Position Details

Cancer Clinical Trials Unit, School of Medical Sciences, College of Medicine and Health

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,062 to £31,900, with potential progression once in post to £35,883

Grade: 5

Closing date: 19th October 2026

There are 2 positions available: Full time, Fixed term contract until June 2027 & Part time, Fixed term contract (0.5 FTE) until October 2027

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 [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/jobs/staff-benefits]

Role Summary

Trial Administrators are responsible for the administration and collection of clinical research data for one or more cancer trial protocols. They provide secretariat services to multi-disciplinary collaborative research group(s) engaged in clinical trials designed to improve the treatment and care of patients with cancer. Post holders work closely with the Trial Coordinator, ensuring the smooth process of trial administration, whilst providing support to colleagues, both inside and outside the unit, and give day to day operational guidance to Data Managers.

Main Duties

• Ensure smooth day-to-day running of the study protocol and data collection. This will involve the postholder ensuring he/she has a good understanding of how the general concepts underlying the design, conduct and analysis of clinical trials apply to routine trial management procedures and also how the clinical background and specific research questions being addressed applies to trial administration and data management.
• Responsible for ensuring that trial data set(s) are complete, accurate and up to date. This will be achieved by running queries to interrogate trial databases and performing regular, systematic checks of information on the database(s) and taking steps to correct any missing, contradictory or incorrect data. In addition the postholder will produce reports and lists on both a regular and ad-hoc basis.
• Maintain research & administrative databases to produce clean data sets for statistical analysis. This will involve the management of medical data and operation of complex database and information systems in order to code and abstract medical data and routine data entry.
• Record and code incoming forms etc, checking for inconsistencies, violations and unusual or adverse events. Maintain and circulate coding lists under the guidance of the Statistician, Trial Coordinator and Programmer.
• Offer initial guidance on interpretation and the development of new codes for non-routine and ad-hoc data.
• Test data entry, validation and report generation applications (i.e. confirming proper functioning of the trial database systems), reporting errors and suggesting modifications as appropriate. This will also involve creating and testing ad-hoc data bases, forms and report generation.
• Trial management includes general clerical duties by organising collaborative group meetings, handling petty cash, day to day distribution of trial materials, and drug supplies required by external centres.
• Preparation and distribution of study documentation and publicity material for the Trial Working Group.
• Conduct literature searches, using initiative to find missing or inaccurate references and to screen suitable papers. Maintain bibliographic databases by entering data, run duplicate checks and produce reference lists.
• Develop and document the standard operating procedures applicable to the work of the post, under the guidance of the Trial Coordinator. Train others in their use.
• Will be expected to consult with the Trial Coordinator when dealing with complex queries, for example offering guidance regarding Serious Adverse Event reporting.
• Continue to develop and expand trial management skills and experience.
• Will cover for the Trial coordinator/ project leader and help supervise junior team members.
• Any other duties as may be required commensurate with the post.
• Supporting the delivery of clinical research in accordance with the principles of Good Clinical Practice (GCP), the Declaration of Helsinki, applicable legislation (including, but not limited to, the Medicines for Human Use Clinical Trials Regulations, General Data Protection Regulations, Human Tissue Act), the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care, Caldicott principles, and applicable NHS Trust and University policies and procedures, (including, but not limited to the University’s Data Protection Policy, Information Security Policy and Code of Practice for Research) in order to protect the research participants and the quality of each study.
• Other relevant criteria from our equality and diversity knowledge, skills and experience document. [https://bham.sharepoint.com/:w:/r/sites/HRDC/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc=%7B7c460d71-5114-45aa-b9dd-1692b59aeea4%7D&action=default&mobileredirect=true&wdLOR=c478768B6-2561-4757-91EB-50506DA9B2E6]