Job Description

Position Details

College of Medicine and Health

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £33,002 to £35,608 with potential progression once in post to £39,906

Grade: 6

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to February 2028

Closing date: 7th June 2026

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

This is an exciting, and varied post for a dynamic and enthusiastic public involvement professional. You will be working as part of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) HealthTech Research Centre in Devices, digital and robotics (HRC-DDR) based jointly at the University Hospitals of Birmingham and University of Birmingham. You will be an active member of the core HRC-DDR team, specifically supporting Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) activities and Public Involvement Lead to deliver the Centre’s HRC-DDR PPIE Strategy 2024-2029

The HRC-DDR drives life-changing research into health technologies, working in collaboration with patients, charities, academia, clinicians, and industry. The HRC-DDR’s core areas of research include Medical Devices, Digital and Data and Robots and Autonomous Systems led by world class academics.

Research is better when it is carried out with the people it benefits – patients and the public. Research is more relevant to the people who take part in it when people with lived experience shape the design of new studies and have a say in how a study is conducted.

The HRC-DDR supports health technology innovators and researchers to involve the public within their projects through specialist advice and guidance, training and engagement with public contributors. Public contributors are involved in working with researchers to plan and do research, co-develop research ideas, share their ideas about how a study is designed so participants have a good experience, review public-facing information and materials given to study participants, advise and contribute to how research findings are shared with the public and much more.

Your role will be to effectively deliver a range of projects and utilise your coordination and administrative skills to ensure the smooth running of PPIE activities across the HRC-DDR. Working with the Public Involvement Lead, you will plan and deliver public meetings and events to showcase the Centre’s research to a range of people and communities. You will lead public involvement communications both internally and externally, support recruitment of new volunteers and liaise with our public contributors to accommodate their needs, maximising their ability to be involved in research. In addition, you will undertake a wide range of other administrative duties such as meeting planning and note taking, co-ordinating and delivering finance tasks, maintaining accurate PPIE records and organising a range of documentation and toolkits to be shared across our PPIE Community.

You will be a highly organised and proactive individual who enjoys engaging with a diverse range of people both within, and external to, the organisation. You will be patient, kind and compassionate and have an empathetic and diplomatic approach to relationship building and engagement. You will be a collaborative decision-maker, understanding when escalation is required, and be able to execute astute judgement in both interpersonal and project management contexts. Your strong attention to detail and excellent communication skills will underpin all work areas. You will be creative, thrive on multi-tasking and be skilled in a range of IT packages such as MS Teams, Zoom, Outlook, Word and Excel. You will act as a role model in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion by promoting, valuing and fostering an inclusive public involvement and workplace culture.

Main Duties

Public Involvement Officers will manage smaller public involvement projects in their entirety or manage elements of larger projects or assist in the management of one or more larger projects through the provision of well-developed and timely project management support. You will be expected to work proactively and use your initiative and planning skills to set your own priorities to ensure progress is maintained as expected, identify any issue and propose solutions.

• To support Public Involvement project delivery and Public Involvement groups within an overall project or manage elements of larger projects or smaller projects on your own.
• Support may include some or all of the following:
  • carrying out public involvement planning activities;
  • supporting public involvement groups and meetings, chairing these meetings where necessary;
  • managing volunteers
  • identifying milestones which will need to be adhered to;
  • developing and proposing solutions for any issues;
  • recommending improvements to public involvement management;
  • preparing public involvement progress reports for project boards or other meetings;
  • assisting in budgetary monitoring and management, including reporting;
  • assisting with stakeholder management, developing and maintaining regular contact with public contributors, internal and external stakeholders to understand requirements;
  • assessing and escalating issues and risks as appropriate.
• Contribute to developing public involvement communications plans, presentations, and promoting the projects and outcomes of projects/workstreams.
• Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of public involvement frameworks and principles.
• Determine short term priorities for own work, ensuring you maximise quality, efficiency and continuity.
• Assist in the evaluation and review of projects.
• Support the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
• Promote equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Maintain confidentiality and data protection principles and practices in accordance with policies and procedures.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to degree level (or equivalent qualifications). Where no equivalent qualification is held, significant practical relevant experience and expertise in a similar role will be required.
• Knowledge of Standards for Public Involvement in Research.
• Previous experience of supporting Public Involvement or engagement activity.
• Significant practical experience in a similar role, experience of using project management tools.
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly, and to analyse information and data.
• Highly proficient IT skills, including the wider MS Office suite of programmes including excel and PowerPoint.
• Ability to understand policy, processes and procedures, but also to recommend improvements and implement changes.
• Excellent analytical skills used to produce reports, identify issues and resolve them decisively.
• Excellent interpersonal skills. The post holder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
• A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of confidential/sensitive information/issues.
• A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self-motivating approach.
• Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions work.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day-to-day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated fairly and with equity.

Informal enquiries to Hannah Rooney, email: h.rooney@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

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