Biological Sciences Enterprise

Location:  Highfield Campus
Salary:   Competitive: Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience (Level 7)
Full Time Fixed Term
Closing Date:  Wednesday 17 August 2022
Interview Date:   To be confirmed
Reference:  1926222BJ

Employment type: Full time fixed term however part time will be considered. The post is currently funded for 2 years until the end of November 2024. There is potential for further extension of 3 years in the first instance subject to funder review.

The National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC) is a BBSRC and Innovate UK-funded Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC). It represents an academic–business connectivity that is one of the largest knowledge exchange consortia of its kind in the UK operating in a domain with a global economic impact of $>5 Tn. The NBIC consortium comprises four lead Russell Group research institutions (the Universities of Southampton, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Nottingham) and a wider partnership of (currently 59) collaborating institutions across the UK.  Through its national and international collaborative networks, and industry base of >150 partnering companies comprising SMEs through to large multinationals, NBIC creates a fusion of world-class research and industry to deliver breakthrough technologies in the control and exploitation of biofilms.

The CEO will be a proven leader with a track record of working across the innovation landscape and successfully leading cross-functional teams. They will have a robust understanding of the business functions required to bring a product to market. An understanding of the interplay between those functions and the benefit to public and private partnership of the role that academic research brings to the R&D process would be beneficial.

The successful individual will be able to establish and broker industrial links at the highest level and assess where NBIC might bring added value. The CEO will implement and input into NBIC strategy developed by the Executive Management Team (EMT) and NBIC ‘s governance structure. The EMT will comprise the CEO and the four academic Co-Directors and will deliver an ambitious Research, Innovation and Training strategy. EMT has proven leadership to meet the strategic objectives of the IKC and is responsible for ensuring that NBIC delivers the strategic objectives in Phase 2.

The CEO will lead and be supported by an operational team who will work at a strategic level across all NBIC stakeholders to ensure that the impact of biofilms is realised. The operational team comprises vision-led and target-driven roles including strategic partners management (Research and Innovation Manager), Regulatory, Standards and Biobanking leadership (Regulatory Affairs Associate Director), Training and skills development (CTP•BITE Programme Manager) and Communications and Outreach Management. The operational team will also be responsible for ensuring that the NBIC EDI action plan is adhered to for all NBIC activities.

In addition to assisting in the assessment of the readiness of the research activities of the academic partners to enter the translational space and brokering relationships with appropriate industrial partners, they will also assess where our expertise will benefit industry allowing it to overcome key hurdles in their product development pathways. The CEO will be able to act as the first point of contact for industry wishing to access the biofilm translational research capability and portfolio across NBIC.

Delivering these objectives requires a detailed understanding of the product development pathway and potential barriers to translation, the ability to reach and network with senior managers in industry, an ability to communicate NBIC’s strengths in a broad range of areas, stakeholder relationship skills and credibility across the business, government and academic sectors that NBIC interacts with.

The employer, the University of Southampton (on behalf of the four lead NBIC Universities), is an institution in the top one per cent of world universities and one of the UK’s top 15 research-intensive universities. We have an international reputation for research, teaching and enterprise activities. Biological Sciences at our Highfield Campus is located in a £50M award-winning purpose-designed building. Biofilms research and translational activity is at the heart of several of major University interdisciplinary initiatives such as the Institute for Life Sciences (IfLS), which focuses on the interface between the life sciences, medicine, health sciences, the physical sciences, engineering, mathematics, environmental, and ocean and earth sciences; the Network for Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Prevention (NAMRIP), the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI) and the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre. 

Further background on the UK Biofilms Programme that led to the establishment of NBIC can be found at this link.

For informal enquiries before submitting your application, contact any of the NBIC Co-Directors: Jeremy Webb j.s.webb@soton.ac.uk; Cait MacPhee cait.macphee@ed.ac.uk; Rasmita Raval r.raval@liverpool.ac.uk and/or Miguel Cámara Miguel.Camara@nottingham.ac.uk.

Application Procedure
 
You should submit your completed online application form at https://jobs.soton.ac.uk. The application deadline will be midnight on the closing date stated above. Please submit details for 3 referees and include your CV and publication list with your application. You will also be required to arrange for two letters of recommendation to be sent to us.

If you need any assistance, please call Jane Sturgeon (Recruitment Team) on +44 (0) 23 8059 2750, or email recruitment@soton.ac.uk. Please quote reference 1926222BJ on all correspondence.

The School of Biological Sciences is committed to fostering a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion . We welcome applications from suitably qualified candidates, and particularly encourage applications from candidates belonging to groups who are under-represented within academic posts at the University, including, but not limited to: people from Black and minority ethnic groups; and disabled people. We also particularly encourage female candidates as they are underrepresented at this level/within this role. The School are committed to providing equal opportunities for all and offer a range of family friendly policies, flexi-time and flexible working. We are a Disability Confident employer and the School holds a Silver Athena SWAN award”.