Government Office for Science
Academic Engagement Adviser
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Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, London, Salford
Job Summary
Are you a highly motivated knowledge mobiliser, policy engagement officer, impact officer or similar looking for a secondment opportunity? Are you passionate about helping research and academic expertise have greater impact on public policy? Do you have experience designing engagement activities, developing practical tools and resources, and building sustainable approaches to knowledge exchange and collaboration?
If so, we would love to hear from you.
The Academic Engagement Team works across government to improve how civil servants engage with academic expertise, supporting better evidence-informed decision making. Our vision is to embed academic engagement as a core government skill and increase awareness of its value across departments. As demand for academic engagement continues to grow, the team is moving towards a more flexible delivery model that focuses on creating scalable tools, resources and services to support departments across government.
We are recruiting a knowledge mobiliser secondee to help deliver this vision. You will work across multiple areas of the team’s portfolio, supporting engagement activities, developing practical resources and tools, and helping create sustainable systems that enable departments to access academic expertise more effectively.
GO-Science Works At The Heart Of Government, Ensuring Policies And Decisions Are Informed By The Best Scientific Evidence And Strategic Long-term Thinking. Our Mission Is:
- Science advice mechanisms that are efficient, effective, speak truth to power and are embedded irreversibly in Government systems.
- Visible impact through both pro-active and demand-led science advice that is relevant, excellent, and delivered fit for purpose.
This is a great opportunity to be seconded into a dynamic and high-performing team in the Government Office for Science (GO-Science), delivering innovative tools, resources and engagement activity that improve government access to academic expertise and evidence. The team is aiming to embed Academic Engagement as a core skill for all civil servants. The team are responsible for improving the way government works with research organisations, supporting collaboration between academia and policymakers, and developing practical solutions that make academic engagement easier and more effective.
Current Work In The Team Includes:
- Launching and promoting the Academic Engagement Toolkit that helps civil servants engage confidently and effectively with academics.
- Maintaining and improving a range of academic engagement tools and services.
- Promoting opportunities for academic engagement and sharing good practice across government and the academic community.
- Piloting and improving targeted engagement activity to work with departments on capacity for academic engagement.
- Delivering support and guidance on Areas of Research Interest (ARIs).
Job Description
Key responsibilities
You will play a key role across several areas of the team’s work, including:
- Developing scalable tools and resources- Working with colleagues and stakeholders to identify common challenges and emerging needs across government and designing practical tools, resources and systems that can be adopted and used by departments. This could include improving existing products, developing new guidance materials, supporting AI-enabled services and identifying opportunities to streamline how advice and support is provided across government.
- Delivering engagement and capability-building activities- Supporting the design and delivery of workshops, events, training sessions and other engagement activities that help departments understand and apply good practice in academic engagement.
- Connecting people and sharing learning- Connecting people is fundamental to this role. You will need to build and maintain relationships across government and the academic sector, helping people access expertise, share learning and identify opportunities for collaboration.
- Provide advice on best practice– Use your expertise and networks in the academic policy engagement ecosystem to advise on challenging and emerging issues, share experiences, and support the development of practical solutions that benefit multiple users and organisations.
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You Will:
- Build and develop relationships with colleagues across government, universities, academies, funders and other organisations involved in academic policy engagement.
- Identify common needs and opportunities across departments and help develop scalable solutions that improve access to academic expertise.
- Design and deliver engagement activities, tools and resources that support good practice in academic engagement.
- Work collaboratively with colleagues and stakeholders to develop, test and improve practical tools and services.
- Contribute to the team’s long-term vision of embedding academic engagement as a core skill across government.
Person specification
We would love to hear from you if you have:
- Experience working as a knowledge mobiliser, knowledge exchange professional, policy engagement officer, impact officer, research engagement professional or similar in a university, research organisation or policy environment.
- Strong understanding of academic policy engagement and approaches that help connect research and policymaking.
- Experience designing and delivering engagement activities, workshops, training sessions or events.
- Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to build productive relationships across organisational boundaries.
- Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly to different audiences.
Desirable
- Experience using digital or AI-enabled tools to improve ways of working.
- Experience evaluating and improving engagement activities, services or programmes.
We Offer a Competitive Mix Of Benefits Including:
- A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
- A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need (from September 2021, depending on how the public health guidance evolves).
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
How To Apply
To apply for the role, please submit a cover letter and a CV addressed to the Academic Engagement team on academicengagement@go-science.gov.uk by 23:59 on Monday 7th September. The cover letter should explain (in no more than 1,000 words) how you meet the person specifications and have the skills and experience for the secondment. Please confirm in the letter that you’ve had provisional approval from your home institution to take up the secondment if your application is successful. The secondment should begin in October or November latest. As a secondment, we are able to cover an annual salary of up to £44,000/annum for 3 months FT or up to 6 months PT (pro rata). The secondment must finish by 31 March 2027.
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Please note: This secondment opportunity is only open to individuals who are directly employed by an organisation (e.g. a company, university, charity, or public body) and receive their salary through that employer, and it is not open to existing Civil Servants.
DSIT will reimburse salary costs to the employer, but secondees will remain on their home organisation’s payroll throughout the secondment.
We are unable to accept applications from self-employed individuals, sole traders, or independent consultants. If there are a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on cover letter only. Interviewees will be asked to deliver a short presentation and answer questions regarding suitability for the role; further details will be provided nearer the time. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
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