Research Impact and Engagement Lead

Only considering candidates eligible to work in London, UK ⚠️

We're the UK's specialist blood cancer charity and our vision is clear: we’re here to beat blood cancer. We fund world-class research; provide information and support to patients and their loved ones; and raise awareness of blood cancer.

As Research Impact and Engagement Lead, you will be integral in leading our impact and engagement workstreams within the research team. You will lead the implementation our research impact programme to ensure that we appropriately monitor and report on the impact of our life-saving research. You lead the delivery of a programme of researcher engagement activity into regular practice, establishing our stewardship programme to bring us closer to our funded researchers and the wider blood cancer research community.

This is an exciting time to join the organisation as we work to deliver our strategy, funding impactful research to drive forward the day when nobody dies of their blood cancer or its treatment.

Expected travel for this role is approximately 1 day a week: meetings with researchers, conferences, team workshops, team/department away days plus two all-staff away days a year

We are committed to actively promoting equality, diversity, and inclusivity. In line with our strategy we welcome approaches from individuals from underrepresented groups, including minority communities, and applicants with a disability, to better reflect the community we serve and help broaden our perspectives.

First stage interviews will be virtual and held on 13th and or 14th February 2025.

Second stage interviews will take place in person at our London office, to be held the following week, date TBC.

Application DeadlineFebruary 05, 2025DepartmentResearch, Policy & Services Employment TypePermanentLocationLondon/HybridWorkplace typeHybridCompensation£45,000 - £50,000 / year

Key Responsibilities

**MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Research Impact**

  • Lead the development and implementation of an impact framework to monitor progress of funded research beyond the project lifespan.
  • Lead on the analysis and production of summaries of our research portfolio, drawing insight on the shape of our research funding.
  • Lead on processes to monitor activity and outputs for all funded research, including collation and analysis of research grant progress and final reports.
  • Design and deliver analysis and insight to understand the performance of the research portfolio and progress towards our strategy.
  • Scope out and implement new systems/analytical tools to improve our impact assessment processes.
  • Work with the Research funding Lead and Deputy Director to identify metrics and evaluate our funding schemes and strategic initiatives.
  • Identify impacts from the wider blood cancer and health research landscape that highlight the progress that has been made and the potential to be delivered through BCUKs research strategy.
  • Further develop expertise on how to conduct research impact assessment by working with organisations such as the AMRC and by attending relevant workshops and meetings.

Showcasing our research impact

  • Act as the internal resource on our research portfolio and impact to feed into relevant activity to teams across the charity.
  • Lead the interpretation and presentation of research impact, for example through the development of visualisations, which will provide engaging content for the organisation.
  • Develop high functioning relationships and effective processes for sharing research impact with key internal teams, including fundraising and communications teams.
  • ork with the communications team to understand the audiences for our research impact to shape analysis. Provide analysis of our outputs/impact and information on potential longer-term impact to the Communications team for development into case studies, which can be used to extend the reach of the charity.
  • Collaborate with fundraising teams and communications teams to understand the impact needs of our supporters and individual donors to produce tailored and compelling content that demonstrates our research impact and credibility as a research funder.
  • Present at relevant events, such as donor stewardship events, to bring our research impact to life.
  • Work with the Deputy Director of Research to develop and track metrics to use in organisational monitoring and reporting of research.
  • Lead on the dissemination of research impact internally to all members of staff by delivering lunch and learns and other mechanisms of updating the organisation.
  • Work with Services Team and Policy and Influencing Team to develop our approach to cross mission impact monitoring and reporting.
  • Be an internal expert on measuring impact, sharing knowledge and skills with colleagues.
  • Collaborate with the health data role to understand the impact of our research in the context of the research funding and healthcare landscape.

Researcher Engagement

  • Lead our strategic approach to our researcher engagement and stewardship programme; so that award holders work with us and are and ambassadors for the charity.
  • Work with fundraising and communications teams to identify showcase opportunities to support communications and income generation.
  • Ensure we maintain long lasting relationships with researchers, to monitor impact and gain insight.
  • Develop a strategy for identifying and engaging with related research fields with a potential interest in our funding opportunities.

General Responsibilities

  • Attend meetings and conferences as required, utilising as opportunities to engage grant holders and wider research community,
  • Contribute to the team being proactive and supportive, and working effectively and efficiently to achieve agreed objectives
  • Contribute to the development and maintenance of strong internal relationships across the charity, working specifically with the Engagement Teams to provide updates, content and support income generation.
  • Undertake other work as required by the Deputy Director of Research and Director of Research, Policy and Services

THINGS WE ALL DO

  • Promote Blood Cancer UK’s vision, mission and core values
  • Support Blood Cancer UK’s commitment to actively promoting equality, diversity and inclusivity
  • We’re all fundraisers. This is slightly different for all roles, and your team will have fundraising KPIs and objectives we all work to
  • Attend and assist at Blood Cancer UK events and activities as required (NB this involves evening and weekend work)
  • Be an effective ambassador for Blood Cancer UK at any activity you attend
  • All staff are expected to adhere to Blood Cancer UK’s policies and procedures
  • Do any other reasonable things your manager needs you to do
  • We work in partnership with our community by actively involving people affected by blood cancer in the decisions we make about our work – what we do and how we do it

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Skills, knowledge and experience

  • Educated to degree level in a relevant biomedical science or equivalent experience in a scientific or research environment
  • Experience of research admin and management, can be either pre or post award or equivalent in managing delivery of research programmes
  • Understanding of the research funding landscape and research impact.
  • Ability to analyse and interpret complex scientific information and ability to produce reports for a range of audiences
  • Expertise in systems and methods for collection, analysing and visualisation of data demonstrating research impact.
  • Ability to think and work strategically to review and refine systems and processes in line with the needs of multiple stakeholders.
  • Well-developed interpersonal skills for liaising with internal and external communities, including senior academics, and committed to delivering an excellent, consistent and professional service
  • Efficient, flexible, well organised self-starter with ability to manage multiple projects.
  • A positive attitude to technology, insight and data, including an enthusiasm to use new technologies and ways of working to deliver against objectives.

