Senior/Associate Dean and/or Director (Research Administration, Office of

This position requires balancing and influencing multiple competing priorities and individuals. The candidate will be responsible for the central coordination of all administrative functions and activities of the Office of Research, ensuring operational excellence, efficiency, effectiveness, and optimising resources. The candidate will work closely with the Head of Office (Research) and collaborate with the school’s senior management team including the Dean’s Office, Office of Research administration, Signature Research Programmes and Centres, and other School Offices (i.e. Education, Academic Medicine, Corporate Services and Innovation and Entrepreneurship). The candidate is expected to provide timely advice and guidance to the Head of Office (Research) to ensure success, and to manage ongoing projects supporting the Office of Research agenda, to ensure that activities meet planned objectives, established milestones and measurement criteria.

The key responsibilities will include but are not limited to the following:

1. Manage executive functions by advising the Head of Office (Research) regarding key constituencies, providing context and background information on issues, and coordinating research, projects, meetings and initiatives.
2. Work with the Head of Office (Research) to establish strategic priorities for a 12-month period and arrange reporting of priority projects on a regular basis, to develop a culture of operational excellence.
3. Work with Office of Research administration to strategically plan the Head of Office (Research)’s attendance to internal and external events, and ensure preparation of relevant documents and briefing materials, including speeches.
4. Establish excellent working relationships with key stakeholders, including but not limited to Duke-NUS Management, Governing Board, Funders, Visitors, and key partners at SingHealth, NUS, and Duke University.
5. Have appreciation of macro-economic developments that impact the biomedical research landscape locally and internationally, with the ability to construct & analyse econometric data, trend and macro-economic indicators relevant for the School, and provide related timely advice to the Head of Office (Research).
6. Manage the annual operating budget for the Office of Research and other administrative duties as delegated by the Head of Office (Research).
7. Facilitate issues to the surface and ensure that they are considered with appropriate actions taken and results communicated throughout the organisation thoughtfully and in a timely manner.
8. Have extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals with a wide degree of creativity and latitude.
9. Facilitate internal and external communications by crafting key messages and presentations.
10. Develop understanding of the formal structure of the organisation and interface appropriately.
11. Work closely with the Head of Office (Research) executive support staff to develop processes and timelines for managing workflows and content/information to and from the Office.
12. Work closely with Head of Office (Research) executive support staff to develop a process for effectively managing time, bandwidth, and effort.
13. Work on ad-hoc projects and assignments with the most efficient execution.