Research Development Manager

Full time: 35 hours per week

Open ended: permanent

We are looking for an exceptional, motivated individual to join the Edinburgh Research Office’s Strategic Research Development Team. The successful candidate will deliver analysis of the funding and academic landscape informing design and delivery of research development initiatives. These initiatives will align with the new Research & Innovation Strategy and will position the University to deliver outstanding quality in research and research funding success.

The Opportunity

The Strategic Research Development team enables the University of Edinburgh to position itself proactively to win research funding, rather than simply acting reactively to funding opportunities. The post holder will find routes for delivery that enable the Institution’s academic community to respond to new opportunities effectively.

The Research Development Manager will have detailed knowledge of the requirements and opportunities of a broad range of the UK’s primary research funders (UKRI Councils, Wellcome, CRUK, British Academy, Leverhulme, etc.) gained from first-hand experience enabling researchers to develop the skills and knowledge needed to successfully bid for funding.

They will be responsible for identifying development needs of the University of Edinburgh research community and designing and delivering initiatives to fulfil those needs. This is likely to include, but is not limited to: developing research communities in strategically important disciplinary and interdisciplinary areas, designing and delivering researcher skills development events, providing bespoke development support to strategic groupings, and designing online research development resources. The post-holder will operate across all three of the Universities Colleges and will work with researchers from across the full spectrum of academic disciplines.

They will analyse the internal and external research and research funding landscapes to ensure that selection of initiatives is grounded in an evidence-based approach.

The post holder will have considerable autonomy in deciding how to identify and address research development needs but will also work closely with other SRD team members, colleagues in ERO and others across the University’s professional services community including from the Institute of Academic Development, School and College Research Offices, Edinburgh Innovations and others.

Your skills and attributes for success:

• A wide range of experience in research development and skills development for researchers including experience of designing and delivering development events.
• A wide knowledge of research funders’ strategic objectives and funding requirements
• Demonstrable experience of analysing complex issues and designing recommendations for progression based on the analysis.
• Experience of both project design and delivery, with demonstrable highly developed, detailed organisation and planning embedded in it.
• Excellent communication, negotiation and interpersonal skill, you will be a confident public speaker.

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