Head of Public Partnership

Salary: £46,485 to £49,250 with progression to £55,295 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 20 November 2024

The Role

We are seeking an enthusiastic expert in patient and public involvement to work at a senior level across Newcastle Health Innovation Partners (NHIP) and the clinic research directorate (CRD) in Newcastle Hospitals.

NHIP is one of eight Academic Health Science Centres in England, committed to improving health of the regional population through research, innovation, education and training. The CRD is the hugely successful research function within Newcastle Hospitals.

This new senior leadership position in Newcastle Health Innovation Partners (NHIP) will have responsibility for strategically leading public partnership activities for NHIP and the Clinical Research Directorate (CRD) within Newcastle Hospitals. Such public partnership activities will include patient, carer, public and community involvement, engagement, and participation activities. The post holder will also drive the delivery and ongoing development of effective and high-quality public partnership objectives across NHIP and the CRD. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer of NHIP and the Directorate Manager for the CRD for their activities, the post holder will also be expected to provide leadership and strategic coordination of public partnership activities across the NHIP partner organisations.

Whilst you will be employed by NHIP, hosted by Newcastle University, your time will be equally split between NHIP and the CRD.

In both areas, you will develop and deliver an integrated patient and public involvement strategy to build on work already taking place. Colleagues will be an inspiring mix of esteemed researchers and clinicians, local leaders and community stakeholders.

To apply for the position, we’ll need your CV and a personal statement outlining how you are suitable for the role using evidence to highlight how you meet the essential criteria in the knowledge, skills and experience as listed in the job description.

Interviews are scheduled for Friday, 6 December 2024

If you would like to ask any questions or request any further information, please contact Katharine Rogers (Director of Faculty Operations) katharine.rogers@newcastle.ac.uk or Angela Birt (Clinical Research Directorate General Manager) angela.birt@nhs.net

Key Accountabilities

1. To be a champion for the value and importance of the involvement of patients, carers, people and communities and amplify their voices at every level of NHIP and the CRD to shape operational activities and strategic priorities
2. Provide leadership and strategic coordination of public partnership activity for NHIP and the CRD, working closely with all partner organisations and relevant NIHR infrastructure to ensure activity adds value to the existing PPIE offering
3. Create and deliver a public partnership strategy for NHIP and the CRD, with associated project plans to ensure short, medium and long-term objectives are achieved
4. Support and develop colleagues who are involved in public partnership to delivering high quality and impactful public partnership activities. In some cases this will involve line management
5. Horizon scan and stay up to date with the latest thinking and developments on public partnership in health and social care research, and apply this to public partnership activities. You will provide advice to the NHIP Strategy Board and the senior leadership team in the CRD
6. Build strong relationships across NHIP partner organisations and key CRD stakeholders, including NHS and patient groups/organisations, to support public partnership activities
7. Develop, deliver and manage streamlined processes and effective communications to facilitate a coordinated and joined-up approach to public partnership in relation to NHIP and CRD activities
8. Develop publicity materials and reports, website content and other written materials to ensure optimal external visibility of the public partnership activity across NHIP and the CRD
9. Access and introduce frameworks for assessment and reporting of the impact of patient and public partnership activities to include monitoring of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and planning for broader engagement
10. To collate, analyse and report feedback data to ensure a strong feedback loop that informs improvement initiatives and sharing of best practice
11. Manage the NHIP public partnership budget and provide effective financial management in support of public partnership activity. This will involve developing budget plans, costing and forecasting
12. Attend meetings and other events appropriate to the role and give progress reports as required, with a particular focus on demonstrating and recording impact
13. Be aware of and comply with current data protection legislation; and ensure that all activity, data collection and management comply with these demands
14. Any other relevant activities required by the NHIP COO and Directorate Manager for Clinical Research at NuTH

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

1. A sound understanding and experience of public involvement in health and social care research
2. Proven high level decision making and problem solving skills, and a demonstrable ability to undertake initiatives, prioritise and plan appropriately within a strategic framework
3. Substantial relevant experience in patient and public engagement, demonstrating development through involvement in a series of progressively demanding work/roles
4. Experience of working across complex organisational structures and evidence of managing effective collaborations and partnerships
5. Able to develop a long-term strategy and manage people and projects to deliver this across organisations, identifying when changes are needed to keep things on track and make these. Experience of demonstrating benefits and impact from work
6. Experience of leading and developing others
7. Experience of developing and implementing policies and procedures
8. Strong communication, team and interpersonal skills including motivating, negotiating and influencing. Effective report writing skills and the ability to research and present information clearly
9. IT skills, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and use of online applications
10. The ability to maintain confidentiality and to handle difficult or sensitive situations
11. Contributing to plans to tackle equality and health inequality challenges
12. Able to work flexibly with regard to hours of work including occasional evenings for engagement activities
13. Theoretical and practical knowledge and understanding of engagement, involvement and co-production approaches and methodologies, including Quality Improvement
14. Understanding the implications of working in a complex and political environment

Attributes and Behaviour

1. Thinking strategically - has the ability to see the “big picture”, to think strategically and to manage complex problems and issues
2. Influencing - persuades, convinces, and influences others to achieve results and gain support
3. Communicating - uses clear, concise and accurate communication, tailoring the approach accordingly and encouraging a two-way communication process
4. Finding solutions – generates a range of viable options and decides on an appropriate course of action that best fits organisation and area goals
5. Team working - works collaboratively with others; plays a positive role in teams and establishes and grows relationships across the organisation where different skills, expertise and options are valued

Qualifications

1. Educated to degree level
2. Post-graduate management qualification or equivalent work-based experience
3. Evidence of commitment to ongoing professional development

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.