School of Computing, Engineering & Physical Sciences

Grade 7: £46,042 - £50,296

Fixed-Term until 31st January 2027

Lanarkshire Campus with travel to other campuses, and within the SW Scotland and Cumbria region, where required.

Fixed-Term until 31st January 2027

THE POST

The School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences is seeking to recruit an Innovation Broker to lead promotion and communications for an exciting new UKRI Strength in Places Project “Digital Dairy Value-Chain for SW Scotland and Cumbria.” UWS is a key partner in this 5-year £21.3 million project along with our academic and industry partners www.digitaldairychain.co.uk.

The Digital Dairy Value Chain (DDVC) project aims to establish South-West Scotland and Cumbria as a leader in advanced, sustainable, and high-value dairy processing to catalyse business growth and deliver an uplift in economic prosperity and resilience.

The project will:

Develop Digital Connectivity for a value-added milk processing supply chain Stimulate Research & Development by providing state-of-the-art infrastructure, expertise, and funding. Provide Support for early ventures, scale-up businesses, and established companies to undertake New Product Development and process improvement. Attract talent and foster a skills pipeline so that new technologies and market opportunities can be exploited.

In this role, you will drive industry engagement and support businesses from across the region to access funding, knowledge, R&D facilities, and expertise from the host institutions with the aim of increasing industrial engagement in R&D activity. A key focus of the Innovation Broker is to facilitate cross-over between the technology and dairy sectors by approaching and developing relationships with dairy sector companies in the region to identify specific project opportunities and then determine how these can be funded. You will be responsible for managing and researching a portfolio of companies, understanding their business and potential customer base relevance, and identifying opportunities for development and growth, ensuring companies are advised appropriately to maximise development and growth opportunities.

We are looking for individuals who:

• Have attained a good honours degree in an appropriate discipline (or equivalent professional experience),
• Can demonstrate background and track record in industry, research, or innovation, preferably in the agriculture/food sector,
• Can work collaboratively as part of a knowledge exchange initiative and support partners in business and/or academic teams through effective communication.
• Are passionate about helping organisations involved in the Dairy Food chain through improving their access to digital technology and skills development programmes,
• Can demonstrate capacity to identify, engage, and pull together a network of academic teams and industry partners to ensure project delivery for the stakeholders and benefits to the DDVC project.
• Have a track record in carrying out knowledge exchange projects and a demonstrable track record in developing high quality funding proposals and playing a leading role in winning competitive funding bids.

ABOUT US

UWS was named Higher Educational Institution of the Year in The Herald Higher Education Awards 2022 and is officially ranked by Times Higher Education in the top 600 universities worldwide (2022 World University Rankings) as well as in the top 150 universities worldwide under 50 years old (2022 Young University Rankings). University of the West of Scotland is one of Scotland’s largest and most dynamic modern universities. Our reach across the country, together with our London campus, means that UWS is a significant force in global knowledge creation, innovation, and a leading provider of undergraduate, postgraduate and research degree education. Our degrees provide students with a transformational experience; equipping them with highly sought-after graduate skills that set them up for global success in world-leading sectors, industries and businesses.

With cutting-edge courses, modern pedagogy and practical knowledge, we enable our students and staff to experience the joy of learning, teaching, research and innovation, and apply their knowledge for the benefit of others.

The School of Computing, Engineering and Physical Sciences offers industry-focussed teaching and research opportunities that deliver solutions to real-world problems. You will join an innovative and supportive team, playing a key role in driving forward our ambition to deliver transformational change, through outputs that have a tangible, early and positive impact on society across the globe. Find out more about our School.

Our professional services teams are the backbone of UWS, providing robust and innovative solutions to support the vast range of work across learning and teaching, and research and innovation. You will join a supportive and dedicated team, playing a key role in a range of work that will help drive forward our ambition to deliver world-leading research, and graduates who will design, shape and build a new future. Find out more about our Professional Services teams.

We offer our staff a caring and supportive environment and competitive benefits package which includes:

• 24 days of annual leave, plus a further 12 days for public/university holidays 19.3% employer’s pension contribution, including death in service benefits on joining the pension scheme Employee discount scheme across 3,500 retailers Fitness facilities across our campuses Access to a range of health and wellbeing resources, including occupational health, physiotherapy and access to our Employee Assistance Programme Professional, career and research development opportunities.

Informal enquiries about the post can be directed to Dr. James Riordan at james.riordan@uws.ac.uk

Interview Date:  Week Commencing Monday 27^th February 2023

Further information, including details of how to apply are available at https://jobs.uws.ac.uk/

The University reserves the right to shorten/extend the closing date of any position where a high/low volume of suitable applications are received. Therefore, if you are interested in this role, an early application would be encouraged.

UWS is committed to equality and diversity and welcomes applications from underrepresented groups.

UWS is a “Disability Confident” employer.

University of the West of Scotland is a registered Scottish charity, no. SC002520.