37 Research & Innovation jobs in the United Kingdom

Hill Dickinson LLP is a leading and award-winning international commercial law firm with offices in Birmingham, Hong Kong, Leeds, Limassol, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Monaco, Newcastle, Piraeus and Singapore. With more than 1000 people including 200 partners and legal directors, the firm delivers advice and strategic guidance spanning the full legal spectrum, from non-contentious advisory and transactional work, to all forms of commercial litigation.

Hill Dickinson acts as a trusted adviser to a wide portfolio of clients across a wide range of specialist sectors: from transport and logistics and international trade, through to retail, insurance, marine, health, education, manufacturing, public sector and banking and financial services.

Job role:
Knowledge and Research Innovation Manager

Hours
:
Monday to Friday, 09:00 - 17:00 (35 hours per week)

Happy to talk flexible working
Hill Dickinson are proud to be named as a Top Ten Employer for Working Families 2024 and so, we are happy to consider flexible working opportunities to help you balance your work and home life.

Team:
Legal Tech and Innovation

Location:
Liverpool or Manchester - flexible working may be considered, but regular attendance at Liverpool office is required.

Benefits:
At Hill Dickinson we understand that incentives go far beyond a good salary, so we have created a comprehensive benefits package tailored around our people.

Here Are Some Examples Of What We Offer

• Annual leave starting at 25 days
• Birthday privilege day and Christmas shutdown
• Holiday buy, sell and carryover scheme
• 2 charity volunteering or pro bono days
• Optional private medical insurance via BUPA
• Annual fitness allowance
• Flexible pension scheme
• ISA saving scheme and independent financial advice
• Electric or hybrid vehicle lease scheme
• Medicash
• EAP with access to counselling
• Enhanced family leave policies
• Access to 10 days fully subsidised emergency or back-up care per year
• Life assurance
• Group income protection
• Annual travel season ticket loan
• Hybrid working and dress for your day policy
• Bespoke training and development opportunities
• Financial contribution towards home working equipment

Role Overview
Introduction to the role:
The Knowledge and Research Innovation Manager sits within the wider Legal Tech and Innovation team which works across the Hill Dickinson Group globally.

Key Responsibilities
Library and research

• Team leadership: Lead the Library and Research Team which is responsible for the effective provisioning of information resources (electronic and print) and delivers comprehensive legal and commercial research via its virtual "InfoDesk" enquiry service.
• Strategy and operations: Develop and implement our library and research (L&R) strategy, driving continuous improvement and proactively managing L&R operations to ensure alignment with evolving business needs.
• Client-focused research: Champion a proactive, client-service approach to legal and business / commercial research, anticipating and responding to client needs, working collaboratively with colleagues at all levels to understand request and research objectives, managing research workflow to deliver relevant, accurate and timely results in effective formats.
• Business development support: Support tenders, pitches and other business development activity.
• Current awareness: Produce a range of outputs on sectors, legal and commercial topics and clients.

• Service operational management and administration: including:

• acquisition, provisioning and promotion of information resources to maximise return on investment

• procurement and vendor relationship management, including contract negotiation, payment of invoices and service / subscription renewals
• budget supervision
• cataloguing.

Knowledge management

• Strategy and governance: Develop and implement knowledge management strategies aligning with and anticipating business goals.

• Knowledge infrastructure: Develop a robust knowledge infrastructure and establish governance to manage and maximise ongoing value of:

• Precedents and model documents

• Templates
• Research

• Know-how and know-who

• Collaboration: Work with the wider Legal Tech & Innovation function to promote a culture of knowledge sharing, identifying key knowledge assets, and managing and implementing supporting technologies.

• Document management best practice: including:

• Management of precedents and other knowledge assets

• Housestyle
• Word templates
• Document automation
• Best filing and file management practices

Generally

• Training and development: Organise and deliver training on knowledge and information literacy, best research practices, information resources, and services offered by the team.
• Content management: Manage relevant intranet content and content libraries in SharePoint and iManage.
• Innovation and projects: Participate in projects and initiatives, including innovation and product trials.

What Are We Looking For
Important criteria:

• Graduate / postgraduate qualification in library / information science or related subject area
• Previous service provision line-management experience in a legal or professional services environment
• Strong background in legal research; proficient in use of online resources

It would be beneficial for you to have some of the following:
Technical
Proficient In

• Office365

• Familiarity with Word styles

• Document automation and template management technologies

• iManage
• SharePoint
• HighQ
• Litera Desktop including Create, DocXtools and NTD
• Legal databases including Westlaw / Practical Law, Lexis+, iLaw etc
• Commercial databases such as Orbis, RedFlagAlert or similar
• Content aggregators, particularly Vable
• Library management systems - KnowAll Matrix preferred.

