Position Details
School of Social Policy and Society
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £46,735 to £55,755 with potential progression once in post to £62,728
Grade: 8
Part Time (18.75 hours per week)
Fixed Term contract up to December 2027
Closing date: 15th July 2025
3 Positions available
Our offer to you
People are at the heart of what we are and do.
The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, andweare equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university.We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.
We are committed to helping the people who work here todevelopthrough our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programmewhichprovides allprofessionalservices staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential.With almost 5,000professionalservices jobs in a wide-range of functionsin Edgbaston andin our campus inDubai, there are plenty of opportunities foryou to be able to develop yourcareer at the University.
We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate.We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are,and how we work.
Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees andtothe success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer avarietyof flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working.In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 dayspaid holidaya year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.
The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site.On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops,places to eat and drink,our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.
Find out more about thebenefits of working for the Universityof Birmingham
Background
IMPACT (‘Improving Adult Care Together’) is a UK-wide centre for implementing evidence in adult social care, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, and the Health Foundation. IMPACT is an ‘implementation centre’, building on knowledge gained from different types of research, the lived experience of people drawing on care and support and their carers, and the practice knowledge of social care staff.
Its aims are to enable practical improvements on the ground, and make a crucial contribution to longer-term cultural change, by:
* Increasing the use of high-quality evidence,leading to better care practices, systems and outcomes
* Buildingcapacity and skillsin the adult social care workforce to work with evidence ofdifferent kinds to innovate and deliver better outcomes
* Developing relationships between a wide range of stakeholders across the sector,to improve outcomes for people who draw on services and their families
* Improving understanding ofwhat elements of evidence implementation do and do not work in practice,and using this to overcome barriers
About the role
As IMPACT evolves there is a substantial and growing evidence base generated from a series of local change projects across the UK.Our delivery projects implement research findings to drive change and innovation in practice in social care organisations. The national embedding team look for opportunities to sustain, scale and spread what we have learned, to get this embedded in national policy and practice to drive long-term innovation.
IMPACT is expanding its’ national embedding team with the addition of a second National Embedding Officer, and three senior part-time Embedding Leads for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. These senior appointments will be managed by the Deputy Head of National Embedding with a dotted line to the national lead for IMPACT in their nation.The role holder will be able to draw on some support from the national project officer for their nation. This is a unique opportunity to take practical evidence of what works in adult social care and maximise the difference it makes to people’s lives by finding ways to influence policy and practice.
The National Embedding team is led by IMPACT’s Deputy Director Ewan King (Chief Executive, Shared Lives Plus) and Deputy Head of National Embedding Dr Laura Griffith.In addition to working closely with IMPACT’s Deputy Head of National Embedding, the post holder will develop a close working relationship with the central IMPACT team (especially the Communications and Engagement Manager, Strategic Communications Advisor and Head of Operations) as well as IMPACT’s delivery and national leads.
Remote working will be supported within this role; however, the role holder will be expected to spend a minimum of two days twice per year (inclusive of travelling time) at an in-person meeting whose location will rotate around the nations.There will be monthly team meetings that can be attended on-line. Occasional travel to IMPACT events and/or specific delivery project meetings will be required, and will be reimbursed from the usual place of work.
Main Duties
The National Embedding leads Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will include
* Delivering significant knowledge transfer activities in partnership with people who draw on care and support, carers, care workers, public services,government, care commissioners, regulators and other national adult social care stakeholders; this could be in the form of policy round tables, events, policy advice and/or other influence and engagement activities.
* Drawing on both an in-depth knowledge of adult social care policy and practice priorities, plans and strategies in their nation and IMPACT’s theory of change to co-ordinate, plan and organize IMPACT priorities for knowledge transfer activities, and translating these into a plan to sustain, scale and spread implementation of research findings over a number of years across the adult care sector in their nation.
* Leading on the development and forward planning of embedding related public engagement/outreach activities aligned to government and sector priorities - working closely with IMPACT Comms and Engagement Manager/team.
* Leading on forward planning for implementing embedding activity in their nation over a number of years, by aligning their plans to IMPACT’s four aims and sector and government priorities.
* Developing and maintaining high level networking links and collaborations, with government, regulators, social care leaders, professional bodies and improvement agencies across the four UK nations.
* Supporting the IMPACT Head and Deputy Head of National Embedding in shaping debates through expert contributions to media (which may be print, broadcast, online and social media) and policy debate, aimed at long-term and sustained change.
* Contributing to options appraisal being developed by the IMPACT Head and Deputy Head of National Embedding for their nation.
* Working collaboratively with a broad range of partners in their nation, helping to deliver a demonstrable impact from local delivery projects in the long term by planning and organsing their priorities in alignment with partners’ strategic priorities.
* Supporting the IMPACT Head and Deputy Head of National Embedding on important sectoral bodies (e.g. professional/service/educational regulators, government committees, arms-length bodies etc) and acting as deputy/supporting their attendance when required.
* Ensuring that our national embedding work is co-produced with IMPACT’s Co-production Advisory Group, people who draw upon care and support and carers – and that our embedding work draws on lived experience and practice knowledge to maximise its impact/live out our values.
* Taking collective ownership of challenges faced by IMPACT and its partners and working with colleagues to develop solutions.
* Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion throughout your own and IMPACT’s work.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
* Educated to Higher Degree level (or equivalent qualifications) plus significant relevant practical experience – where no equivalent qualification is held substantial practical relevant experience and expertise in a series of progressively more demanding roles will be required;
* Substantial experience of implementing evidence informed change in an adult social care or other public service setting
* In-depth knowledge of government and sector long-term priorities for adult social care in their nation
* Ability to plan a programme of knowledge mobilisation activities with the potential to deliver long-term sustained change in adult social care practice and policy.
* Substantial experience and demonstrable high level of achievement in knowledge mobilisation and similar activity
* Substantial experience of applying and/or developing and devising successful models, techniques and methods
* Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence and negotiate effectively with a range of stakeholders based on credibility and trust
* Substantial experience of working collaboratively internally and externally with key stakeholders to achieve measurable outcomes;
* Ability to work on own initiative to plan and deliver high quality outcomes working within agreed parameters
* High level of self-motivation and personal accountability with ability to plan and deliver goals to deadlines under pressure
* Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area
* Actively promotes equality, diversity and inclusion, and champions co-production with internal and external stakeholders.
DBS required
The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed.Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.
Informal enquiries to Laura Griffith, email: l.b.griffith@bham.ac.uk
View our staff values and behaviourshere
We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .
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