Job Description

Position Details

School of Social Work and Social Care, College of Social Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,130 to £45,413.

Grade 7

Part Time – 18.75 hours per week (0.5 FTE)

Travel may be required for this role

Fixed Term contract for 12 months, target start date September 2026

Closing date: Tuesday 9th June 2026

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

of Role

IMPACT is the UK centre for implementing evidence in adult social care, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Health Foundation. IMPACT draws on knowledge from different types of research, the lived experience of people who draw on care and support and carers, and the practice knowledge of social care staff.

IMPACT Facilitators work in a specific local organisation or system to help get evidence of what works used in practice to make a difference to services and to people’s lives. To do this, they co-design an evidence-informed change project, work with diverse stakeholders to implement the project in practice and share learning with others.

Positions are offered at 50% FTE for 12 months and will be based primarily in the Facilitator site/host organisation. While successful candidates are often employed by the lead University in each nation (Stirling, Ulster, Cardiff, Birmingham or Sheffield), the nature of our delivery roles also make them ideal for possible secondments from policy, practice, applied research or citizen-led organisations. This can help people build on current skills and experiences while also developing new ones, supporting the longer-term development of more ‘hybrid’ research-practice roles.

As part of IMPACT’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion throughout our practice we are particularly keen to receive applications from people from black and minority ethnic communities, and will be operating the ‘Rooney’ rule (i.e. at least one person from a black and minority ethnic community background will be shortlisted where they meet the essential criteria for the role). We are also keen to receive applications from people who have lived experience of drawing on care and support, are carers or are front-line practitioners, as well as from people who have experience of working with groups whose voices are seldom heard.

Details of the recruiting universities, the host locations and the areas of adult social care are on IMPACT’s website. The Facilitator appointed for each project will be based on site within the relevant host organisation.

While these are part-time and very flexible posts, successful applicants will be expected to attend fortnightly online meetings with the broader IMPACT team where possible – these are held on Monday mornings (11am-12) and a fortnightly Facilitator team meeting on Wednesdays (4-5 pm). There will be an induction in Birmingham on Wednesday 23rd September 2026.

Topics and locations

Building a more strategic approach to co-production alongside people who have a learning disability – WECIL, England

• Hybrid, Bristol - hot desking office at The Vassall Centre Gill Ave, Bristol BS16 2QQ Weekly meeting on Thursdays at Grosvenor Rd, Bristol BS2 8XJ
• People’s Voice at WECIL was founded to ensure that people with learning disabilities and neurodivergent people are not just consulted but genuinely lead change. Co-production is therefore not an add-on to our work; it is our entire operating model. However, we have learned that meaningful co-production takes time, strategy, and structure. Many of our members have experienced trauma, institutionalisation, or exclusion, which can make trust and communication fragile. Digital illiteracy and access needs can slow processes down. The funding environment often prioritises speed and output over inclusion. Developing a strategic approach to co-production as part of a change project with the IMPACT Facilitator will help us balance care and accountability, making our model stronger, safer, and more sustainable for the future. Our priority areas include: developing a clearer strategic framework for co-production that can be adapted by other organisations, and strengthening pathways for people with learning disabilities to move into leadership and paid co-production role.

Main duties

• Based in a host organisation (see IMPACT website), and with the support of IMPACT’s national Facilitator lead and other team members, co-design/deliver an evidence-informed change project, and participate as required in IMPACT’s internal evaluation. [Reviews of the evidence are typically conducted by other members of the team ahead of projects starting, but some projects can sometimes involve additional reviewing and synthesis, with support]
• Share learning from the project with others and support the embedding of lessons learned in policy and practice across the UK
• Be a full member of the IMPACT team, taking part in team meetings on-line, informally contributing skills and experience to other aspects of IMPACT’s work as appropriate and helping to distil lessons that can shape IMPACT’s future ways of working
• Ensure that the project gathers and applies evidence from research, practice knowledge and lived experience through extensive engagement with people who draw on care and support, carers, front-line care workers, and other key stakeholders in order to achieve the aims of the project
• Work sensitively with issues of power, ensuring the inclusion of people whose voices are seldom heard
• Champion and operationalise IMPACT’s commitment to co-production, equality, diversity and inclusion
• Apply and develop knowledge in a way that develops new intellectual understanding in the fields of social care and implementation, through a process of learning by doing
• Disseminate lessons learned and findings to a diverse audience in creative and impactful ways
• Share lessons around what helps and hinders the implementation of evidence-informed approaches in front-line practice with IMPACT colleagues and other audiences, contributing to the future evidence base

Person Specification

• First degree of a good standard relevant to this area of practice OR equivalent professional qualification OR sufficient experience to demonstrate connected knowledge and skills
• An understanding of public policy, public services, front-line practice and/or the realities of people’s lives – including of factors that enable or prevent change in such settings
• Experience of applied research and/or the implementation of innovation/new ways of working within a social care or related area of practice and policy. We recognise that candidates from applied research backgrounds may need more support to develop the skills to implement evidence in practice, while candidates from practice and policy backgrounds may need more support to work with different types of evidence
• A strong commitment to the principles of co-production and to embedding these in all aspects of their work
• Excellent presentation skills, both verbal and written, with an ability to communicate effectively, in-person and on-line, with a range of different social care stakeholders including people and communities, practitioners, managers, academics and policy makers
• High level of personal organisational skills and self-motivation to work independently as well as flexibly and collaboratively with the wider IMPACT team
• Collaborative and flexible approach to work and excellent inter-personal skills
• An awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses and an ability to work reflexively
• Good skills in building networks with others (possibly including people who draw on care and support, carers, practitioners, managers, policy makers, researchers and others)

Successful candidates will also need to demonstrate that they can apply these skills within the context and topic of the project in question (they don’t need to be subject experts, but do need to be credible with the host organisation and partners, and show that they could work effectively within the specifics of the project to implement evidence-informed change).

To apply, you must:

1) Send a CV and cover letter to impactcentre@contacts.bham.ac.uk, clearly detailing the role, project and location you are applying for in the subject of the email. Your cover letter should be no more than two sides of A4, drawing attention to the key skills, values and experiences you would bring to the role, if successful, and the ways in which your CV to date fits with the requirements of the role and the host setting.

If you wish to apply for more than one role, please submit one CV plus one cover letter per role you wish to be considered for.

2) Complete our mandatory additional information form: https://forms.office.com/e/4LxzkV2r8W

Applicants that do not complete the form will not be considered.

Informal enquires can be sent to impactcentre@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Use of AI in applications We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

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