Personal

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team - highly collaborative
• Exceptional, engaging communication (verbal and written) and interpersonal skills, including relationship building, and stakeholder engagement
• Ability to influence and negotiate effectively with internal stakeholders and external providers
• Change management
• Manage conflicting priorities and work to multiple deadlines, individually and for the team, occasionally under pressure
• An interest in legal information trends, including AI
• Professional networking, such as membership of BIALL or other professional bodies

If you don't meet all of the criteria above but feel that you could add real value to Hill Dickinson, we encourage you to apply and if successful, we can help you develop along the way.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Hill Dickinson is committed to providing fairness and equal opportunity for all regardless of age, gender, gender identity, ethnic origin, disability, sexual orientation, marital or transgender status, nationality, religion or belief.

We understand that our power as a firm comes from empowering our people and that it is only by encouraging and enabling individuals to be themselves at work that we can truly benefit from their rich and varied strengths.

Hill Dickinson is an equal opportunities employer. All applications received by the firm will be considered based on their merit alone and we welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals regardless of background and from all routes to qualification, with both the SRA and CILEx.

Disability Support
We are a Disability Confident employer, which means if there is anything that we can do to make your visit easier, so you are able to perform at your best, please let us know. You can contact the HR team at should you require any adjustments to the application or interview process.

Values
Trust - Respect - Innovation - Collaboration

At Hill Dickinson, we welcome applications from individuals that are looking to return to the law as well as all routes to qualification, with both the SRA and CILEx.
All successful candidates will be subject to our standard pre-employment screening, including a basic criminal record check via Disclosure and Barring Service. Any offer of employment made is conditional upon completion of all checks.
Due to the high response levels we receive for some vacancies, we may expire any of them prior to the advertised closing date and advise you to submit your application as soon as possible.

The Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (RIKE) Directorate is seeking an experienced, organised and flexible administrator to work with the Business Development and Commercialisation Teams either as a 50/50 split role or two 0.5FTE roles.

The Business Development team is responsible for identifying and pursuing new business opportunities, building relationships with industry partners and driving revenue growth for the university. The team also supports academics across the university to engage with external partners through collaborative research, contract research, Continuing Professional Development (CPD), consultancy, facilities and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP).

The Commercialisation Team is responsible for the identification, assessment, development and commercialisation of Intellectual Property and other outputs from University research, typically via licence agreements and the formation of spin-out companies.

The post holder(s) will provide a high standard of administrative support to the team(s) across a variety of administrative tasks and projects. The main aspects of the role are as follows and full training on systems and processes will be provided as required:

• To carry out a range of administrative duties to facilitate the smooth running of the Business Development and Commercialisation Teams.
• To support the development of marketing materials and update the team websites, ensuring the content is current and relevant.
• To input data into Intellectual Property databases, ensuring that accuracy is maintained to a high standard for the Commercialisation team.
• To input data into the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform (Salesforce) and manage administration and data accuracy across the platform for the Business Development team.
• Support the management of financial transactions related to the team's activities.
• To arrange meetings, including the booking of rooms and catering, circulate papers and take minutes/notes, as required.

If you have any questions about the role you can contact

The University strives to be diverse and inclusive – a place where we can ALL be ourselves.

We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background, who are underrepresented at the University.

We offer family friendly, flexible working arrangements, with forums and inclusive facilities to support our staff. #EqualityatYork

Salary

£31,236 - £2,254

Contractual hours

37

Basis

Full time

Package

Fixed term for 27 Months

Date posted

08/09/2025

Job reference

T02219

Teesside University is seeking to appoint an outstanding Research and Innovation Associate (R&IA) to join the Green Corridors North East (GCNE) team delivering a m+ AHRC Mission project. The role will focus on the theme of culture and creativity, for example developing inclusive creative methods to co-produce artworks that promote environmental empathy and enhance well-being and will concentrate on the South Tees Corridor - Tees to Topping. This corridor is in its conceptual planning phase, and you will join as we begin to navigate its realisation. However, the role will also enable work across the region's other two green corridors: the Durham City Green Corridor, that will appoint another R&IA focusing on 'Heritage and History', and the Tyne and Derwent Way in Gateshead whose dedicated R&IA post will focus on the theme of 'Nature and Natural Heritage'. Collectively, all three R&IAs will be expected to work together collaboratively, across all three areas, to facilitate development of the region's green corridors in conjunction with key stakeholders and community-based groups.

