Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Officer

This is an exciting opportunity for an effective Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Officer to work with the Deputy Director of Operations and the CRCTU to shape and deliver its Public Involvement and Engagement Strategy. The post-holder will work with teams of trial management staff responsible for the administration of clinical trial research projects across a range of disease conditions to implement and enhance PPIE activity across the CRCTU.

Importantly, this role will help ensure that CRCTU's activities are relevant to the health and social care needs of the patient communities it represents. CRCTU builds on experience of involving patients and the public in a range of research projects. The Public Involvement and Engagement Officer will ensure that CRCTU's ways of working with public contributors align to the NIHR UK Standards for Public Involvement.

Role Summary:

Working with the Clinical Trials Facilitation Team Lead, CRCTU Deputy Director of Operations, CRCTU Patient Advisory Board and CRCTU PPIE hub to develop and implement the CRCTU Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Strategy.

Providing leadership to members of the CRCTU Community (researchers and public contributors) on all matters relating to public involvement and engagement.

Developing new ways of working with public contributors, which help embed principles and features of co-production.

Building capacity, skills and expertise in Public Involvement and Engagement in the CRCTU.

Capturing the impact of involvement and engagement activities.

Contributing to the evidence base of public involvement through evaluation and reporting of public involvement activities.

Working in partnership with regional and national committees.

Working with University Engagement teams to support the growth of public involvement and engagement in health and social care research in our diverse communities.

Main Duties:

Be a first-point of contact for patient and public contributors and researchers in the CRCTU in matters relating to Public Involvement and Engagement.

Work in partnership with the CRCTU Public Involvement Community, staff and researchers to create a strong infrastructure, which promotes a positive culture of public involvement in all activities. These activities may take place at project and unit levels in the CRCTU.

Manage and facilitate public involvement in CRCTU, creating and maintaining a CRCTU Public Contributor database and providing support to public contributors in their roles.

Build strong relations with service users, third sector organisations and diverse, local communities. This will help ensure CRCTU's public contributors reflect the diverse communities who participate in cancer research.

Identify barriers to public involvement and engagement and develop inclusive strategies to overcome these barriers.

Support capacity development through teaching, training and drop-in sessions to members of the CRCTU Community and wider University that want to enhance skills and knowledge in public involvement.

Gather feedback from researchers and CRCTU public contributors on public involvement activities to inform the future development of ways of working.

Contribute to outputs, including conference presentations, articles, such as blog pieces, newsletters, project reports and funding applications.

Manage the CRCTU Public Involvement expenditure records and ensure public contributors are reimbursed expenses and honoraria.

Inform regular reporting activities for CRCTU, such as Committee reports and reporting for CRUK and presenting updates at local, regional and national meetings.

Work in partnership with regional and national Public Involvement Leads to coordinate Public Involvement/Engagement projects and activities.

Represent CRCTU at regional and national level.

Support the delivery of clinical research in accordance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP), the Declaration of Helsinki, applicable legislation (including, but not limited to, the Medicines for Human Use Clinical Trials Regulations, Data Protection Act 1998, Human Tissue Act), the Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care, Caldicott principals, and applicable NHS Trust and University policies and procedures.

Fosters a fair and equitable workplace for all staff.

Ad-hoc support for any other projects/duties as directed by your Line Manager and the Directors of CRCTU.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience:

First degree in relevant subject or equivalent experience.

Proven knowledge and experience of managing public involvement and engagement in health and social care research.

Good understanding of key issues in public involvement, diversity and inclusion and relevant national policies and strategic documents.

Proven interpersonal and communication skills with ability to work with a range of partners including researchers, NHS staff, local authorities, third sector organisations and service users and community groups.

Excellent organisational and time-management skills to manage and deliver a range of initiatives and projects to tight deadlines.

Experience of designing and delivering public involvement and engagement events for a range of audiences.

Flexible approach to working, including problem-solving skills, ability to adapt to unforeseen demands and a desire to develop skills and knowledge.

Ability to write clearly for a range of outputs including: reports, funding applications, websites and social media platforms.

Excellent IT skills, including Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook), the internet and social media.

Awareness and ability to comply with data protection legislation for monitoring and evaluation purposes.

Ability to deal with matters of a confidential or sensitive nature.

Be able to work flexibly with occasional evenings.

Ability to travel within the region and to national meetings outside CRCTU on occasion.

Knowledge of the protected characteristics and duties under the Equality Act 2010, including fostering good relations and advancing the university's Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

Benefits:

The University offers 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. Three high quality subsidised day nurseries are available on campus. The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston with excellent transport links, a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, an art gallery, museum and botanical gardens. The Birmingham Professional programme provides all professional services staff with development opportunities.