Department of Anthropology

Grade 4: - £19,612 - £21,814 per annum pro rata
Fixed Term - Part Time
Contract Duration: 33 months
Contracted Hours per Week: 17.5
Closing Date: 07-Jul-2021, 6:59:00 AM

Job Family: Business Process and People 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 a comprehensive service and deliver the efficient administration and governance of the University.

Overall family purpose

• Deliver direct and indirect services to stakeholders.
• Provide advice and answer queries as part of an enquiry-desk/help-desk function.
• Respond to and manage requests for information and resources.
• Deliver services to meet regulatory requirements and procedures. 
• Plan and deliver a joined-up approach to University business and people services.
• Align business processes and services to meet operational and strategic policy objectives.  
• Deliver business processes to ensure effective management, governance and the economic viability of the University. 
• Encourage, collaborate and participate in the development of productive cross-institution relationships and working.
• Provide excellent professional services that meet strategic and operational goals and business needs.
• Carry out monitoring, analysis, development and planning to design new services and service updates for continuous improvement whilst meeting changes in regulations.
• Engage with specialist professionals, consultants, and suppliers to exchange knowledge and facilitate partnership working.
• Work collaboratively and network across the University with staff in other families to ensure a smooth, timely and high-quality delivery of service.
• Align and deliver programmes and activities to meet operational and strategic objectives to enhance the stakeholder experience.
• Engage and encourage participation with external professionals, schools, alumni and donors.

Link to key strategic plan

• An economically sustainable approach to delivering Professional Services across the University;
• A joined-up approach to University professional services, regardless of location or line management;
• A culture and practice of continuous improvement; 
• Design services that meet business need;
• A stakeholder-focused orientation, offering satisfying careers to all staff;
• Support and facilitate programmes that offer intellectual challenge, cohesiveness and a strong sense of progression;
• 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 Anthropology Department at Durham University has an outstanding international reputation for teaching, research and student employability. We are one of the largest Anthropology Departments in the UK, with nearly 40 permanent academic staff working across social, evolutionary and health anthropology. The Department of Anthropology has a vibrant research culture with many visitors, seminars, global conferences and workshops. We provide an intellectually inclusive environment, fostering the academic freedom and confidence to work at both the core and boundaries of anthropology in exciting and innovative ways. We were the top-ranked integrated Anthropology department in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014); fifth in the UK for overall GPA (Times Higher Education); first equal for world-leading and internationally-excellent Impact and Research Environment, and second equal for world- leading publications.

We seek to employ an Administrator to assist the Project Manager, Research Communications Lead (RCL) and Professor Rachel Kendal implement a major funding scheme on behalf of the Cultural Evolution Society (funded by the John Templeton Foundation). It will address questions that will transform the important, yet underfunded, field of cultural evolution. How our cultures evolve (including how information is transmitted, how people make decisions, and the interaction with our biology) is a pressing issue in a world in which our cultural activities are causing rapid, and drastic, social and physical changes. Through 16 research projects, 5 applied working groups, 5 workshops, 1 landmark conference, 3 capacity building training courses, and public engagement activities, the grant aims to tackle early career obstacles, western-centrism, traditional disciplinary divides, and division of scientists and public policy makers.

The Administrator will primarily assist the Project Manager in ensuring all pre- and post-award contract activities and expenditure responsibility activities are completed efficiently and effectively.  Duties would include collating funding applications, liaising with reviewers of the funding applications, collating documents for due diligence and ethical compliance checks of awardees, chasing signatures, annexes, support letters etc. for funding contracts, collating documents for interim/final reports from awardees for financial auditing, and for creating reports for the Advisory Board and John Templeton Foundation.  They will also be responsible for booking travel, venues and catering for Project related activities such as management meetings, applied workshops, capacity building courses, the capstone conference and public outreach events.  The Administrator may also provide support to the Research Communications Lead as required.  For example, in collating dissemination networks for policy and/or public engagement.

Core responsibilities:

• Provide a responsive and proactive support service for the Project Team 
• Focus on checking Project  requirements to ensure the delivery of excellence
• Respond to prospective and funded applicants answering and recording standard queries and making bookings for Project related activities and/or events such as management meetings, workshops, conferences and public outreach events.
• Contribute to the planning of team activities, work and deadlines to ensure the smooth running and timeliness of service.
• Solve day-to-day routine problems and source background information within the role.
• Record data and information accurately and provide reports as required to team members and more experienced staff such as the Project Manager and Research Communications Lead.
• Operate an enquiry service and process requests finding solutions or escalating queries where necessary, specifically assist the Project Manager in running a funding applicant ‘help line’, and liaise with reviewers/mentors of funding applications, for the funding competition.
• Flexible in approach to accommodate the needs of team members and/or service users.
• Assist team members to organise, plan and prepare for events, meetings and activities including the collation of documents for the creation of contracts, monitoring ethical research, safety and expenditure of funded awardees and creation of timely reports to the John Templeton Foundation.
• Liaise with internal and external suppliers, contractors and professional specialists to pass on information.
• Apply professional and regulatory procedures and processes and use of systems.
• Liaise and collaborate with staff in other areas of the organisation, such as Research and Innovation Services, Durham Research Methods Centre and Event Durham, to ensure a seamless, smooth and efficient service.
• Resolve queries and requests for information and advice and escalate more specialist and complex queries or issues to more experienced team members.

Role responsibilities:

• Work with team members to ensure the smooth running of administrative processes to support people and Project activities.
• Apply standard procedures to process, check and reconcile anomalies within scholarship data and information sets.
• Compile, record, store and archive data and information to ensure the accuracy and safety of information.
• Liaise with representatives from other service areas, within the University, professional organisations (e.g. The Cultural Evolution Society) and agencies (e.g. the Project website developer) where necessary.
• Use standard office-based IT systems (including Banner and Oracle Financials), tools and equipment to carry out data recording, communications and networking.
• Provide service and support for networks, scholarship committees and meetings, to draft and distribute documents and communications in standard professional formats.
• Process and update key business documentation, ensuring payments are made using the appropriate payment method(s) on behalf of the office.
• Liaise with internal and external suppliers and specialists with the organisation, planning and delivery of services, activities and events.
• Make venue, catering, travel and/or equipment arrangements for events, meetings and activities; including supporting international students to book flights and make travel arrangements, in line with their award.
• Any other reasonable duties.

Specific role requirements

The Administrator is a 0.5 FTE post.  However, for prescribed instances (specifically in supporting project related activities such as the capstone conference in 2024) more than 0.5 FTE may be required within a week, and will be compensated for in other weeks. 

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 below.

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.

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

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.

Interviews are likely to be mid-July 2021

Contact details

For further information please contact; Prof Rachel Kendal using rachel.kendal@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.
• Proven IT skills, including use of Microsoft Office, especially word and excel.
• Five GCSE’s at least Grade C or level four (or equivalent) including English Language and Mathematics (or equivalent experience).
• Post-16 qualification or equivalent experience.
• Experience of working in a team.
• Ability to solve problems as part of a team and resolve straightforward issues.

Desirable Criteria

• Evidence of personal development to maintain skills.
• Demonstrable ability to provide advice and guidance to a range of individuals from varying backgrounds and at varying career stages.
• Relevant administrative experience in a busy office environment.
• Experience of working on the front line with service delivery, and the ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines without compromising on quality.
• Knowledge of or experience in organising meetings and events such as academic workshops and conferences.
• Knowledge of or experience in organising academic funding competitions or similar activities.

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.