College of Arts

Location:  Lincoln
Salary:   From £33,797 per annum
Please note this post is full-time 37 hours and fixed term for 18 months
Closing Date:   Tuesday 31 December 2019
Interview Date:   Monday 20 January 2020

The University of Lincoln seeks to appoint a Manager for PEARL, an initiative supporting Public Engagement with Research, who will work across the university to help maximise the potential of its research to benefit wider society through public engagement. As a young university founded by public subscription, the University of Lincoln has always been committed to achieving wider societal benefits, seeing reciprocal public engagement as vital to increasing the actual and perceived value of research to wider society, strengthening the University’s civic impact, building research capacity and broadening research horizons.

PEARL (Public Engagement for All with Research at Lincoln) was developed with UKRI funding to enhance support, and build capacity, across the university for staff and students to engage the public with research. PEARL helps the University deliver its Strategy for Public Engagement with Research and ensure it not only meets but exceeds the aspirations of the Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research (UKRI), the Manifesto for Public Engagement (NCCPE) and the Civic University Charter.

PEARL aims to:

• Support provision of a wide range of PER activities through grant-giving, disseminating information about PER opportunities and providing advice/support for activity planning, delivery and evaluation.
• Build capacity for public engagement with research by providing CPD/training to staff and students, nurturing networks of engaged researchers, advising on research grant applications and seeking new opportunities to participate in external programmes;
• Enhance visibility of public engagement with research activities so more people and places can be aware of and benefit from these, through the website, social media, staff profile tabs and the Annual Report; 
• Maximise impact (for society and for REF) by ensuring PER aims are impact-aware and impact-effective, that strategies for data collection are appropriate and effective, and that records are maintained which support impact case study development. 
• Recognise and reward staff and students at UoL who engage wider publics with their research, through VC’s awards, staff appraisal and an annual showcase conference;
• Advance understanding of attitudes to, aspirations for, and impediments to public engagement amongst University of Lincoln researchers in order to develop and implement effective support; 
• Ensure sustainability of PER at Lincoln so achieved benefits will continue and grow.

The PEARL Manager is a key role within the University of Lincoln, leading on the design and delivery of support for PER at Lincoln. The post represents an excellent opportunity for a committed individual with passion and understanding to maximise the potential for research to be shared, relevant and impactful. 

The post requires familiarity with the process of academic research as well as public engagement with the aims, processes and outcomes of research, including the opportunities and challenges for researchers when engaging wider publics with their research. 

The role requires skills and experience in public engagement, team management, training, event management, project management, evaluation, social media and web-based promotion, survey data collection and analysis, report writing, writing and editing for academic and general audiences, as well as the ability to work independently and use initiative.