About Blood Cancer UK

FLEXIBLE WORKING & OUR BENEFITS

We welcome conversations about part time working, job shares, and all forms of flexible working right from application stage. You can get in touch with us at [email protected] if you want to ask us anything about flexible working.

Benefits: We think our benefits are brilliant, and the majority start from day 1. These are just a few of them:

  • 30 days annual leave PLUS bank holidays
  • Generous pension scheme and Life Assurance
  • Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave, as well as study leave and a day off to move house
  • Wellbeing is a priority for us, we offer a wide range of individual and team support in our Wellbeing Hub
  • Our Academy is our in-house Continued Professional Development (CPD) learning and development programme, including an internal mentoring scheme. We have organisation-wide focus days, which are days set aside for you to focus on your own development, without being interrupted by emails and meetings.
  • Cycle to work and season ticket loans
  • Opportunity to take sabbaticals

You can find full details about our benefits on our website.

Location: Working agile means we changed from having a culture where people are expected to be in the office from 9am to 5pm to one where we’re much more focused on what they deliver. We've built a positive culture where autonomy, trust, wellbeing and flexibility allow us to recruit and retain the very best people.   We recognise that teams still need to come together regularly to develop relationships and strengthen collaborative working.   Therefore, for the majority of roles, your contractual place of work will be one of our offices. The expectation for how often you will be required to attend the office is outlined in the job profile and will be discussed with you.   Details about our hybrid and agile working approach (including how travel expenses work) can be found on our website.

HOW TO APPLY

We ask you to send us a CV and cover letter. In your cover letter, we'd like to know why you're interested in working with us at Blood Cancer UK. It's also helpful if you tell us why you think you are a great candidate for this role based on the skills, knowledge and expertise section above. Your cover letter doesn't have to be too long, 1-2 pages is ideal. Please don't add photos or graphics to your CV, as we use blind shortlisting at this stage of the process.

Full details about our recruitment processes, including how we use blind shortlisting and what to expect at each stage of the process can be found on our website. Sometimes we close our vacancies early, usually because we have had a lot of great applicants, so we’d always encourage you to apply early rather than wait until the deadline.

WHY WORK AT BLOOD CANCER UK?

We're the 9th best charity in the UK to work for according to Best Companies 2021!

We started because of Susan, we’ll get there because of you.

Blood Cancer UK was started by one family who lost their daughter, Susan, to blood cancer, and that history and sense of family continues to shape who we are today. When you join Blood Cancer UK, you don’t just become an organisational employee – you become part of a collaborative community dedicated to funding research into beating blood cancer that includes some of the most inspiring people you’ll ever meet.

And we’re not that far away from beating blood cancer. We’re confident we can do it within the next generation, and this makes us hugely ambitious and gives us a sense of real urgency. It also means we’re changing quickly as an organisation as we constantly challenge ourselves and strive to become more and more effective. This pace of change means working here isn’t for everyone. But if you’re excited by the chance to work in a fast-paced, agile and supportive environment with the focus and ambition to beat blood cancer this could be the place for you! We focus on results rather than time spent at a desk, so we deliver more for people affected by blood cancer.

Blood Cancer UK offers the chance to work for and with people affected by blood cancer, and the opportunity to advance your career and develop your skillset whilst taking on exciting new challenges and making your mark.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

We are committed to actively promoting equality, diversity, and inclusivity. Read our statement which reflects our strong drive to change in this area.

To this end we would welcome approaches from individuals from underrepresented groups, including minoritised communities, and applicants with a disability, to better reflect the community we serve and help broaden our perspectives.

You can read some examples of how we can support you through the application and interview process here.

Documents

Research impact & engagement manager job pack

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Research impact and engagement lead jd & person spec jan 2025

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Blood Cancer UKbloodcancer.org.uk

Blood Cancer UK is a charity dedicated to funding research into beating blood cancer and supporting those affected by the disease.

Working Week

We don't officially have a 4 day work week, but we'd be open to applications for a 4 day work week @ 80% salary.

  • Mon
  • Tue
  • Wed
  • Thu
  • 🏖️
    Fri

Our Vacation Policy

We offer 38 days of PTO; 30 days of annual leave plus bank holidays, with additional wellbeing days and sabbaticals available.

  • 38 days PTO
  • 52 unpaid Fridays
  • 90 days off per year

Remote Working Policy

We offer a mix of 100% remote and hybrid positions.

Company Benefits

  • Health insurance
  • 401(k) company contribution
  • Generous parental leave
  • Life & Disability Insurance
  • Professional Development Budget
  • Opportunties for Sabbaticals
  • Mental Health Support

Desirable Skills and Experience

  • Research admin
  • Data analysis
  • Visualisation
  • Stakeholder management
  • Interpersonal skills

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