The role will involve working with researchers at Teesside University, staff at the National Trust, Local Councils, regional nature partnerships, and community-based groups to shape and implement collaborative approaches and ways of working together to generate research questions, co-producing research and supporting collective action. The successful applicant will work in partnership with the GCNE team to co-produce research that embed creative approaches to environmental well-being, and that could enable stakeholders to address key policy objectives (e.g. nature recovery, climate regulation, flood prevention, public health and wellbeing).

The post holder will be supported to develop their own contributions to the project, to develop new activities and co-create new research and/or impact activities funded by the GCNE Flexible Research Delivery Fund that is part of the AHRC funding. Their work will contribute to new funding bids that will help the future development of the region's green corridors for the benefit of nature, communities, and visitors.

The postholder will have a PhD relevant to supporting GCNE's work on the theme of 'culture and creativity'; their doctorate might, for example, be in humanities, environmental creative practice, curatorial and learning approaches to co-production, arts and engagement, nature and well-being, placemaking and lived experience or another cognate field.

The postholder should have recent and in-depth experience of working collaboratively with academic and non-academic partners to develop and deliver applied research and/or impact. They should also have experience of using participatory methods when working with stakeholders (e.g. local authorities, third-sector actors, heritage organisations, and/or community-based organisations). Experience helping to organise and host public engagement events (e.g. workshops or walk and talks) is highly desirable. Being willing and able to travel within Teesside, specifically around Middlesbrough, and infrequently across the North East is essential.

The postholder will be based at Teesside University School of Arts and Creative Industries and Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), Teesside University's GCNE Co-Leads together will co-supervise the postholder who will spend portions of their time co-located with the Tees to Topping Corridor team at one of their spaces in the South Tees (specifically National Trust's Ormesby Hall). The role is a full-time appointment for 27 months. We are committed to building a fair and inclusive workplace and would welcome requests for flexible working and — depending on the needs of the role — blended working opportunities will also be considered.

Every member of our University is part of the inspiring, supportive, and caring community known as Team Teesside.

What we offer you:

• A holiday entitlement of 185 hours (25 days), increasing to 28 and 30 days after 3 and 5 years' service respectively, plus bank holidays
• Additional leave over the Christmas and New Year period during the Christmas closure
• Special leave to support a range of circumstances
• Hybrid working arrangements
• A variety of provision to support staff with personal development and recognition
• A range of family friendly benefits
• An employee benefits platform which provides discounts with 350+ retailers and access to health and wellbeing resources

The position we are filling is exempt from the provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and a satisfactory DBS disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service is required as part of our clearance procedures.

Please be advised that due to the minimum salary thresholds imposed by the UKVI, this post may qualify for University sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route.

If you are shortlisted, your interview will take place online via Microsoft Teams,

The interview will take place on Monday 13 October 2025.

Please note that the University may ask you to participate in a number of selection activities as part of the recruitment process for this vacancy.

Please note that we are advertising this vacancy on other websites but we are not using those third parties to collate applications for us. If you are viewing this advert on a third party website please ensure you apply directly to Teesside University.

Salary

The starting salary will be from £34,610 up to £35,608 on Grade E, depending on qualifications and experience.

Contractual hours

36.5

Package

Generous holiday allowances, flexible working, pension scheme.

Job category/type

Research

Date posted

08/09/2025

Job reference

Q08064

Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

The above full-time post is available 1st October 2025 – 30th September 2026 in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

The post

The Faculty wishes to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Associate to support the work of Lorien Jasny. This Novo Nordisk Foundation funded post is available from 1 October 2025 until 30 September 2026. The successful applicant will help analyse longitudinal survey and social network data from the 'Spearheading a Green Food Transition through Community Engagement and Societal Learning' in collaboration with Democracy X )

Democracy X is hosting a series of events promoting sustainable food in an area of Copenhagen. The survey data will capture responses before, immediately after, and up to 6 months after participants engage in these events as well as some respondents who do not participate at all. The Exeter team will then be responsible for the statistical analysis that evaluates the impact of these different types of events. This researcher in this post will carry out the analysis with supervision from Dr Lorien Jasny and collaborate on research reports and academic papers.

About you

The successful applicant will be able to present information on research progress and outcomes, communicate complex information, orally, in writing and electronically and prepare proposals and applications to external bodies.

Applicants will possess a relevant PhD or possess an equivalent qualification/experience in a related field of study and be able to demonstrate sufficient knowledge in the discipline and of research methods and techniques to work within established research programmes. Applicants will be able to use standard and advanced statistical techniques including difference in difference models and multilevel models as well as social network analysis

Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification for full details of this role.

