Research Development Manager
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Job Purpose
The post holder will provide strategic leadership in supporting researchers in the College of Science & Engineering to identify funding opportunities, develop competitive grant proposals, and secure high-value awards, while delivering advanced training to enhance application success rates. Acting as a senior liaison for the College, they will build a deep understanding of the research portfolio and work with academic leaders, external stakeholders, and internal teams to foster interdisciplinary partnerships and align the College with funding priorities. They will manage internal funding schemes, lead initiatives to enhance research support services, and contribute to institutional strategy by advising senior leadership on funding trends, opportunities, and research priorities.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
1. Working as part of the Research Support team, the post holder will be responsible for horizon scanning to identify new sources of funding to support emerging themes in line with the College Research strategy; communicating opportunities to relevant researchers and groups.
2. Work with the Dean of Research, College Management Team, College academics, and the Overseas team in University Services to identify and agree priority sources of funding to support the development of College Research.
3. Establish an understanding of the priorities, interests and budgets of potential funders and match and map these to research opportunities in the College, highlighting opportunities to individuals and groups. On an ongoing basis, gather intelligence relating to funder directions and plans, and share with targeted researchers working in relevant disciplines to help drive new activities.
4. With a strong understanding of funder requirements and engaging with Research Professional and Academic colleagues across the Institution; they will work with individual researchers, and/or consortia to proactively shape and facilitate ambitious, interdisciplinary, strategic and complex funding applications and work with researchers to identify and address gaps to develop competitive research proposals.
5. Provide critical review of content and message, and feedback to proposals during the development phase, to ensure all funder criteria are addressed, for example providing specialist knowledge on Responsible Innovation, Equality Diversity and Inclusion, Impact and Sustainability to research proposals.
6. Develop, deliver, coordinate and monitor training and support for Early Career Researchers, one-to-one, in groups and through the Early Career Development Programme.
7. Provide one-to-one specialist training and mentoring support, guidance and feedback for PDRAs on their career development, and through sharing best practice in Research Fellowship proposals.
8. Identify the requirement for, shape, and manage processes for internal funding calls and Demand Managed schemes ensuring Equality, Diversity and Inclusion are considered.
9. Plan and lead on the organisation of research and funding focused events within the College and across Colleges relating to funder opportunities, including visits, seminars, Principal Investigator briefings for specific funding opportunities, etc.
10. Provide opportunities to enable researchers at all career stages to develop new connections across colleges and beyond.
11. Develop and proactively enhance key business relationships within the College to learn and share from best practice elsewhere (including, other Colleges, University Services and Impact and Industrial Engagement) and to eliminate any internal barriers to manage risk, enhance collegiality and multi-disciplinary collaborations.
12. Deliver initiatives on behalf of the College and represent the College, as required, in appropriate cross-University fora.
13. Work with senior academic colleagues to develop and manage external partnerships and networks to enhance the College's reputation at local, national, and international levels.
14. Liaise with the Contracts team regarding contract development, including intellectual property ownership, risk assessment and Trusted Research.
15. Provide guidance and/or signposting to researchers to identify and support impact and innovation development.
Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience
Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential:
A1 Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post having acquired the necessary professional knowledge and management skills in a similar or number of different specialist roles.
Or: Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 9,10 or 11 (Ordinary/Honours Degree, Post Graduate Qualification), or equivalent, including being professionally qualified in relevant discipline, with a broad range of professional experience in a management role(s).
A2 Understanding of academic environment including the complex mix of pressures, constraints, motivations and risk/reward positions of academic staff, schools, the college and the institution.
A3 Understanding of the dynamics of the government, research councils, EU and industrial research funding market worldwide, particularly funding regimes.
A4 Understanding of types of support provided by all relevant funders.
A5 Awareness of contractual, legal and financial matters in relation to research contracts, etc.
A6 Knowledge and understanding of working in interdisciplinary research environments.
A7 Awareness of EDI considerations in research.
Skills
Essential:
C1 High level influencing and interpersonal skills, able to quickly build credibility and deliver impact at all levels, including a: high level of verbal and written communication skills and a capacity for and commitment to collaborative teamwork.
C2 Excellent partnership and relationship management skills, with the ability to influence, negotiate and persuade a wide variety of contributors across a large complex organisation, establish and manage relationships at a senior level.
C3 Excellent organisation and leadership skills, with the ability to motivate teams and provide high level, effective leadership and direction to staff outside direct line management.
C4 Ability to exercise initiative, work independently and as part of a team.
C5 Highly developed IT skills e.g. MS Office.
C6 Ability to think strategically and provide input to strategic planning processes.
C7 Strong data analysis and presentation skills.
C8 Ability to work flexibly and adapt to changing environments.
Experience
Essential:
E1 Extensive experience in providing research support advice at a senior level, successfully negotiating with internal and external stakeholders on complex matters with a high level of self-motivation.
E2 Extensive experience of working with teams to recommend, develop and implement innovative solutions and contribute to strategic initiatives.
E3 Experience of working with researchers to develop proposals and applications for funding.
E4 Experience of successfully developing collaborative partnerships and funded projects.
E5 Experience of organising events/workshops.
Desirable:
F1 Experience of Managing internal Demand Management processes to ensure the quality of proposals selected.
Terms and Conditions
Salary will be Grade 8, £49,250 - £56,921 per annum.
This post is full time (35 hours per week) and fixed term until 6 November 2025 in the first instance.
Please Note: If you are a current employee of the University of Glasgow, please be advised that the University would consider an internal secondment opportunity for this post. University of Glasgow applicants should seek clearance for release for internal secondment from their line manager before making a formal application.
The University of Glasgow has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK. If you require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the UK, you will be required to meet the eligibility requirements of the visa route to be assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship.
Please note that this post may be eligible to be sponsored under the Skilled Worker visa route if tradeable points can be used under the Skilled Worker visa rules. For more information please visit: [https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa](Please Note: If you are a current employee of the University of Glasgow, please be advised that the University would consider an internal secondment opportunity for this post. University of Glasgow applicants should seek clearance for release for internal secondment from their line manager before making a formal application. The University of Glasgow has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK. If you require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the UK, you will be required to meet the eligibility requirements of the visa route to be assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship. Please note that this post may be eligible to be sponsored under the Skilled Worker visa route if tradeable points can be used under the Skilled Worker visa rules. For more information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa)
Closing Date 26 February 2025 at 23:45