Department of Geography

Grade 7: - £33,797 - £40,322
Open-Ended/Permanent - Full Time
Contracted Hours per Week: 35
Closing Date: 01-Apr-2021, 6:59:00 AM 

Job Family: Technical, Research and Teaching Services

OUR CHARACTERISTICS: We are a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, in a unique and historic setting.    

OUR VALUES: We are inspiring, challenging, innovative, responsible and enabling.

Durham University

Durham University is one of the world's top universities with strengths across the Arts and Humanities, Business, Sciences and Social Sciences. We are home to some of the most talented scholars and researchers from around the world who are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives. 

The University sits in a beautiful historic city where it shares ownership of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral, the greatest Romanesque building in Western Europe. A collegiate University, Durham recruits outstanding students from across the world and offers an unmatched wider student experience.

Durham University seeks to promote and maintain an inclusive and supportive environment for work and study that assists all members of our University community to reach their full potential. Diversity brings strength and we welcome applications from across the international, national and regional communities that we work with and serve.

It is expected that all staff within the University:

• Contribute to our learning culture by engaging in mentoring, training and coaching.
• Positively contribute to fostering a collegial environment; as well as demonstrating commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Have due regard to Health and Safety requirements appropriate to grade and role.

Family key attributes

Roles in this family provide creative and analytical input to facilitate the delivery of world-class teaching, learning and research activities.

Overall family purpose

• Support stakeholders to ensure the delivery of research, teaching and scholarly activities.
• Align and tailor services to meet strategic and operational research, teaching and learning objectives.
• Prepare and set-up equipment, apparatus and resources to ensure the successful delivery of scheduled academic activities.
• Monitor, manage and maintain teaching, learning or research facilities, workshops, laboratories and experimental environments to ensure compliance with internal and external regulations.
• Contribute guidance, advice and/or professional expertise to increase intellectual and creative capacity for world-class teaching and research outputs.
• Actively participate with peers and specialists internally and externally to expand knowledge and practice.
• Design and construct equipment, environments, tools, techniques and methodologies to meet research and learning objectives.
• Adapt and develop equipment, techniques and methodologies to meet research and learning outputs and timescales.
• Engage and network with internal and external specialists and experts to facilitate knowledge exchange and enhance research, teaching and learning activities.
• Work collaboratively and network across the University with staff in other families to ensure a smooth, timely and high-quality delivery of service.

Link to key strategic plan

An economically sustainable approach to delivering technical and experimental support services across the University;

• Support and facilitate world-leading research across all academic departments;
• Support and facilitate research that has a positive impact on global, national and regional challenges and which benefits culture, society, health, the economy and the physical environment;
• Support and facilitate a rewarding research environment and an exceptional research-led learning experience;
• Support and facilitate programmes that offer intellectual challenge, cohesiveness and a strong sense of progression;
• A stakeholder-focused orientation, offering satisfying careers to all staff;
• Ensure that an increasingly diverse workforce is treated equally, fairly and with respect, and that all staff are demonstrably valued and actively engaged.

The Department and role purpose   

The Laboratory Manager will deputise for, and will work closely with, the Senior Manager (Technical Services & Facilities) in all areas of laboratory management (including laboratory staff supervision, health and safety, budgets, service provision and strategic planning) as well as management of the laboratory infrastructure including buildings. The post holder will maintain a range of sophisticated analytical instruments, as well as undertake associated data analysis and interpretation. In addition, the role will involve providing advice, guidance and support to research staff and students, participation in laboratory teaching practicals as well as fieldwork related to teaching and research as required.

The Department of Geography is a vibrant community of over 60 academic staff (approximately equally divided between physical and human geography), a graduate school of around 100 research and 40 taught postgraduate students and more than 750 undergraduates. The laboratories contain an extensive suite of analytical and geotechnical instruments which are overseen and supported by a team of dedicated technical staff. Our laboratories facilitate world class research and are used extensively in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. We also support a range of fieldwork related to teaching and research within the UK and internationally.

For more information, please visit our Department pages at: www.dur.ac.uk/geography and https://www.dur.ac.uk/geography/facilities/.

Core responsibilities:

• Recognised professional practitioner and management and/or service specialist with responsibility for the management of team members.
• Provide input to the design and development of service processes, techniques and deliverables for one or more service areas or projects. 
• Manage operational service activities to ensure excellence in the stakeholder experience.
• Contribute to the analysis of stakeholder feedback to help define needs and requirements, inputting to the design and planning of services.
• Internal and external relationship development and partnership working, networking and participation to engage and influence future services and the University reputation.
• Provide feedback on team and individual performance and identify development needs, conducting regular staff ADR and performance reviews as required.
• Handle the vast majority of welfare issues within a team, referring more complex welfare issues to appropriate support services/senior management.
• Delivery of ongoing coaching, mentoring and training to team members.
• Maintain an awareness of current policy for University business goals such as widening participation and access.
• Contribute to business meetings, working groups and sub-committees at departmental and operational service levels.  
• Responsible for managing small budgets for consumables and some capital items, keeping records and processing invoices.
• Devolve responsibilities to team members to ensure continuity of service provision and encourage skills development.

