Research Centres Manager

Founded in 1837, the Royal College of Art is the world’s largest community of postgraduate art and design students. It is also the oldest art and design university in continuous operation and has been ranked as the world ‘s number 1 art & design university for a remarkable eight consecutive years (QS World Subject Rankings 2015-2022).

RCA Research Centres

The RCA Strategic Plan 2022-27 sets out Research Excellence as Goal 1, with the RCA Research Centres playing a key role in delivery of this vision. The Helen Hamlyn Centre of Design has been at the RCA for thirty years, the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre was established in 2016, the Materials Science Research Centre was established in 2018 and the Computer Science Research Centre began in 2020. Working with peer-reviewed research funding, industry collaborations and executive education delivery, the centres host a range of projects including a collaboration with Hong Kong Polytechnic University for the Artificial Intelligence Design Laboratory, the UKRI Textiles Circularity Centre, a partnership with Hyundai Kia, the Design Age Institute amongst others. 

Purpose of the post

The Research Centres Manager works with the Head of Research Centres and the Centre Directors to lead on the operationalisation of each Research Centre’s strategy, ensuring effective liaison with the leads of the Research Centres and between the Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) Office, the Schools, and Professional Services. The post will coordinate across Centre core activities and a range of research, knowledge exchange and executive education projects. 

The post manages a team of administrators who support the Centres across project delivery, resource management, events and marketing, and reporting.The post oversees processes and procedures for effective delivery of plans and projects, ensuring effective and compliant internal and external reporting and budget control. The role acts as a focal point for liaison with Central functions and disseminates information effectively across the Research Centres. 

The ideal candidate will have experience working across a breadth of projects, ideally in a higher education setting, excellent organisational and prioritisation skills and a high level of self-motivation and initiative. They will have strong interpersonal skills, with experience of line management and influencing and collaborating constructively with colleagues. 

This is a full-time post and the post holder will be expected to be on site at least 60% of the time at our state-of-the-art facilities at Battersea, with occasional travel to other sites.

Please see Information Pack for further details.

Interview date will be in the week commencing 6th March 2023 (TBC)

Further details: Information Pack  

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