Senior Impact Officer

Research and Innovation Office

Location: Guildford
Salary: £38,592 to £42,155 per annum
Post Type: Full Time
Closing Date: 23.59 hours BST on Sunday 16 April 2023
Reference: 017723

Are you interested in identifying and nurturing real world benefit from academic research?

The University is looking for three enthusiastic and dynamic individuals to join us as Senior Impact Officers, supporting our university ambition to translate high quality research to real world impact and societal benefit. In this role, you will align and work closely with one of our three faculties: you will have the chance to work directly with our academics, building strong relationships and really getting to know our research.

The role

Our Senior Impact Officers will play a proactive role in facilitating and coordinating impact activity, being the first point of contact and galvanising the network of impact support across the university and beyond. You will confidently use your strong interpersonal and communication skills to stimulate discussion and share best practice around routes to impact and real world benefit, and will support the generation of impact case studies for future research assessment exercises and external audiences. 

You will have the opportunity to work alongside a broad range of academics and other research users to capture, evaluate and communicate research impact, allowing us to better understand and navigate the complexities of how research can impact end users in a whole range of fields. You’ll have the freedom and autonomy to take a proactive approach to problem solving using your initiative, experience, and judgement.

About you

To be successful in the role, you’ll need strong interpersonal and communication skills combined with excellent project/organisational skills. Ideally, you will be familiar with, or will have experience working in, a research or knowledge exchange environment. You will also have an understanding of impact within the higher education sector.  

This role will work closely with our academics, so you will need to be able to understand complex and specialised information and be able to communicate this to non-specialists. You will enjoy working autonomously and will relish the opportunity to really make your mark on our impact outcomes at the University. The ideal candidate will also have experience of the Research Excellence Framework (REF).

What we can offer

With the buzz of student life and superb working facilities, the University of Surrey is a global community of ideas and people, dedicated to life-changing education and research in an inspiring, innovative and diverse environment. 

In addition to a competitive salary, you will receive an annual incremental pay rise, generous annual leave entitlement of 25 days holiday plus 7 university closure days and 8 bank holidays, a market leading pension, access to world-class leisure facilities on campus, a range of travel schemes, and supportive family friendly benefits including an excellent on-site nursery. We are happy to support hybrid working.

How to apply

To apply for this role, please upload a CV and cover letter, detailing why you are interested in applying and what skills and experience you could bring to the role.

Further Information

For informal enquiries please contact Gill Fairbairn, Interim Director of Research and Innovation on 01483 683 491 or email g.fairbairn@surrey.ac.uk. You can also contact Anna Foster, Resourcing Specialist by emailing a.g.foster@surrey.ac.uk 

We encourage applications from internal candidates.

Interviews will be held w/c 24^th April.

The University of Surrey is committed to providing an inclusive environment that offers equal opportunities for all.  We place great value on diversity and are seeking to increase the diversity within our community. Therefore, we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups, such as people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and people with disabilities.

Further details: Job Description