Communications Manager

About us:

Our Centre for Society and Mental Health is a cross-Faculty initiative between the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy (SSPP) and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN).

The centre aims to better understand the complex interrelationships between society and mental health, with a commitment to:

• Ensure that the impact of social context is central to how we understand mental health; 
• Work in partnership with affected communities.

About the role:

You will work closely with Centre Manager and the Communications, Policy, and Impact hub leads.  This involves collaborating closely with an interdisciplinary team of researchers as well as the Centre’s academic and community partners and experts-by-experience.
You will collaborate with researchers and hubs to sensitively and effectively communicate the findings of their research in an accessible way to appropriate audiences.  This will be through various formats including Centre research briefs series. You will act as an ambassador for the Centre and develop connections with potential partners, third sector organisations, media and policy makers.   You will support the Centre culture of inclusivity and reciprocity and bring this ethos and tone of the Centre’s voice and approach into all communications.   You will also work in partnership with experts-by-experience or members of affected communities.

Additionally, you will create content for news stories, blogs, animations to disseminate and promote the Centre’s work.  You will develop the Centre’s social media presence including increasing our BlueSky and LinkedIn presence and followers and creating an Instagram account.  You will continue to develop and deliver the Centre’s successful programme of events to continue to reach our core audiences and attract new ones.   You will refresh the Centre’s website and be responsible for developing and coordinating all internal and external communications including newsletters, news stories, blog posts and press releases, working with relevant colleagues from the communications teams in both faculties to promote Centre research. 

This is a part time post (28 Hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 30th April 2028. As this role is part time, the salary listed will be amended accordingly.

About you:

Essential criteria

• A first degree or equivalent experience.
• Excellent communication skills, including experience of promoting and disseminating research findings to a range of audiences.
• Experience of supporting and coordinating research-related engagement activities, including development of briefs and similar dissemination outputs.
• Experience of organising events such as workshops, seminars and conferences.
• Experience of website maintenance, editing and content creation using Contensis or similar content management systems.
• Experience of creating accessible content for social media channels and using content creation software such as Canva or AdobePro.
• Demonstrable commitment/interest in supporting research to have real-world impact and influence beyond academia.
• Proven consistent ability to meet tight individual and group deadlines and to manage one’s own workload through effective prioritising, time management and organisational skills.

Desirable criteria

• Demonstrated ability to communicate challenging potentially upsetting content in a sensitive and accessible way.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with research teams and people with lived experience, including good interpersonal skills to develop and maintain effective working relationships.
• An interest in the area of society and mental health.
• Relevant previous experience of supporting interdisciplinary research projects.
• Good science writing skills.

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