"Impact and Engagement Officer"

The Role and Department

The overall purpose of the position advertised is to assist the University in developing research impact to enhance the societal benefits of its research, and to support the development and submission of impact case studies, engagement measures, and narrative statements to the Research Excellence Framework (REF).

The post-holder will contribute to the for the wider interpretation of the REF rules and regulations pertaining to impact and provide advice, guidance and support to academic leaders and researchers around impact and engagement within the REF context with the aim of achieving research impact that has broad reach, rigour, and world-leading significance.

Working closely with relevant academics, professional support colleagues, and the I&E team, the post-holder will contribute to a community of practice across the University to facilitate the development of high-quality impact and collection of robust supporting impact evidence. They will be involved in engagement activities working alongside academics and RIS teams to produce plans and activities that optimise impact potential. This post will support the critique and writing of impact case studies by relevant researchers in the A&H faculty and the Senior Impact and Engagement Managers who work across the other faculties. Working with the researchers the post-holder will be required to understand complex information and then communicate it in a concise and compelling manner.

The post-holder will support recording impact in the IT Systems and processes for recording impact including encouraging researchers and departments to record and share impact-related information that will enable the University to develop its impact case studies. This data and information will be used for the REF but will also contribute to the submission to the KEF, Higher Education Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey and any other reporting requirements.

The post-holder will, as required, be involved in identifying and addressing challenges in the impact and knowledge exchange space.

In addition to the above, key duties will include:

• Supporting academics and PS staff to use appropriate systems and processes to capture impact data, to support broader impact culture, REF impact, and knowledge exchange.
• Supporting embedding impact into research to support a research culture in which all can flourish. This will include working with academics, especially Faculty research leadership teams and other PS staff to communicate research impact and engagement to audiences effectively and compellingly, including through the preparation of impact case studies for REF2029.

The role is permanent and part time (0.5FTE). Further information about the role and the responsibilities is at the bottom of this job description.

This post will be based primarily at our exciting new professional services hub at Boldon House, which is situated on the outskirts of Durham near the Arnison Centre in Pity Me. Boldon House brings a number of professional services teams together in a vibrant office environment which supports collaborative working and is designed to embrace hybrid working.