• Job Description

  Req#: 4100

  Position Details

  College of Medical and Dental Sciences

  Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

  Full time starting salary is normally in the range £45,585 to £54,395 with potential progression once in post to £61,198

  Grade: 8

  Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to March 2027

  Closing date: 12th February 2024

  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

  Background

  The Research Programmes & Infrastructure team, part of the College of Medical & Dental Sciences Research Office, is a vibrant hub for Professional Service staff (~60 individuals) supporting high-value, strategically important projects and programmes. We work closely with both Professional Services colleagues and Academics across the University and partner organisations, to maximise the impact of funded research, and make significant contributions to the development of renewals for large infrastructure awards. The portfolio of research supported is wide ranging (https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/medical-dental/index.aspx), and includes the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) (https://www.birminghambrc.nihr.ac.uk/). This is a five-year programme commencing in December 2022 with a vision to connect patients, communities, clinicians, nurses, scientists and trialists in order to translate the latest scientific discoveries into new and improved personalised treatments that will benefit our patients and invigorate our local economy through partnerships with industry. The programme is hosted by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) and funded through a £30.7 million investment from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

  Biomedical Research Centres are part of the Government’s initiative to improve the translation of basic scientific developments into clinical benefits for patients and to reinforce the position of the UK as a global leader in healthcare related research. Working as part of the BRC core team alongside UHB research and development colleagues, and other partners within this collaborative venture, the post holder will be critical to supporting the key mission of fostering the development and evaluation of transformative technologies and innovations locally that have the potential to transform healthcare.

  There are two main elements to supporting this mission;

  1. A major focus on supporting commercialisation / innovation / translation and management of this process within early phase research, including supporting and facilitating training needs in this space to embed translation into the research culture.
  2. Supporting and developing key industry partnerships aligned to the BRC research themes and priorities.

  We are looking for a confident self-starter with excellent interpersonal skills and experience in intellectual property, commercialisation and translational research project management. The individual will need to work with relevant stakeholders across the Birmingham campus and with partner institutions to explore the best approach to deliver high quality and consistent translational project support for our researchers. They will build significant links to internal and external collaborators and provide an efficient and effective central point of contact. This will involve initiating and maintaining communications with stakeholders, contribution to portfolio, reporting, and budgetary spreadsheets, organisation and coordination of project meetings and dissemination events, plus planning for future activities in support of translational research.

  The post-holder will be based within the Translational Research Team in the College of Medical & Dental Sciences’ Research Delivery Team and will work alongside the University’s Research Strategy & Services Division (RSSD) and University of Birmingham Enterprise teams. They will work closely as part of Birmingham Health Partners, which is a strategic alliance between the University of Birmingham, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network, and with MidTECH Innovations (About - MidTech). This post will be based in the Institute for Translational Medicine (https://www.itmbirmingham.co.uk/), and benefit from established relationships with programme partners and key stakeholders including NHS Trusts, collaborating research institutions both locally, nationally and globally, patient and public contributors, charities and funders.

  Role Summary

  To provide an intellectual property management and commercialisation leadership role across a broad portfolio of research projects under the NIHR Birmingham BRC programme, making a significant contribution to developing the capacity and skills to more effectively manage complex, innovative initiatives.

  Main Duties

  • Responsible for developing and embedding robust intellectual property (IP) and commercialisation management systems and processes to manage a large portfolio of projects in a coordinated way, including those that may have contributors from multiple partner organisations. This will include some or all of the following:
    • leading on developing consistent processes for IP identification and management of projects within the NIHR Birmingham BRC portfolio, particularly around an effective and mutually-supportive interface with colleagues in the Research Strategy & Services Division (RSSD), University of Birmingham Enterprise and MidTECH teams.
    • manage the IP, commercialisation and translational aspects of an agreed portfolio of projects and strategic programmes from inception to the point of handover, leading expectations of appropriate parties on any variance in a timely manner.
    • identifying objectives and indicators of success related to IP and commercialisation.
    • ensure policy development, compliance and adoption of “best practice” working with stakeholders across the partnership including Heads of Research, Heads of Research Operations, Heads of Research Contracting, Innovation Leads, Heads of Division and equivalent roles.
  • Work with the local contracts and IP teams in deal negotiation, protecting the commercial interest of the NIHR Birmingham BRC ensuring that intellectual property rights are managed in accordance with the Framework IP Agreement between the BRC partners and raising awareness of the importance of intellectual property and the value of know-how across the partnership, to ensure good long-term relationships.
    • In collaboration with the contracts and IP teams and as agreed undertake due diligence on intellectual property ownership
  • Be the first point of contact for NIHR Birmingham BRC partners on matters pertaining to IP.
  • Drive and manage the governance and reporting requirements for IP and commercialisation within the NIHR Birmingham BRC in collaboration with the IP academic lead, Head of Programme and Director.
    • Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information in relation to research partnerships between industry the NHS and University. Present this information to large groups of industry, government, NHS and University stakeholders.
    • Manage compliance with performance targets and strategic objectives in relation to industry partnerships and IP/commercialisation and bids for research funding that relate to industry facing initiatives.
  • Support the Director, Head of BRC Programme and other relevant roles, in developing appropriate strategy for commercial and stakeholder interactions.
    • Develop strong professional relationships and networks with external stakeholders and engage internally with clinicians and researchers across the NIHR Birmingham BRC Partnership.
    • Working closely with researchers and partner organisations create value propositions and collaboration opportunities tailored to specific industries by convening innovation days and identifying areas of mutual interest.
  • Work with the Communications Officer and relevant teams to develop internal and external marketing strategies and generate promotional material for the BRC research themes.
    • As required, lead BRC business development marketing activities at partnership conferences and exhibitions
  • Develop, deliver and support a training programme for to ensure the NIHR Birmingham BRC staff and research workforce have the necessary knowledge and skills to avoid disclosure, identify, protect, translate and commercialise research outputs.
  • As required, manage diverse groups of staff (direct and matrix management), ensuring relevant targets and goals are achieved within resource constraints. This includes:
    • Creating a motivating environment where staff are challenged, developed, encouraged and supported to achieve outstanding results.
    • Responsibility for ensuring all annual review processes, including Performance and Development Reviews.
    • Identifying appropriate opportunities for development and change and encourage other team members to do the same.
    • Guiding staff through periods of change, communicating a clear and positive vision.
  • Actively manages equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour.
  • Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
  • Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

  Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

  • Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications) plus significant relevant (intellectual property, commercialisation, translational research) practical experience – where no equivalent qualification is held substantial practical relevant experience and expertise in a series of progressively more demanding roles will be required.
  • Substantial experience of engaging, and collaborating, with internal and external stakeholders.
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence and negotiate effectively with a range of stakeholders.
  • Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly for a variety of audiences, and to produce and analyse source material, information and data.
  • Proven analytical and problem-solving skills that will help to identify and implement improvements and efficiencies.
  • Authoritative knowledge of the work practices, processes and procedures relevant to the role, including broader sector/commercial awareness.
  • High level of self-motivation and personal accountability with ability to plan and deliver goals to deadlines under pressure.
  • Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.
  • Ability to monitor and evaluate the extent to which equality and diversity legislation, policies, procedures are applied.
  • Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact on protected groups and take appropriate action.

  Further particulars can be found here
  
  Informal enquiries to Claire Fenlon, email: c.m.fenlon@bham.ac.uk
  
  View our staff values and behaviours here

  We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is one of our values. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .

• About the company

  The University of Birmingham is a public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom.

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