Public Involvement Officer

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Centre for Social Care and Artificial intelligence Learning (SCALE) and School of Computer Science and Informatics. SCALE is funded by Health Care Research Wales and will be launched in April 2025 with aims to harness the potential of Artificial Intelligence to address challenges in social care for children and adults. The Centre is a truly interdisciplinary collaboration between the School of Computer Science & Informatics, the Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE) and the Centre for Adult Social Care (CARE) (both based in the School of Social Sciences).

In this role, you will provide advice, guidance and support on public and stakeholder involvement (including individual social workers, local authorities, third sector organisations and people with lived experience) to staff and students working within SCALE and the wider School of Computer Science & Informatics. Your expertise and activity will enable the Centre’s research strategy, operation and research funding applications to meaningfully reflect lived experience. You may also have the opportunity to work on individual projects involving those with lived experience and practitioners, and to explore opportunities for development across the centre. You will advise and support the dissemination of research findings to people with lived experience of social care, practitioners and the general public.

Please note that you need to have a willingness to travel across Wales and to be flexible regarding working hours to meet the needs of research projects. You may occasionally be expected to work evenings and weekends to respond to participatory and engagement activities. This role is eligible to be offered on a blended working basis, meaning that as well as spending time offsite or working at either SPARK, our Social Science Research Park, or Abacws, home to the School of Computer Science & Informatics, you can also choose to spend some time working from another location, e.g. your home. Discussions around these arrangements can take place after the successful candidate has been appointed. The University is committed to offering this flexibility, wherever the role and business need allows, supporting work-life balance. 

The shortlisting process will look to see how candidates are able provide evidence of meeting the essential (and desirable) criteria in their application. As described in more detail later in this advert, please ensure you attach a supporting statement highlighting how you match the person specification, or the appropriate transferable skills for you to work within this role.

This position is part-time (17.5 hours per week) and from 1st April 2025 until 31st March 2028.

Salary: £33,482 per annum, pro-rata for hours worked (Grade 5), with 3 annual increments up to £36,130 per annum at the top of the scale.

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Prof Stuart Allen (Centre Director, AllenSM@cardiff.ac.uk) or Rachael Vaughan (Public Involvement Manager, CASCADE, VaughanR5@cardiff.ac.uk)

Informal enquiries in relation to the recruitment / application process can be sent to Simon Hogg, HR Administrator - COMSC-HR@Cardiff.ac.uk.

Closing date: Sunday,18 May 2025

This post has previously been advertised to employees of Cardiff University only. We now invite external applications.

Cardiff University has a successful School of Computer Science & Informatics with an international reputation for its teaching and research activities. We have seen a transformation of our research environment with the School almost doubling in size. We have moved into a new £39 million purpose-built facility shared with the School of Mathematics called Abacws, designed to facilitate interaction between disciplines and give our research groups new freedom to develop research culture and build identity. SCALE staff will work within the Social Science Research Park (SPARK) and Abacws. We are a research-led School with a longstanding, international reputation for applied research activities, and collaborate with more than 100 UK and international academic and industrial partners. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) 96% of our submitted research was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. The School delivers a stimulating portfolio of BSC and MSc degrees and offers research degrees leading to MPhil and PhD qualifications. For more information on the School please visit: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/computer-science.

Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds. We therefore welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age. In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.

Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.