Research Centre Coordinator - Islands Centre for Net Zero

Salary:Grade 7 (£36,023 - £44,263)

Contract:Full-time (35 hours per week), Fixed Term for 56 months

Location:Based at the Heriot-Watt Campus in Orkney, Scotland

Purpose of Role

This position of Research Centre Coordinatorsupports the research impact, demonstration and acceleration of the Transition Engineering Lab through stakeholder engagement activity within the Islands Centre for Net Zero (ICNZ). The ICNZ comprises a partnership with EMEC, Aquatera, Community Energy Scotland and the Islands Councils of Orkney, Shetland and Outer Hebrides. It is focused on developing theoretical, process, technical, operational and policy interventions that will deliver the UKs net zero ambition by 2030.

The ICNZ Transition Lab action research programme is currently a small group with 4 PhD students, 1 post doctoral researcher under the directorship of Professor Susan Krumdieck, and involving 5 academics at the Orkney campus and a number of collaborators in the International Net Zero Research Centre (iNETZ) across Heriot-Watt University. Its international reach is represented by relationships with colleagues in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, USA and Africa. In the next year the research group will grow by 3 more PhD students and one more research assistant.

Detailed Description

The Research Centre Coordinatorwill be based in the International Centre for Islands Technology (ICIT) campus, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society (EGIS) at Heriot-Watt University Orkney campus in Stromness with direct collaboration and administration from HWU Edinburgh.

The ICNZ is directly funded by the UK and Scottish Governments through the Islands Growth Deal. Within the ICNZ programme the Transition Lab research workstream is interrelated with four other workstreams for Community Engagement, Data Exchange, Demonstration and Testing, and Acceleration, all with timelines of 5 years to engage at least 50% of all activities in net zero transitions. In addition, the ICNZ has a Project Management Team and Communications Team. The Transition Lab has six research projects which are interrelated and designed to collectively deliver net zero shift projects for housing, public buildings, personal transport, freight transport, industry and primary production. The successful candidate will be responsible for coordinating all the projects and will report directly to the Principal Investigator Professor Susan Krumdieck.

The Research Coordinator will liaise with School and Professional Services Directorates to ensure that the administrative requirements of the project portfolio of the HWU Transition Lab and the impact of the ICNZ are delivered for a range of stakeholders. The role also demands engagement with a range of tasks in communication, financial administration, data management and proposal development. The ICNZ operates in the rural setting of the Scottish Islands, and the Research Accelerator Officer will be involved in working with stakeholders in the communities and companies on applications through action research and demonstrations demonstrations.

The role would suit a candidate with experience within a research environment, seeking to develop project management capacity and Transition Engineering applications experience. It will be necessary to be actively involved in the research and to build engagement with a range of academic and industrial stakeholders, building trust and capacity throughout the network, making networking experience an advantage.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Responsible for the overall day-to-day management of the programme and projects on behalf of the University, including assessing project needs, preparing timelines, identifying key milestones and project work plans, and ensuring that deadlines and deliverables are achieved.
• Responsible for the financial management of the Transition Lab, in coordination with the Project Management team of the ICNZ.
• Proactively manage close working links with key internal and external stakeholders.
• Identify and resolve of a wide variety of complex issues using specialist knowledge and a high degree of initiative.
• Monitor and produce collated reports for the Transition Lab work package and externally funded projects, anticipating and documenting project risks and delays to minimise adverse impacts.
• Prepare reports on project status for the Executive, Advisory and Steering Committees.
• Ensure effective communications are in place with all stakeholders including consultation and management of expectations.
Develop and regularly review performance against the project
• ’s KPIs and to be responsible for management of risk and issue management.
Manage the project
• ’s stakeholder network engagement activities within the framework of the project.
• Prepare and deliver written and oral reports on finances and project outcomes for the Executive, Advisory and Steering Committees and other stakeholders as required.
• Line and matrix manage staff working on project activities as required.
Liaise with the University
• ’s Finance, IS and other internal administration units.

Heriot-Watt Universityis a major Scottish university founded two centuries ago in Edinburgh. The HWU strategy aims for leadership on achieving sustainability across industry, society, science and environment. The university campus in the Orkney Islands village of Stromness provides the setting for a new kind of action research to develop the approach, methods and tools for engineering transitions in our modern but unsustainable systems. Changing successful, but unsustainable products, infrastructure and activities is always challenging, and sometimes presents nearly impossible wicked problems. The Transition Engineering discipline is dedicated to tackling these challenges and finding the catalysts and tools for change.

The Islands Centre for Net Zerowas created in early 2023 and is a collaborative partnership between research, industry, community and public sector organisations in the Scottish Isles ( https://www.icnz.org/ ). The programme directly addresses the challenges of designing, implementing and adapting to downshift of fossil fuel from the local community wellbeing and governance perspective. The Transition Labis the research work package within the ICNZ, within the International Centre for Island Technology (ICIT) Campus of HWU in Stromness. The Transition Lab is the first major research centre dedicated to Transition Engineering in the UK, and aims to lead a global movement of adoption of the corrective transdiscipline.

While the ICNZ research activities are focused in the rural and island contexts, the outcomes of the research are timely and relevant to the big questions of adaptive design for transition to energy and material throughput systems that are compatible with ecological limits.

EDUCATION, QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES

Essential

• Degree (or equivalent qualification or relevant professional experience) in an engineering management, business, financial or scientific discipline.
• Significant experience of successfully managing projects that involve complex planning and programme coordination
• Experience working in a research and HEI environment
• Competent in the use of relevant IT packages, Excel, Word, Powerpoint, Teams, Sharepoint
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and presentation skills, able to understand and communicate complex issues effectively
• Leadership skills, both formal and informal
• Ability to research, analyse and present complex information effectively with good attention to detail
• High level organisational skills with the ability to prioritise major developments and to function effectively in a pressured environment

Desirable

• Project Management qualification (e.g. PRINCE2, PMP)
• Transition Engineering qualification (e.g. MSc RED/ReSET)
• Experience of working with key external stakeholders such as local council, energy industry, the Connected Places Catapult, department for Transport or Transport Scotland, government agencies overseeing net zero policy.

You can find more information on the job competencies here: Job Competencies Framework

How to Apply

Applications can be submitted until midnight on the 6th of September2023.

Please submit via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system (1) Cover letter describing their interest and suitability for the post; (2) Full CV

For more details please contact Prof. Susan Krumdieck, s.krumdieck@hw.ac.uk

At Heriot Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/ .

We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g. part-time working and job share options.

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.