What we can offer you

• Freedom (and the support) to pursue your intellectual interests and to work creatively across disciplines to produce internationally exciting research;
• Support teams that understand the University wide research and teaching goals and partner with our academics accordingly
• An Innovation, Impact and Business directorate that works closely with our academics providing specialist support for external engagement and development

• Our Exeter Academic initiative supporting high performing academics to achieve their potential and develop their career

• A multitude of staff benefits including sector leading benefits around maternity, adoption and shared parental leave (up to 26 weeks full pay), Paternity leave (up to 6 weeks full pay), and a Fertility Treatment Policy

• A beautiful campus set in the heart of stunning Devon

The University of Exeter

We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 200 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 and QS World University Ranking We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, achieving a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2023, underpinned by Gold ratings for Student Experience and Student Outcomes.

Our world-leading research impact has grown more than any other Russell Group university in recent years, and we are home to some of the world's most influential researchers, seeking to answer some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today. More than 99 percent of our research is of international quality and 47 percent is world-leading (2021 Research Excellence Framework).

We encourage proactive engagement with industry, business and community partners to enhance the impact of research and education and improve the employability of our students. Read about our world leading research – Green Futures and how we are transforming education for a changing world. We are located in a beautiful part of the country and Exeter (a fast growing tech hub) is one of only a few UK cities to have been designated as a UNESCO Creative City

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

We are committed to ensuring reasonable adjustments are available for interviews and workplaces.

Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented within our working community.

With over 30,000 students and 7,000 staff from 150 different countries we offer a diverse and engaging environment where our diversity is celebrated and valued as a major strength. We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where all members of our community are supported to thrive; where diverse voices are heard through our engagement with evidence-based charter frameworks for gender (Athena SWAN and Project Juno for Physics), race equality (Race Equality Charter Mark), LGBTQ+ inclusion (Stonewall Diversity Champion) and as a Disability Confident employer.

We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and welcome applications from service people.

Further information

For further information please contact Lorien Jasny via e-mail:

The closing date for completed applications is22 September 2025. Interviews are expected to take place on 1 October 2025.

Director of Research and Innovation - NERC

Salary : £94,931 - £17,800 per annum (this is the full-time equivalent; actual salary will be pro rata for part-time hours) Salary for internal employees will be awarded based on the UKRI Pay & Reward principles.

Appointment Term: Due to the nature of the role, we can accommodate several flexible options based around the successful candidates’ preferences and current professional commitments, including fixed-term, secondment, and permanent contract as well as hybrid working arrangements. The minimum commitment duration is 36 months and minimum hours required is 0.8 FTE (Full FTE 37 hours) per week.

Location: Based in Swindon with frequent travel to London and significant travel opportunities to connect with researchers nationwide

Grade: Band X

Closing Date: Sunday 2nd November 2025

Are you a visionary leader, ready to inspire change in the environmental community?

We are seeking a dynamic, creative environmental science research leader with standing in the profession who thrives on making a difference in the science community and turning complex challenges into opportunities. This isn't just another role — it's your chance to place cutting edge environmental science at the very heart of green growth and government priorities.

You'll bring:

·   Science Leadership across environmental domains with a track record of building bridges between disciplinary fields to unlock transformative research outcomes.

·   Research delivery experience drawn from universities, institutes, or research centres, where you can show credible, impactful results.

·   Entrepreneurial vision that sees challenges as catalysts for innovation

·   A collaborative and engaged mindset as you join our new executive team and exemplify credible, empathetic, and effective leadership working with diverse partners.

Your impact:

·   Strategic influence with environmental science as its foundation

·   National presence as the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) authoritative voice and senior liaison across the UK's research ecosystem

·   Direct engagement across university and national research organisations 

·   Leading role in delivering research that will define the nation's environmental future under NERC’s Forward Look

As Director of Research and Innovation you will play a key leadership role at the heart of the executive team and build an exciting new agenda under the NERC Forward Look, delivering innovative solutions for the economy and for society over the next decade. The role has direct responsibility for NERC budget lines delivering curiosity-driven research, talent and skills funding, and strategic research programmes, ensuring that outcomes align with our Forward Look, UKRI’s priorities, and that NERC keeps pace with evolving science needs and changing technological and computational capabilities. It will be important to seek out opportunities to create funding partnerships with others, including other research councils, government departments, and international funding agencies where appropriate, particularly across domains with key intersections with environment, such as health, energy, and resilience in urban and engineered environments. You will need to command esteem and pro-actively engage across NERC’s science community, both to keep pace with their insights on new developments and to communicate NERC’s agenda, particularly to senior leaders.

