Public Engagement Officer

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Job description

12 Months' Maternity Cover

Desired start date: 6 January 2025

Reporting to the Public Engagement Manager, the Public Engagement Officer will work as part of a team to deliver our mission of meaningfully involving patients and the public across Academy activities and in the way we work.

You will collaborate with colleagues across the Academy, our Fellows and our grant awardees to help deliver projects that ensure the Academy connects with patients, carers and members of the public in new and accessible ways. You will organise and evaluate programmes that feed public views into our policy advice and grants and careers programmes. Our current priorities include supporting more diverse communities to take part in conversations about health and research and developing new workstreams on health inequalities and climate change.

You will do this all by building strong relationships with public and patient groups and connecting with individuals to understand and provide the support they need to be involved in our work.

What you will be doing:

• Support the delivery of events, workshops and training to feed public, patient and carer views into our policy, career development and grants programmes.
• Research and scope topics, formats, speakers, audiences and participants for public engagement and involvement activities.
• Assist with data collection, analysis and reporting for programme and event evaluations.
• Develop resources and deliver processes that support participants in Academy engagement and involvement activities - particularly administration for patient payments and arranging individual access and support packages.
• Make connections with people, organisations and communities to broaden participation in Academy public engagement and involvement activities.
• Connect with colleagues across the organisation to encourage and support their participation in engagement and involvement activities and knowledge of best practice.
• Identify and connect with non-traditional or underserved audiences for engagement projects and ensure public engagement activities promote diversity and inclusivity.

You are:

• Passionate about involving patients and the public in decisions and actions to improve people's health and exploring ways of recognising the expertise and experience of different people.
• Willing to put people at the centre of everything you do, understanding and responding with compassion and empathy to the needs of individuals.
• Energetic and passionate about championing diversity and inclusion across Academy engagement activities.
• Someone who enjoys working closely with others as part of a small team and getting stuck into a variety of projects.
• Organised and thrive on finding ways to make things run better, while also keeping day-to-day operations running.

Skills and abilities:

• Knowledge of public and patient engagement activities gained through education, employment or as a lived experience, patient or carer representative.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to form good working relationships with people from diverse backgrounds.
• Good listener able to use compassion and empathy to understand people's needs.
• Good IT and administration skills with experience of applying them to support projects and events.
• Ability to write in concise and accessible language and produce resources that can be easily understood by others.

Note: Your skills and experience might come from an interest in science and health gained through study, volunteering, or a previous job. Alternatively, you may come from a lived experience perspective, having participated in involvement or advocacy work as a patient or carer, and looking to build that experience into your career.

Benefits

• Salary progression framework.
• Hybrid and agile working.
• 29 days annual leave including Christmas closure dates, plus bank holidays.
• Pension (the Academy offers a flexible contribution structure with a minimum employer contribution of 8% up to a maximum of 13% of gross salary, with an employee contribution ranging from 3% to 8%).
• Life assurance.
• Season ticket travel loan (interest free).
• Family friendly benefits - enhanced maternity and paternity leave (subject to qualifying period), coaching for parents returning to work).
• Subscription to Headspace and Class pass.
• Staff training to support your development including EDI training.

For more information and to apply, please visit our website.

Closing date: 9.00am on Monday, 18 November 2024.

Interview dates: 26 and 28 November 2024 (held online).

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