Job Description
Position Details
School of Social Policy and Society
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,130 to £45,413 with potential progression once in post to £48,149
Grade: 7
Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to December 2027
2 positions available
Closing date: 22nd July 2025
UK travel may be required for this role.
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 University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant city, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking transformational research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation and dissemination of knowledge. Professional Services play a crucial role in this endeavour, by providing outstanding expertise and support to our researchers, enabling an exceptional educational experience for our students, and helping the University to influence regionally, nationally, and globally. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, offering opportunities to learn, collaborate and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives.
IMPACT (‘Improving Adult Care Together’) is a UK-wide centre for implementing evidence in adult social care, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, and the Health Foundation. Working across the four nations of the UK, IMPACT is an ‘implementation centre’, drawing on knowledge gained from different types of research, the lived experience of people using services and their carers, and the practice knowledge of social care staff.
Its aims are to enable practical improvements on the ground, and make a crucial contribution to longer-term cultural change, by:
- Increasing the use of high-quality evidence, leading to better care practices, systems and outcomes
- Building capacity and skills in the adult social care workforce to work with evidence of different kinds to innovate and deliver better outcomes
- Developing relationships between a wide range of stakeholders across the sector, to improve outcomes for people who draw on services and their families
- Improving understanding of what elements of evidence implementation do and do not work in practice, and using this to overcome barriers
Role Summary
As IMPACT evolves there is a substantial and growing evidence base generated from a series of local change projects across the UK. Our delivery projects implement research findings to drive change and innovation in practice in social care organisations. The national embedding team look for opportunities to sustain, scale and spread what we have learned, to get this embedded in policy and practice throughout the four nations of the UK.
IMPACT is expanding its’ national embedding team with the addition of a
second National Embedding Officer, and three senior part-time Embedding Leads for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The National Embedding Office will be managed by Deputy Head of National Embedding. This is a unique opportunity to take practical evidence of what works in adult social care and maximise the difference it makes to people’s lives by contributing to research informed implementation. This role will
- develop pathways to scale, spread and sustain emergent innovation in IMPACT’s delivery projects in adult social care policy and practice across the four nations
- contribute to the dissemination of project outcomes to stakeholders
- grow IMPACT’s stakeholder engagement in line with our four aims
- contribute to collecting and reporting on IMPACT outcomes
- support national embedding director and deputy director, and delivery staff across various events
The National Embedding team is led by IMPACT’s Deputy Director Ewan King (Chief Executive, Shared Lives Plus) and Deputy Head of National Embedding Dr Laura Griffith. In addition to working closely with IMPACT’s Deputy Head of National Embedding, the post holder will work with the wider national embedding team to deliver an agreed set of priorities.
Remote working will be supported within this role; however, the role holder will be expected to spend a minimum of two days a month working with the central IMPACT team at the University of Birmingham. Occasional travel to IMPACT events and/or specific delivery project meetings will be required and will be reimbursed from the usual place of work. The role is full-time and a job share will be considered.
Main Duties
Providing strategic support to the Deputy Director of National Embedding and the Embedding Leads including
- Developing a detailed working knowledge of academic, practice and lived experience research in adult social care across the UK
- Applying knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding of IMPACT’s four workstreams: IMPACT demonstrators, IMPACT networks, IMPACT facilitators and ASK IMPACT
- Analysing and interpreting data and policy developments relevant to adult social care and related areas of social policy identifying opportunities to embed the lessons from our work in national policy and practice
- Contributing to developing new models, techniques and methods for knowledge mobilisation
- Dealing with problems that may affect the achievement of objectives and deadlines
Coordinating the organisation of conferences/ meetings/ workshops/ dissemination events including
- Coordinating on the shaping and design of national embedding events to support IMPACT’s four aims
- Delivering events in collaboration with national embedding team
Coordinating engagement with stakeholders including
- Leading on mapping stakeholders as needed to meet the IMPACT aims, including designing methodologies, collecting and analysing date and identifying existing relevant data sets, to provide information on all sectors of adult social care including: people who draw on care and support; carers (unpaid); practitioners; providers; commissioners & strategic planners; researchers/national body representatives to inform and support the National Embedding Strategy and broader IMPACT activity
- Facilitating and organising ways for people who draw on care and support and carers to influence the National Embedding work plans, projects and products
- Implementing approaches to track and report on national embedding approaches
- Driving the activities and plans for increasing engagement with IMPACT working closely with the communications and national embedding teams based in the UK four nations
- Writing and delivering strategic communications to disseminate project outcomes, including social media posts, blogs, newsletters, formal reports and delivery of presentations
Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
Person Specification
- Relevant degree or relevant equivalent professional qualification
- Experience of completing directed research assignments, working independently to produce evidenced research reports
- Authoritative knowledge of research in adult social care
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence and negotiate effectively with a range of stakeholders
- Excellent organisational and multi-tasking skills with a methodical approach to work and the ability to prioritise workloads to meet deadlines
- Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area
- Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact on protected groups and take appropriate action
- Substantial experience of engaging, and collaborating with stakeholders
- Fluency in relevant models, techniques or methods and ability to contribute to developing new ones
- Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively
- Contribute to the planning and organising of the national embedding programme and provision of research and policy information to support future bid applications and written content
- Co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort
- Proven analytical and problem-solving skills that will help to identify and implement initiatives to deliver project outcomes
DBS Required
The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.
Informal enquiries to Laura Griffith, email:
[email protected]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 . 
