Person Specification
Post: Selection Committee chair
Accountable to: NIHR Assistant Director, Integrated Pathways
Time Commitment: Approximately 8 days spread over the year
Salary: Honorarium of £7,500 per annum, paid to the employing institution
Tenure: 3 years in the first instance.
Essential knowledge, qualities and skills
- Knowledge of the health and care research funding landscape
- Knowledge of the health and care research training landscape
- Understanding of NIHR and NIHR Research Training Awards
- Ability to communicate efficiently and effectively
- Confident negotiation skills
- Discretion in handling confidential information
- Ability to work collegiately
- Knowledge of global health research landscape (Global Research Professorship Scheme only)
- Knowledge of practitioner academic careers for non-medics/ non-dentists (ICA and LAAF Programme Schemes only)
Essential experience
- Track record of research leadership
- Involvement in health research training environment
- Experience of serving on a research funding Committee
Desirable experience
- Experience in a leadership role within NIHR
- Experience of chairing a research funding Committee
- Experience of serving on an NIHR Committee
- Experience of serving on a Research Fellowship Committee (or equivalent)
- National level involvement in health research
Qualifications
-
Research degree
-
Current senior position at a HEI
Other Requirements
Must be employed by a UK organisation unless applying for Research Professorship or Global Research Professorship Chair.
Must not have previously been appointed as an NIHR Academy Selection Committee Chair on a term of 2 years or more.
Job Description
Background information
The NIHR is the nation’s largest funder of health and care research. Its people, programmes, centres of excellence and systems together represent the most integrated health and care research system in the world. It has transformed research in and for the NHS and helped to shape the health and care research landscape more broadly. With substantial funding from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), its scope is broad. It focuses on the elements of the ‘innovation pathway’ from early translational research, though clinical and onto applied health and care research.
The NIHR has a specific remit to develop a highly-skilled academic research workforce capable of advancing the best research, which improves health and benefits society and the economy. A wide range of NIHR training and career development awards are managed by the NIHR, which are available at different levels, and accessible to different professional groups.
Each NIHR managed scheme has a Selection Committee, primarily comprised of academic experts from a variety of professional backgrounds and with differing fields of academic expertise. The Selection Committees assess applications to the respective scheme(s) and make recommendations for funding.
Job Summary
The advertised roles are for Chairs of NIHR Personal Research Training Award Committees.
Chairs of the Personal Research Training award Committees support the delivery of the respective scheme(s) competitions and Chair meetings of the scheme Committees. They provide oversight of the assessment process and the funding recommendations made by the Committee and have a responsibility to ensure that decisions made by the Committee meet the highest standards of probity to ensure the fair use of public money and are based on objective and justifiable criteria, meeting standards set out in the NIHR’s Code of Practice. Chairs are also called on to advise the NIHR of actions that might be taken in response to matters that arise over the course of individual relevant awards and work with the Academy to develop schemes to ensure they remain relevant and achieve their aims and objectives.
Key Responsibilities of NIHR Selection Committee Chairs
- Assessment of applications to the relevant scheme
- Reading and assessing applications to the relevant scheme
- Knowledge and understanding of the relevant scheme and its purpose
- Knowledge and understanding of the NIHR remit for personal research training awards
- Chairing the Selection Committee Meetings
- Reading and contributing to meeting documentation prepared by NIHR in advance of meetings
- Ensuring Selection Committee meetings keep to time
- Ensuring the NIHR procedures and protocols are followed (referring to NIHR staff for guidance when necessary)
- Facilitating the active participation of all Selection Committee members to provide sound and unbiased decision making on applications
- Seeking clarification of the Selection Committee views and ensuring there is appropriate discussion before the Selection Committee agrees on a recommendation for each application
- Ensuring the NIHR is provided with a final and agreed list of applications recommended for shortlisting or funding (as relevant)
- Ensuring the NIHR has the required feedback for applications from the Committee
- Providing final approval for feedback and conditions on awards, where necessary
- Advising on or recommending action regarding issues that arise post-decision meeting (e.g. on conditional awards or changes to programmes of research)
- Wider NIHR Responsibilities
- Participation at the annual NIHR Forum
- Participation in Chairs’ or Programme meetings as required
- Contributing to evaluations of the relevant scheme as required
- Advising the NIHR on adjustments to the relevant scheme
Details of Schemes for which Chair positions are available
NIHR Local Authority Academic Fellowship (LAAF) Programme
The LAAF Programme has been designed to support the academic ambitions of individuals wishing to develop as health and/or social care researchers whilst remaining employed, or at least engaged, within local authorities or local authority supporting services. LAAF programme awards are available to individuals of any profession or background, with the exception of doctors and dentists who can already access equivalent dedicated funding opportunities. Applicants must, however, be employed by:
- a local authority
- a provider of local authority commissioned services
- a non-profit organisation (such as a charity) that provides services on behalf of a local authority, or supports a local authority in meeting its objectives.
These schemes represent exciting new opportunities for a wide range of individuals, but especially for those without professional social worker or clinician status. Eligible clinicians and social workers are welcome to apply for support from this programme or from the other existing NIHR administered programmes that cater for their own professional groups, but cannot apply for both concurrently.
We are recruiting Selection Committee Chairs for the following LAAF Programme Selection Committees:
-
LAAF Pre-doctoral Local Academic Fellowship (PLAF) Scheme
The NIHR PLAF scheme supports early career researchers employed within local authorities or local authority supporting services to become competitive applicants for fully funded PhD study (a doctoral fellowship). As well as offering salaried time to prepare an application for a doctoral fellowship, a PLAF will also fund a personalised programme of academic training that will equip the awardee with the skills and experience to make it competitive.
The PLAF Selection Committee meets once a year via video conference.
-
LAAF Doctoral Local Academic Fellowship (DLAF) Scheme
The NIHR DLAF scheme supports award holders to develop their research skills and their professional skill sets in parallel; the former through PhD study and the latter through dedicated time for practice and/or through other activities that support their development as a practitioner. The DLAF Scheme differs, therefore, from the separate NIHR Doctoral Fellowship Scheme, which is open to anyone wishing to develop health and/or social care research skills but does not support or place emphasis on parallel professional development.
The DLAF Selection Committee meets in person once a year for a day of candidate interviews. The DLAF Chair and Deputy Chair also meet for a shortlisting video conference on an earlier date.
Full details of these schemes are available in the Applicant Guidance Notes via the LAAF Programme webpage.
NIHR Integrated Academic Training (IAT) Programme
The NIHR launched the IAT Programme in 2005/06 following recommendations from the report Medically and dentally-qualified academic staff: Recommendations for training the researchers and educators of the future. The programme supports the training of doctors and dentists in England to develop their clinical academic careers and is delivered through a number of schemes that rely on close partnership between the NIHR, Health Education England (HEE), medical schools and NHS organisations.
We are recruiting Selection Committee Chairs for the following IAT Programme Selection Committee:
-
NIHR In-Practice Fellowship (IPF)
The NIHR In-Practice Fellowship (IPF) provides pre-doctoral academic training to fully-qualified General Practitioners, General Dental Practitioners, and Community Dentists, who are in NHS practice in England. The IPF offers funding to support the academic component of two-year 50% clinical, 50% academic posts with a well-defined academic content, which may include a Master’s degree, and equips awardees with the skills and experience to prepare an application for a competitive, peer-reviewed doctoral level research training fellowship.
The IPF Selection Committee meets once a year via video conference.
Full details of this scheme are available in the Applicant Guidance Notes via the IAT Programme webpage.