Placement on the Longitudinal Evaluation of Engagement Fellowships

The Research, Impact and Engagement Team of the Social Sciences Division, University of Oxford is inviting applications from GUDTP scholars to undertake a 3-month placement as the Project Officer for the evaluation of our Social Sciences Engagement Fellowships.

Who We Are

Oxford’s social scientists and their research make a significant difference to people’s lives across the globe through a range of policy, practitioner, commercial and public engagement. The Social Sciences Division’s research spans 14 departments and one cross-divisional unit and includes traditional social science disciplines, several life sciences and humanities subjects, as well as interdisciplinary research extending to the humanities, physical, natural and medical sciences.

We have invested significant resource in developing a positive culture of engaged research and impact beyond academia. Within this context, over the past 10 years, we have supported a number of individual Engagement Fellowships across all our departments with the intention of enabling social scientists to

• engage with non-academic stakeholders to build lasting partnerships
• develop new engagement skills and experiences
• enhance their profile with stakeholders
• grow their research impact.

These fellowships are funded via the University’s Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) allocation. Administration of this funding is managed by the Research, Impact and Engagement (RIE) Team in the Social Sciences Division (SSD), University of Oxford. 

The RIE Team’s core values are:

Inclusion: We try to foster an open and welcoming research community built on mutual respect for our colleagues’ unique backgrounds and experiences, enabling us to tailor our support and help everyone to thrive.

Collaboration: We aspire to work together effectively, leveraging diverse skills, experience and expertise, to share best practices across the Division and beyond, and facilitate each others' achievements.

Excellence: We strive to make our best possible contribution to everything we do, responding to the evolving needs of our stakeholders with innovative and creative solutions.

The project

The main aim of this placement is to evaluate the efficacy and long-term impacts of the SSD Engagement Fellowships scheme (and previous iterations of the scheme).

Objectives 

1. To review the outcomes and impacts of the funding scheme - has it been successful? 
2. To assess if unsuccessful applications found an alternative route forward - is the scheme necessary? 
3. To develop a set of learning points to feed into future planning and funding scheme design  
4. To identify some examples of pathways to future impact and engagement  - long term routes to success 
5. To identify how proposals and projects have changed over the lifetime of the scheme and to identify the characteristics of the most successful projects.  

Methods

The Project Officer will review the applications and mid/end/impact reports from the scheme over the last 10 years and pull out relevant information about the aims of the funding and whether those were achieved within the grant period.  They will also review the Business Intelligence (service that enables statistical reporting) and Symplectic Elements (University research information management system) platforms and websites to see how funded activities have progressed since their grant periods ended.  The Project Officer will also conduct interviews with PIs and departments on next steps and where longer-term activities are identified, what funding they have had and what the fellowship enabled.  

The project includes engagement with Divisional and department-based Research Support Officers (RSOs) about how the scheme is viewed by departments in terms of size of grant, application and post-award process, sustainability of partnerships etc.  

Desk research will also be required to review alternative schemes and how they compare to this scheme. 

Finally, data will need to be gathered and reviewed to determine how proposals and projects have changed over time, and where this signposts to both successes and points for learning and improvement.

Deliverables

1. A short report including quantitative and qualitative data and analysis + recommendations 
2. Set of bulleted learning points that can be shared with internal funding managers 
3. 3-4 case study examples: plotting route from before the grant through to current/impact stage 
4. Pull quotes useful for training/reports.

Supervision and collaboration arrangements

Following a half-day in-person induction at the Social Sciences Divisional Office, you will have weekly catch ups with placement supervisor and other team members as required for the completion of the project. Most of these meetings will take place online using MS Teams. When in-person attendance is required, this will be discussed well in advance. 

What you will gain

• Knowledge of and experience in the continuous improvement process for project management
• Skills in both qualitative and quantitative analysis and reporting
• Understanding of how a research and impact support team in UK Higher Education works
• Professional/learning experience in research-related roles
• Insights into what is required to successfully deliver an entire engaged research lifecycle
• Sense of achievement in your personal contribution to the future of this scheme, and defining its impact so far
• Skills in communication – both written and verbal – with Higher Education colleagues at all career stages
• Training in BI and Symplectic
• Training and experience in conducting interviews.

Who we are looking for

The successful candidate will have a

• Collaborative and ‘can do’ attitute with a flexible approach to working with others with a focus on service delivery
• Effective organisational skills demonstrated by a proven ability to work independently to proactively initiate, manage, prioritise, and complete complex projects successfully in the context of many competing demands
• Proven ability to build relationships which engender trust and confidence and enable collaborative working
• Ability to run focus groups/ interviews and engage professionally with attendees in these contexts
• Proven ability to communicate effectively and persuasively in a clear, confident and engaging manner, both written and verbal
• Proven ability to understand and convey highly specialist or complex information including experience of communicating with a variety of different audiences using appropriate formats, tone and messages with a good attention to detail  
• Able to handle qual and quant data
• Excellent diplomacy, interpersonal and listening skills with the proven ability to relate well to staff at all levels.

We would particularly encourage applications by candidates with a special interest in Impact & Engagement with Research.

How to Apply

Please submit your CV and a short cover letter (up to 500 words) in .pdf format by e-mailing placements.gudtp@socsci.ox.ac.uk. These should demonstrate how you meet the selection criteria and your motivation to undertake this placement.

If you cannot make the proposed placement dates please let us know your availability in the e-mail.

Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed by members of the RIE team. This will be an informal conversation to see if we are a good fit for each other.

GUDTP Professional Development Opportunities