You will join a strongly collaborative executive team, working closely with NERC’s Directors to ensure that research priorities overall are coherent and optimised across all research programmes, including those in the NERC Centres that receive ‘national capability’ funding to deliver long-term, large-scale research and infrastructure platforms for the science community.

Key Responsibilities:

Reporting directly to the NERC Deputy Executive Chair you will have responsibility for:

·   Delivery of over £100M per year of UKRI’s research and talent budget, pro amme evaluation, and direct responsibility for the leadership management and development of c50 staff.

·   Leading the development of research and innovation priorities for the whole of NERC

·   Leading on the inception, direction and timely delivery of well-designed curiosity-driven research, talent and skills funding, and strategic research programmes.

·   Working collaboratively across UKRI to align with UKRI policies and to inform and shape the latest thinking to continually improve the efficiency and effectiveness of science funding.

·   Exploiting your NERC domain expertise to seek out opportunities for collaborations that leverage partnerships including international collaboration.

·   NERC Community Liaison: Being a critical point of contact across the NERC community, winning trust and confidence at senior level to pick up the latest intelligence on scientific developments, to ensure the smooth running of NERC’s funding programmes, and to empower Head Office with scientific insights.

·   Stakeholder relationships: Liaison across relevant UKRI teams (including international, commercialisation, and Innovate UK) and with external partners including business and industry to ensure that NERC delivers the best possible outcomes against our priorities. You will act as a senior ambassador for NERC and ensure that NERC and its community provide a strong, unified voice for science, research, and innovation.

·   Contributing to the corporate management of NERC as a member of an inclusive and collegiate executive team and representing NERC and UKRI at senior level to a wide range of communities and stakeholders, leading through change as responsibilities continue to evolve.

·   Participating in the council’s evaluation and planning activities.

·   Championing equality, diversity and inclusion

Person Specification:

• Qualified at PhD level with a strong personal record of scientific achievement and a deep understanding of environmental science and its applications sufficient to gain the confidence of the scientific community.
• A sustained first-class track record of senior roles relevant to the environmental sciences, with experience leading and managing major scientific initiatives and programmes.
• Senior level experience of stakeholder management including the ability to negotiate with partners to build effective relationships for mutual benefit, reconcile potentially conflicting interests and influence others not in your management line to achieve desired outcomes.
• Experience of portfolio budget management, profiling spend against well-defined delivery criteria and outcomes.
• Demonstrable experience of effective management of staff performance and development.

For more information and to apply for the role please click 'apply' to visit our careers site.

Application Guidance:

How to evidence the criteria:

You are encouraged to use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) in the cover letter to evidence your ability to meet the ‘person specification’ criteria in the job description. For examples of the STAR method, please visit: The STAR method | National Careers Service’.

Please ensure your CV and cover letter are no longer than two A4 pages each, using a minimum font size of 11. Once submitted, your application cannot be edited via your careers website; however, if you encounter any issues or need to update your documents, please contact us at

Other information

If you'd like to have an informal chat about the role before applying, you're welcome to get in touch with us at

Benefits

We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package! We are committed to supporting employees’ development and promote a culture of continuous learning! A list of benefits below;

·   An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme

·   30 days’ annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privilege days (full time equivalent)

·   Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities

·   Employee assistance programme, providing confidential help and advice

·   Flexible working options

Please click here for more details Benefits of Working for UKRI

Research and Innovation Office

Full time, open ended

Are you an organised and proactive administrator with a passion for supporting research and innovation? Join our dynamic Research & Innovation Office (RIO) at Loughborough University and play a key role in enabling world-class research and impactful partnerships.

As one of two new Research and Innovation Development Administrators, you will work closely with our Research and Partnership Development Teams to support a wide range of research, innovation, and knowledge exchange activities. You'll be based in one of our two specialist hubs - STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) or SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts) - and will contribute to the coordination of projects, events, and stakeholder engagement.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide administrative support for research and innovation projects, including document collation, meeting coordination, and event planning.
• Support internal and external communications, including funder visits and showcase events.
• Triage enquiries and coordinate responses with internal and external stakeholders.
• Maintain accurate records and provide secretariat support for panels and strategy groups.

