Public Health Officer

Public Health Senior Officer - Local Authority Research Practitioner (LARP)

Fixed Term Contract

Grade 5 - £42,839 - £51,356

Consultation grade - subject to formal evaluation under the Pay Equity Review

Working 36.5 hours per week

Are you passionate about using research to make a lasting impact on decision making, health inequalities and population health? Birmingham City Council (BCC) is seeking a values-driven and forward-thinking individual to join us as a Local Authority Research Practitioner (LARP).

About the Role

This is a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in one of the UK's most vibrant and diverse cities. As a LARP, you will be working to reduce health inequalities across Birmingham by embedding a culture of research across the organisation. You will use your experience and expertise to ensure local decision-making across public health and the wider determinants of health is grounded in robust evidence. You will develop an approach to increase research activity, embed research into practice and establish a robust research governance system. You will engage with the public and strengthen engagement with local academic partners

Key Responsibilities

• Support the development of BCC research infrastructure, research processes, skills and capacity across all departments.
• Support the embedding of research within Public Health and across BCC.
• Upskill the BCC workforce in research methods and governance and skills through the provision of consultation, training and support.
• Build collaborative working relationships with relevant existing regional and national research networks.
• Engage the public in the development of research and research governance approaches.
• Ensure alignment with strategic public health goals and the integration of evidence-based practices into decision making processes.
• Appraise evidence (qualitative and quantitative) to identify drivers of robust research governance and behavioural change interventions.
• Develop and maintaining systems to record research activity.
• Act as an expert research and academic resource, providing guidance and support for those thinking about undertaking research

About You

• We’re looking for someone who can bring strategic thinking, partnership working, and public health expertise to this role. You’ll be confident in research, working across systems, and skilled in engaging diverse stakeholders.
• To be successful, you’ll need:
• Significant public health research experience in an academic research setting.
• An excellent understanding of research methods and approaches including qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
• An ability to develop and deliver training across the organisation to build research capacity, skills and governance.
• An excellent understanding of research ethics processes and information governance.
• Knowledge of and experience in using behavioural science tools and approaches.
• Experience of working with stakeholders and system mapping to build capacity for research and evidence use.
• A passion for promoting research and evidence-based decision making in public health and across the wider determinants of health

Please upload your up-to-date CV via the attachments part of your application, this is required for shortlisting. Within your CV, please outline how you meet the person specification. Unfortunately, we cannot consider any applications without a CV attached.

Birmingham City Council is an accredited Disability Confident Leader employer, and we are committed to employing, retaining and developing all of our people.

We are dedicated to supporting internal mobility and the development of our people. As such, applications from internal employees and those under S118 will be given priority and reviewed before external applications are considered.

We want to ensure your recruitment journey with us is a positive and equitable one, so please let us know if there are any reasonable adjustments, additional support, accessibility needs, or if there is any way in which we can support you through your application.

We strive to advertise all roles for a minimum of two weeks. However, due to high application volumes vacancies may close earlier than the stated deadline. We encourage you to submit your application without delay to ensure consideration.