Participatory Research Coordinator

Job description

King’s College London is seeking an individual with an interest in Participatory or Co-produced Research (PR) to coordinate a programme of activities supporting PR across the College. The Coordinator will work closely with the Impact and Engagement Services (IES) team, Science Gallery London (SGL) and the PR steering group to help develop, deliver and evaluate the activities.

This is an ideal opportunity for an individual passionate about PR to develop their communication, event delivery and team-working skills, and to make connections with the growing community of staff and students from across the College who are involved in PR. Through developing, delivering and evaluating the programme of activities, the Coordinator will play a pivotal role in shaping how PR is supported and carried out at King’s.

Enabling PR is a core ambition of Kings’ strategy for Public and Community Engagement with Research (P&CER). P&CER refers to the many ways that public and community groups can interact with and shape research. Through PR, people whose lives are affected by the issues being researchers are involved in an equitable way throughout the research process. The aim is to improve lives and bring about social change.

King’s has received funding from Research England to be used for PR. A programme of activities, hosted by SGL and coordinated by IES, will be taking place from April 2023 to July 2024 with King’s researchers, including training, seed funding, mentoring, and an Impact and Community Engagement Summer School. These activities will stimulate new relationships and PR activities, develop capacity, skills and talent, and encourage evaluation, the capture of impact and sharing of best practice.

IES aims to improve the quality, relevance and impact of King’s research to society through supporting researchers to undertake meaningful public and community engagement and involvement. The IES team provides guidance and advice on building P&CER into research grant proposals and delivering projects, offers seed funding and runs the King’s Engaged Researcher Network (KERN). KERN aims to connect King’s staff and students who are keen to develop, share and celebrate their public engagement skills and experiences, through running training, a monthly newsletter and website.

Science Gallery London is Kings’ flagship public space and place to grow new ideas across art, science and health. It brings together King’s researchers with artists, King’s students and 18–25-year olds from Southwark and Lambeth to provide:

• A hub for discovery, learning, exchange and equality; bringing together creative practice, lived experience and academic research for social impact;
• A live lab for experimentation, co-creation and making;
• A gallery that explores 21st century concerns through cross-disciplinary collaboration.

SGL’s free to attend programme includes events, exhibitions, spotlight displays, workshops, performances and live experiments. It also supports a programme of residencies for researchers, artists and youth-led community groups.

The PR funding from Research England will help to establish SGL as a centre of expertise for PR at King’s, with the building acting as a space for researchers and communities to come together to do PR, showcase their projects, and learn from each other.

The PR Coordinator will report to the Public Engagement Manager in the IES team, and work closely with the SGL team and PR steering group. The PR steering group includes representatives from International, Engagement & Service team, and Arts & Humanities faculty, as well as IES and SGL.

This post will be offered on an fixed-term contract  (until July 2024)

This is a part-time post at 2 days a week (0.4 FTE)

Key responsibilities

The PR Coordinator will work closely with the Impact and Engagement Services team, Science Gallery London and PR steering group (which includes experts on PR and community engagement from across the College) on the following core responsibilities:  

• Supporting the Public Engagement Manager to design and develop the programme of PR activities 
• Coordinating PR seed funding, including promoting calls, collating proposals, coordinating review panels, and corresponding with applicants 
• Coordinating and supporting the delivery of training sessions, learning events and the Impact & Community Engagement Summer School at SGL, including, writing promotional copy, managing bookings and coordinating all logistics  
• Supporting development and delivery of the mentoring scheme 
• Supporting development and implementation of an evaluation strategy for the programme of activities   
• Creating case studies and sharing best practice, for example through collating and editing blog posts for KERN, and developing workshop sessions for SGL Researcher Open House events 
• Working with SGL to support researchers who wish to undertake PR activities at SGL, including booking rooms, completing risk assessments and ensuring safeguarding procedures are in place, assisting with delivery and capturing learnings  
• Exploring options to showcase and celebrate PR projects at SGL, for instance through assisting the programming team to identify projects that could be featured in spotlight displays 
• Managing the payment of external speakers, contributors and mentors, and the internal transfer of seed funding 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.  

Skills, knowledge, and experience 

We are looking for someone who is passionate about involving diverse communities in research and is excited by the opportunity to help build a community of practice in PR at King’s. 

Essential criteria  

1. An understanding of the role and importance of public and community engagement and involvement in research, and demonstrable knowledge of PR best practice 
2. Experience of developing and delivering in-person events, including liaising with multiple teams
3. Experience of developing evaluation approaches to measure success
4. Excellent communication skills, with an eye for detail and experience of writing content for newsletters, blogs and/or reports, and giving presentations to a range of audiences  
5. An ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a team
6. Good people skills, with the ability to develop effective relationships with a range of stakeholders 
7. Excellent time management skills 
8. A commitment to accessible and inclusive ways of working  

Desirable criteria

1. Practical experience of doing participatory or co-produced research, and/or supporting researchers to undertake it 
2. Knowledge of safeguarding procedures  
3. Experience of navigating HEI payment processes 

 Further information

A flexible working arrangement is possible, with the Coordinator choosing which two days per week to work. However, the Coordinator may be required to work specific days, occasionally including weekends and evenings, to support the delivery of events.

Apply now

Apply now