UCI Policy Data Analyst (Fixed Term)

Join UCI at a pivotal time to impact the future of university commercialisation data & evidence for policy!

The Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation (UCI) is a leading UK centre of excellence dedicated to improving the data, evidence and insights available to governments, funding agencies and universities to help them drive a step-change in university contributions to innovation through commercialisation and knowledge exchange. Funded by Research England (UKRI) since 2020, our work has had a significant impact on the development of government policies related to commercialisation and knowledge exchange, and on university practice. Our partnership with Research England currently centres around developing novel data, metrics and evidence on commercialisation and wider forms of knowledge exchange. 

We are now looking for a motivated and collaborative Data Analyst to support the delivery of strategically important, data-driven projects over the course of 2026 that contribute to the unit's long-standing partnership with Research England (UKRI).

We have exciting projects in key areas, with ability to influence the data informing commercialisation and knowledge exchange policy/funding approaches:

• The expansion of the new university Spinout Register to integrate new sources of data (e.g. patents, people, funding, deal terms, investment);
• Building a comprehensive database of patents linked to UK universities;
• Producing national commercialisation metrics leveraging data from a range of established data sources (including from the Office for National Statistics and Higher Education Statistics Agency); and
• Supporting the extraction, interrogation and analysis of text-based information available on websites, documents, grants etc. on the approaches universities are developing to support commercialisation and wider forms of knowledge exchange.

The ideal candidate will have a keen interest in research commercialisation, knowledge/technology transfer or innovation processes. Experience working with research and innovation-related data (e.g. data on grants, patents, publications), company-level databases, and/or ONS secure research data would be useful, but is not essential.

Excellent interpersonal, networking and communication skills are required for this role as you will be required to work collaboratively in teams to deliver projects with interdependent work packages, as well as communicate complex methodologies, concepts and tools to non-technical audiences.

In addition to this, you will have:

• Knowledge and use of one or more programming languages e.g. R, Python
• Experience using tools for data analysis and visualisation, pipeline development (use of APIs), version control (e.g. Git)
• Strong problem-solving skills and an analytical, solutions-focused mindset
• Strong project delivery skills, with experience working in a team-based, milestone-driven environment and delivering projects to successful completion
• Ability to work independently, and in teams, within an environment with limited existing processes or guidance, developing novel and innovative methods, workflows and protocols from scratch to meet project needs and ensure reproducibility and scalability

You will also demonstrate a strong motivation for undertaking data analyses with policy communities in-mind, to inform policy/funding approaches.

This is a 12-month fixed term position until 31st December 2026 in the first instance. As such, we are ideally looking for someone to start as soon as possible in January 2026.

If you feel you feel you meet all (or some) of our requirements for the role, we would be delighted to hear from you. 

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click 'Apply' above.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

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