Role responsibilities:

• Provide day-to-day management for the delivery of a high-quality technical and/or experimental facility/platform and service to ensure teaching, research and knowledge exchange outputs.
• Collaborate with internal and external academics, industry and technical specialists to support the delivery of teaching and research projects.
• Take responsibility for the design, set-up, maintenance and integrity of teaching, research and learning facilities, technology and resources within a specialist area.
• Provide technical problem-solving advice to inform activity and project planning, continuous improvement and service development.
• Apply maintenance schedules to ensure the smooth, safe and efficient use of technology, facilities and services to teaching, research and learning activities.
• Oversee a service which provides practical and test teaching and research work activities, projects, and self-directed sessions.
• Provide support to ensure the delivery of undergraduate and post graduate teaching and learning activities, and income generation where appropriate.
• Develop, modify and optimise protocols and methodologies.
• Contribute to the planning, design and delivery of research outputs and prepare innovative teaching/research proposals.
• Contribute to promotional events and conferences.
• Liaise with internal and external agencies, local authorities, industries and visitors where appropriate.
• Design, build and maintain complex, specialist teaching and research apparatus, equipment, instruments, systems and appliances.
• Take responsibility for monitoring and updating risk assessments and safety procedures, providing guidance to others where necessary.
• Record, monitor, analyse and collate information as part of teaching, learning and research activities.
• Provide advice on digital tools and infrastructure to ensure an appropriate pedagogical approach to developing world class teaching.  
• Any other reasonable duties.

Specific role requirements

• Participation in an ‘out of hour’s’ on-call rota, being available for both telephone advice and in-person attendance at laboratory incidents.
• Participation in fieldwork, which may very occasionally involve overnight stays away from Durham.
• Visits to supplier premises to assess equipment and / or attend specialised training, which may occasionally involve overnight stays away from Durham.
• Act as a named individual in relation to external health and safety regulations, as required.

Recruiting to this post 

In order to be considered for interview, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification above.  

In some cases, the recruiting panel may also consider the desirable criteria, so we recommend you evidence all criteria in your application.  

Please note that some criteria will only be considered at interview stage.

When appointing to this role the University must ensure that it meets any applicable immigration requirements, including salary thresholds which are applicable to some visas.

How to apply 

We prefer to receive applications online.

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.dur.ac.uk/ig/dp/privacy/pnjobapplicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.

What you are required to submit

1. A CV; 
2. A covering letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out above;
3. Examples of how you satisfy the person specification criteria. This may require completion of the 'Supporting Evidence' application section if specified by the recruiting manager. Please ensure you give detailed examples of how you meet these criteria if requested.  

Please ensure that you submit all documentation listed above or your application cannot proceed to the next stage.

Contact details 

For further information please contact; Dr Eleanor Ross, Senior Manager (Technical Services & Facilities) e.j.maddison@durham.ac.uk or Director of Services, Professor Colm O Cofaigh - colm.ocofaigh@durham.ac.uk

At Durham University, our aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work.  We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system.  Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails.

Person specification - skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience required

Essential Criteria:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to develop excellent working relationships both internally and externally. 
• Proven IT skills, including use of Microsoft Office.
• Five GCSE’s at least Grade C or level four (or equivalent) including English Language and Mathematics (or equivalent experience).
• Educated to degree level (or equivalent experience).
• Experience of being able to network effectively and develop strong and productive working relationships.
• Ability to solve problems and resolve issues, plan solutions and make pragmatic decisions.
• Expert knowledge and expertise in one or more areas of technical specialism, and the application of skills to create, build, construct and realise new and innovative resources, equipment and research outputs.
• Demonstrable ability to teach or train others with specific technical skills.
• Experience of running, maintaining and problem-solving sophisticated instruments such as Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer, Ion Chromatography, Multi-Sensor Core Loggers, Back Pressure Shearbox, XRF or comparable instruments.

Desirable Criteria:

• Relevant industry and professional recognition and certification of achievement of skills and knowledge.
• Continuing professional development required to maintain professional recognition.
• Regulatory, local and national professional knowledge and experience of compliance.
• Experience of providing specialist advice and guidance to a range of customers and colleagues, including more senior colleagues.
• Experienced practitioner who has led teaching/research project working within and educational, commercial or industrial environment.
• Knowledge and experience of ensuring compliance with regulatory and organisational policy and guidelines, including health and safety.
• Experience of managing and developing a technical service team or teams.
• Experience of implementing policies and procedures.  

Realising Your Potential Approach

The Realising Your Potential Approach clarifies the behaviours expected to be demonstrated by all staff across Professional Services in the University regardless of their role. Along with the core responsibilities, role responsibilities and the person specification, the Realising Your Potential Approach behavioural indicators are used to inform the recruitment and selection process. Further information on the Realising Your Potential Approach is available here.

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.