalating concerns where necessary Highly motivated