We're looking for someone with:

• Experience in a fast-paced, customer-focused office environment.
• Strong organisational and communication skills.
• The ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• A commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Loughborough University is a top UK institution with a strong commitment to research excellence and innovation. We offer:

• Generous annual leave allowance
• Competitive pension schemes
• A range of childcare support initiatives and benefits including childcare vouchers; on-site university nursery (with salary sacrifice scheme); and holiday play schemes.
• We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies.
• BUPA Cash Plan (100 scheme)
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Season ticker loan scheme
• On campus parking with charging points for electric vehicles
• Fantastic range of sports facilities and preferential membership packages available
• Fantastic CPD, Linkedin learning and inclusive resources for development

Loughborough University is committed to allowing its employees to work dynamically with a combination of working on campus and remotely, where possible. This role offers dynamic working and, if successful, your line manager will discuss these informal arrangements with you.

For more information refer to the Job Description and Person Specification.

Closing date for applications is midnight on Wednesday 8th October 2025.

Interviews will take place on Tuesday 21st October 2025.

Full time, Open-ended and Hybrid

Four positions available

Are you passionate about enabling research to make a real-world impact? Do you thrive in collaborative environments and enjoy building partnerships that drive innovation?

Loughborough University is seeking a proactive and enthusiastic Research and Innovation Development Associates to join our Research and Innovation Office (RIO). This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the University's ambitious strategy to grow research and innovation income and foster impactful collaborations across STEM or SHAPE disciplines.

About the Role

You will play a key role in identifying and developing funding and partnership opportunities, supporting knowledge exchange, and helping translate research into societal and economic impact. Working within one of our specialist hubs, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) or SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts). You'll collaborate with academic colleagues, external partners, and professional services to deliver strategic research and innovation goals.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and profile funding and collaboration opportunities across public, private, and charitable sectors.
• Support the development of strategic partnerships and research proposals.
• Coordinate stakeholder engagement and facilitate cross-functional initiatives.
• Maintain oversight of research and innovation projects, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities.
• Organise and support events, funder visits, and training workshops.

About You

We're looking for someone with:

• Experience in research, innovation, knowledge exchange, or partnership development.
• Strong communication and analytical skills.
• A collaborative mindset and ability to work across disciplines.

This role is ideal for someone looking to develop a career in research and partnership development within a supportive and forward-thinking environment.

For more information, refer to the full Job Description and Person Specification.

If you have any questions about this role, please contact

Loughborough University is committed to allowing its employees to work dynamically with a combination of working on campus and remotely, where possible. This role offers dynamic working and, if successful, your line manager will discuss these informal arrangements with you.

Apply Now

Please submit your application through our online portal. For application tips and guidance, please visit our website.

The closing date for receipt of applications is: midnight on 21st October 2025

Interviews will be held on: wc 3rd of November 2025

Our Benefits

At Loughborough, our benefits are designed to support your life inside and outside of work, helping you to thrive and feel valued as part of our community. Examples of our benefits include:

Time off - generous holiday allowance, including 14 university closure days and bank holidays, with the option to buy extra through our holiday purchase scheme

Where you work – access to a range of fantastic facilities with plenty of green space across our 523-acre East Midlands campus, plus an exciting community at our London campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Financial wellbeing – competitive pay, two excellent pension schemes, and everyday savings opportunities

Support for you and your family – on-site nursery at our East Midlands campus, flexible and hybrid working options, and a range of family-friendly policies

Health and wellbeing – discounted gym memberships and access to world-class sporting facilities, including physiotherapy, plus healthcare offers such as eyesight testing and wellbeing support

Travel and sustainability - access to our electric vehicle and cycle-to-work schemes, as well as a variety of travel offers to support sustainable commuting

Discover more about the full range of rewards and benefits at Loughborough University.

£94,931 - £17,800

4,931 - 17,800 per annum (this is the full-time equivalent; actual salary will be pro rata for part-time hours)

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

GBP

Other

UKRI Band X

Permanent

Fixed term

Secondment

No Limit

UKRI - Strategy, Policy, and Performance - Natural Environment Research Council

Senior leadership

Flexible working, Full-time, Part-time

1

• Location
• About the job
• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Based in Swindon with frequent travel to London and significant travel opportunities to connect with researchers nationwide

Director of Research and Innovation

Salary: 4,931 - 17,800 per annum (this is the full-time equivalent; actual salary will be pro rata for part-time hours)

Appointment Term: Due to the nature of the role, we can accommodate several flexible options based around the successful candidates' preferences and current professional commitments, including fixed-term, secondment, and permanent contract as well as hybrid working arrangements. The minimum commitment duration is 36 months and minimum hours required is 0.8 FTE (Full FTE 37 hours) per week.

Location: Based in Swindon with frequent travel to London and significant travel opportunities to connect with researchers nationwide

Grade: Band X

Closing Date: Sunday 2nd November 2025

Are you a visionary leader, ready to inspire change in the environmental community?

