The Research Funding Officer is a member of the pre-award team supporting the coordination and submission of a portfolio of research funding applications working closely with academics and professional services staff in the three faculties. This is a busy, varied role which requires the post holder to: provide advice on the costing and pricing of research funding applications; provide guidance on internal processes and submission systems; manage a portfolio of grant applications; own the electronic funding submissions for their given portfolio; liaise with colleagues post-award and research contracts teams; and provide an efficient service to academic and professional services staff in the faculties. Responsibilities
- Support the Research Funding Manager by managing the administrative processes associated with the research grant lifecycle and proactively promoting good research grant management practice aligned to school policies and procedures.
- Carry out a range of pre-award responsibilities, including:
- Providing advice and assistance on interpreting funders' terms and conditions
- Providing advice and guidance on costing and pricing in line with policies
- Financial assessment of application budgets ensuring they are costed and priced in accordance with TRAC and FEC methodology in parallel with funders' terms and conditions and from the perspective of a university.
- Owning all research applications within the given portfolio and actively adding value to the application process.
- management of the online submission of applications on behalf of the university.
The expectation is that the post-holder will advise on a range of funders, including the UK, the EU and overseas.
- Ensure processes are carried out on a timely basis, accurately and in accordance with university policy and funder requirements.
- Take responsibility for the accurate and complete entry of project data into the university research management systems.
- Proactively identify problems at an early stage and resolve or refer to them as appropriate.
- Keep abreast of developments in the external research environment (policy, funders) that will impact on the university research administration processes and/or research funding activities.
Build strong relationships with the academic and professional services staff within the Faculties, departments and central services.
- Provide specialist expertise on key UK, EU, UK or overseas research funders.
- Ensure that the school builds and maintains good relationships with key funding bodies through resolving pre-award issues.
- Participate in relevant internal professional networks and disseminate information to academic and professional service staff.
- Proactively provide high quality advice to researchers and professional services on preaward matters
- Work with colleagues across universities to streamline and improve research management processes and contribute to pre-ward training workshops for faculty staff.
- Contribute to and support the development of the Universities Research Costing and Pricing (RCP) tool and systems.
- Undertake any other duties as reasonably delegated by the Research Funding Manager.
- Manage own continuous professional development, internal collaborations and external networks, in order to contribute to service quality, research excellence and innovation.
- Demonstrate the School's values through your behaviour at work, including your duties and responsibilities in respect of equality and diversity, health and safety, data protection, and any other legislative requirements.
Generic duties and responsibilities This job description reflects the present requirements of the post but may be altered at any time in the future as duties and responsibilities change and/or develop providing there is appropriate consultation with the post-holder. The post-holder will carry out any other duties, tasks or responsibilities as reasonably requested by the line manager. The post holder will be responsible and accountable for ensuring all School policies, procedures, Regulations and employment legislative requirements are adhered to including equality and diversity and health and safety. The university has a Hybrid Working Framework, which alongside agreed service requirements, enables teams to work more flexibly (if the role allows), promoting a greater wellbeing and work/life balance. This job description is not a definitive or exhaustive list of responsibilities but identifies the key responsibilities and tasks of the post holder. The specific objectives of the post holder will be subject to review as part of the individual performance review (appraisal) process. PERSON SPECIFICATION 1 Higher education to degree level or equivalent, or equivalent work related relevant experience Essential 2 Specialist training or qualification in research support, project management or relevant financial/accounting qualification Desirable 3 Experience of working in a finance or professional service role, ideally within Higher Education or a similar project based, charity or research institute Essential 4 A knowledge and understanding of grant funded research, including grant costing and pricing concepts (FEC) and a good understanding of the funding environment for research both in the UK and internationally Essential 5 Knowledge and practical experience of constructing budgets, using software for financial management, together with the ability to understand and analyse financial information. Essential 6 An understanding of organisational processes required for pre-award grant administration Essential 7 Excellent organisational and planning skills including proven ability to work unsupervised, organise and prioritise a changing deadline driven workload, whilst maintaining accuracy
Essential 8 Excellent interpersonal and numeracy skills and the ability to communicate complex information to non-specialists and a range of stakeholders both internal and external to the organisation Essential 9 Experience of providing informal and formal guidance and training, contributing to developing written guidelines and/or training materials Desirable 10 Evidence of developing and improving systems and processes Desirable 11 Strong IT skills including Excel, Database software and Teams including the ability to quickly learn how to use new systems
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