Position Details

School of Psychology

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £28,397 to £30,210, with potential progression once in post to £33,938

Grade: 5

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to February 2025

Closing date: 22nd April 2024

This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager.

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

The Centre for Human Brain Health (CHBH) is an inter-disciplinary brain research facility established with the mission of understanding what makes a brain healthy, how to maintain it, how to prevent and reverse damage, and how to develop the next generation of interventions and tools for personalised brain healthcare. Established in 2016, the CHBH moved into a new, purpose-built building on campus at the beginning of 2019.

Role Summary

The post holder will have a key role in the research participant interactions of the CHBH. They will provide support for the screening of research participants, including the handing of sensitive personal data, ensuring records are stored in accordance with CHBH policies and GDPR regulations. They will have a key role in the maintenance of the Centre-wide resource management and booking system, in addition to supporting the CHBH Operations Manager in key areas such as the planning and organising of events, the support of committees, the updating of the CHBH website and social media accounts, and the maintenance of Health and Safety and Risk Assessment documentation. The post holder will also provide PA support to the Centre’s co-directors. 

The post holder should have a positive attitude, be a forward thinker, able to use own initiative, have excellent interpersonal and communication skills and be able to remain calm under pressure. In addition, the post holder should be able to independently (with overall direction from the CHBH Operations Manager) carry out small scale projects and procedures from conception to conclusion and have the ability to manage complex administrative / information systems.

Main Duties

Participant screening

• With guidance from the CHBH Radiographer and PI(s), providing support for the screening of research participants prior to the commencement of research, including the handing of sensitive personal data.
• With the guidance of the CHBH Radiographer and Operations Manager; 
  • Coordinate the required training for new CHBH General Users. 
  • Maintain the CHBH General User Database; Monitor training due dates, and coordinate the refresher training for existing CHBH General Users to ensure compliance with required training and MRI Safety Screening. 
  • Ensure all MRI Safety Screening Forms and project related information or forms are stored in accordance with CHBH and University policies, and wider General Data Protection Regulations (GDPRs).

Resource management and booking system 

• Providing administrative support for the Centre-wide resource management and booking system, ensuring records are up-to-date.
• Assisting the CHBH Operations Manager in generating reports of usage for CHBH modalities as appropriate.

Health and Safety

• Understanding and complying with site and local emergency procedures.
• Understanding and complying with the University’s safety policies and procedures.
• Highlighting Health and Safety concerns to the CHBH Health and Safety representative in a timely fashion.
• Maintaining a central, up-to-date record of CHBH risk assessments.

Events and External Communication

• Supporting the CHBH Operations Manager in the planning and organising of CHBH events (e.g. CHBH Seminar Series, and CHBH Journal Club, away days).
• Providing hands-on support in the execution of CHBH events, with a proactive approach to problem solving.
• Promoting CHBH achievements, events, seminars and journal clubs using the appropriate channels, including social media.
• Supporting the CHBH Operations Manager and Marketing, Communication and Digital colleagues in the development and maintenance of the CHBH website.
• Generating regular content for social media channels and updating as appropriate.
• Updating participant-facing information in CHBH waiting areas, including the input of notices onto display screens.

Building relationships

• Working with the CHBH Operations Manager and CHBH colleagues to build relationships and collaborations with the Institute for Mental Health.
• Building effective working relationships with key staff within the School and College, as well as with relevant Professional Service colleagues from across the University.

PA support

• Accurately managing diaries of the CHBH’s co-directors, prioritising and allocating time for meetings and appointments, using own discretion and judgement, thinking ahead to anticipate problems and, as necessary, preparing various solutions for consideration.
• Developing an in-depth understanding of current priorities and diary commitments in order to be able to provide advice to both internal and external contacts and colleagues.
• Organising meetings including; clearly informing attendees of the meeting purpose, finding suitable times for attendees, booking venues and arranging catering, circulating documents in advance and other related responsibilities.
• Collating relevant papers and material for the Co-Director’s meetings and attend meetings as necessary with the Co-Directors. This includes drawing up agendas for meetings, producing clear and accurate minutes and ensuring that any follow-up action is taken.
• Managing and arranging all aspects of the Co-Directors’ travel and accommodation requirements in the UK and overseas, co-ordinating meetings and ensuring the arrangements made do not exceed the allocated budget. 

General duties

• Promote efficiency and good working practices within the Centre, by proactively reviewing existing administrative systems/processes. Highlight potential areas of improvement and, under the guidance of the Operations Manager, work to implement agreed changes.
• Remain up-to-date with relevant University, College and School policies and procedures. Working with the Operations Manager, promote a general awareness of, and compliance with, the policies and procedures within the Centre.
• Welcoming research participants to the Centre at the CHBH Reception.
• Ensuring that all enquiries dealt with in a professional and timely manner.
• Provide administrative support for CHBH committees and other meetings, as requested, to include the preparation of agendas and minutes, ensuring that follow-up actions are taken.
• Liaising with academic and support staff to ensure that stocks of laboratory and office consumables are kept up-to-date.
  • Using Core Systems, submit and monitor orders for general Centre related purchases. 
  • Support CHBH staff in their understanding and use of Core System’s self-service functions. 
• Liaising with School, Estates, Cleaning and Security colleagues as appropriate regarding the maintenance of the School building, as required. To report faults and problems and request works. 
• Undertaking other duties as required by the CHBH Operations Manager and Co-Directors.
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.

Person Specification

Essential

• Educated to at least Advanced Level (or equivalent qualifications and work experience) and hold GCSEs in Mathematics and English at C or above (or equivalent).
• Significant previous experience in a PA and/or Operations role.
• Excellent IT skills, especially use of Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.
• The post holder should also be confident and willing to quickly learn new software packages to support, inform and improve operational effectiveness.
• Excellent demonstrable interpersonal, organisational, team working and communication skills.
• A high level of discretion and sensitivity in dealing with confidential matters.
• Ability and demonstrable experience of working accurately and paying close attention to detail.
• Aptitude to prioritise own workload and to complete all tasks accurately and to a routinely high standard even when working to challenging and/or conflicting deadlines.
• Capability to manage own workload autonomously and work as an effective team member with flexibility.
• Significant self-initiative and ability to carry out projects from conception to conclusion.
• Demonstrable ability to provide effective, high quality customer service and to make suggestions relating to service enhancements.
• Ability to take accurate notes and minutes.
• Experience of working in a large and complex organization.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

Desirable

• Experience of working in Higher Education.
• Experience of working at an executive level.

Informal enquiries to Emily Loftus, email: e.l.loftus@bham.ac.uk 

View our staff values and behaviours here 

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.