We are seeking a dynamic, creative environmental science research leader with standing in the profession who thrives on making a difference in the science community and turning complex challenges into opportunities. This isn't just another role — it's your chance to place cutting edge environmental science at the very heart of green growth and government priorities.

You'll bring:

• Science Leadership acrossenvironmental domains with a track record of building bridges between disciplinary fields to unlock transformative research outcomes.
• Research delivery experience drawn from universities, institutes, or research centres, where you can show credible, impactful results.
• Entrepreneurial vision that sees challenges as catalysts for innovation
• A collaborative and engaged mindset as you join our new executive team and exemplify credible, empathetic, and effective leadership working with diverse partners.

Your impact:

• Strategic influence with environmental science as its foundation
• National presence as NERC's authoritative voice and senior liaison across the UK's research ecosystem
• Direct engagement across university and national research organisations
• Leading role in delivering research that will define the nation's environmental future under NERC's Forward Look

As Director of Research and Innovation you will play a key leadership role at the heart of the executive team and build an exciting new agenda under the NERC Forward Look, delivering innovative solutions for the economy and for society over the next decade. The role has direct responsibility for NERC budget lines delivering curiosity-driven research, talent and skills funding, and strategic research programmes, ensuring that outcomes align with our Forward Look, UKRI's priorities, and that NERC keeps pace with evolving science needs and changing technological and computational capabilities. It will be important to seek out opportunities to create funding partnerships with others, including other research councils, government departments, and international funding agencies where appropriate, particularly across domains with key intersections with environment, such as health, energy, and resilience in urban and engineered environments. You will need to command esteem and pro-actively engage across NERC's science community, both to keep pace with their insights on new developments and to communicate NERC's agenda, particularly to senior leaders.

You will join a strongly collaborative executive team, working closely with NERC's Directors to ensure that research priorities overall are coherent and optimised across all research programmes, including those in the NERC Centres that receive 'national capability' funding to deliver long-term, large-scale research and infrastructure platforms for the science community.

Key Responsibilities:

Reporting directly to the NERC Deputy Executive Chair you will have responsibility for:

• Delivery of over £1 M per year of UKRI's research and talent budget, programme evaluation, and direct responsibility for the leadership management and development of c50 staff.
• Leading the development of research and innovation priorities for the whole of NERC
• Leading on the inception, direction and timely delivery of well-designed curiosity-driven research, talent and skills funding, and strategic research programmes.
• Working collaboratively across UKRI to align with UKRI policies and to inform and shape the latest thinking to continually improve the efficiency and effectiveness of science funding.
• Exploiting your NERC domain expertise to seek out opportunities for collaborations that leverage partnerships including international collaboration.
• NERC Community Liaison: Being a critical point of contact across the NERC community, winning trust and confidence at senior level to pick up the latest intelligence on scientific developments, to ensure the smooth running of NERC's funding programmes, and to empower Head Office with scientific insights.
• Stakeholder relationships: Liaison across relevant UKRI teams (including international, commercialisation, and Innovate UK) and with external partners including business and industry to ensure that NERC delivers the best possible outcomes against our priorities. You will act as a senior ambassador for NERC and ensure that NERC and its community provide a strong, unified voice for science, research, and innovation.
• Contributing to the corporate management of NERC as a member of an inclusive and collegiate executive team and representing NERC and UKRI at senior level to a wide range of communities and stakeholders, leading through change as responsibilities continue to evolve.
• Participating in the council's evaluation and planning activities.
• Championing equality, diversity and inclusion

For the full role details and responsibilities please e-mail us at to request the candidate pack.

Person Specification:

• Qualified at PhD level with a strong personal record of scientific achievement and a deep understanding of environmental science and its applications sufficient to gain the confidence of the scientific community.
• A sustained first-class track record of senior roles relevant to the environmental sciences, with experience leading and managing major scientific initiatives and programmes.
• Senior level experience of stakeholder management including the ability to negotiate with partners to build effective relationships for mutual benefit, reconcile potentially conflicting interests and influence others not in your management line to achieve desired outcomes.
• Experience of portfolio budget management, profiling spend against well-defined delivery criteria and outcomes.
• Demonstrable experience of effective management of staff performance and development.

Alongside your salary of 4,931, UK Research and Innovation contributes 7,501 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Benefits

We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package We are committed to supporting employees' development and promote a culture of continuous learning A list of benefits below;

• An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme
• 30 days' annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privilege days (full time equivalent)
• Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities
• Employee assistance programme, providing confidential help and advice
• Flexible working options

Please click here for more details Benefits of Working for UKRI

Application Guidance

How to evidence the criteria:

You are encouraged to use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) in the cover letter to evidence your ability to meet the 'person specification' criteria in the job description. For examples of the STAR method, please visit: The STAR method , National Careers Service'.

Please ensure your CV and cover letter are no longer than two A4 pages each, using a minimum font size of 11. Once submitted, your application cannot be edited via your careers website; however, if you encounter any issues or need to update your documents, please contact us at

Other information

If you'd like to have an informal chat about the role before applying, you're welcome to get in touch with us at

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check .

See our vetting charter .

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

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)
• 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

The Civil Service Code 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 .

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 is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

• Name :
• Email :

• Email :

The advert:

The Research and Innovation Team provides administrative support for the Schools' Associate Deans of Research, the Associate Dean for Innovation, REF Coordinators and Graduate Studies Coordinators as well as academic staff who are engaged in research and innovation activities. The post-holder will support all research and innovation projects undertaken by research staff in the Schools.

You will thrive on working in a dynamic and focused support team and be willing to take on a range of tasks. You will be self-motivated, organised and IT literate and be skilled in reviewing processes and making positive suggestions for change. The role presents an exciting opportunity to make a positive impact on our administration support services.

You will be an enthusiastic and friendly professional with excellent communication and interpersonal skills coupled with a commitment to providing an excellent student experience and Support all Research and Innovation (R&I) activities in the Schools.

You'll support colleagues by:

Supporting:

• academic and research staff with their projects and grant applications.
• REF
• doctoral student administration
• ethics applications
• project and other meetings
• provision and maintenance of data and information

What you'll bring

With excellent communication skills and attention to detail along with experience of working in a similar administrative support you will be able to support a variety of tasks and processes. You will be self-motivated, organised and IT literate and be skilled in reviewing processes, managing information and making suggestions for positive change

It's not just about data and processes, it's about people and relationships, your exceptional interpersonal skills will enable you to connect with across the admin and school teams, making meaningful connections to get tasks completed.

Why join Cardiff Metropolitan University?

We are a values-based University. We are proud of our culture, and we are there for our people. Our community spirit is the golden thread that underpins our values and behaviours. We support and embrace inclusion that enables everyone to feel respected and able to perform at their best. By joining our University, you'll find yourself in a unique environment where a wealth of knowledge and resources are readily available, supporting you with your career development.

We offer excellent benefits such as:

• Annual leave of 25 days Annual leave of 25 days, rising to 30 days after 1 years' service, plus 12 bank holiday / concessionary days.
• Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme with generous monthly contributions.
• Excellent family friendly policies – take a look on our Policy Hub page.
• Opportunities to learn and develop your skills with access to library and digital services facilities.
• Excellent sports and fitness facilities with subsidised membership.
• Free family access to our independent specialist wellbeing support provider, Health Assured.

Contact us

For more information about the role please contact Huw Jones on or feel free to contact Aleks Janusiewicz, the Recruitment Advisor supporting this vacancy on

All applications must be submitted online.

The person specification will be used as a tool for shortlisting; so please make sure you use this information when writing your application. You can find useful hints and tips about how to apply by visiting our Application Guidance page.

If you would like to discuss your advert with a member of the recruitment team please contact for guidance and support.

Further details:

Job Description

Swydd Ddisgrifiad

Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.

Should a high volume of applications be received, we may need to close this vacancy early. We therefore encourage you to apply as early as possible.

Cardiff Metropolitan University is proud to be a Disability Confident employer and a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant.

All applicants with disabilities, or those who are part of the Armed Forces community who during the shortlisting process meet the essential criteria for the role will be progressed to the next stage.

We use the person specification as a tool for shortlisting; so please make sure you use this information when writing your application. You can find useful hints and tips about how to apply by visiting our Application Guidance page.

The University is committed to creating a highly inclusive culture. We offer family friendly and flexible working arrangements and a range of staff networks, forums and events to support and develop our people. We warmly welcome applications from those traditionally underrepresented in the higher education sector.

We invite you to join our collaborative community

Dating back to 1865, we remain rooted in Wales with a global reach, offering you a world of opportunity. Our education, research and innovation deliver positive impact for equality, social inclusion and environmental sustainability, locally, nationally and internationally.

Are you ready to contribute to something remarkable?

Join us in helping us to progress and deliver real change.

School/Unit

Research & Innovation

Location

Llandaff Campus

Salary

£29,179 to £34,132 per annum pro rata

Fixed term until 31/07/2026

Post Type

Part Time

Hours per Week

22.2

Closing Date

Tuesday 16 September 2025

Reference

3959-1