Research and Innovation Administrator

Job overview

In order to support our growth as a centre of excellence in research, we are looking to recruit two (2) Band 4 R&I Administrators to the R&I Site Team within The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. The Site Team forms part of the Research and Innovation (R&I) division. These posts are offered as a permanent contract at 37.5h/week.

The posts are an integral part of the R&I Division’s core function which exists to provide an efficient support service for the research delivery teams and both internal and external researchers enabling the Trust to deliver its research ambitions. We are seeking enthusiastic and highly motivated individuals, who can demonstrate a good understanding of clinical research, GCP and clinical governance.

Applicants should be qualified to at least diploma level, or have an equivalent level of experience and, as a minimum, must meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification of the job description.

The roles are ideal for individuals who are keen to develop their experience in clinical trials administration.

Main duties of the job

Working closely with colleagues across the R&I division, the roles offer a wide variety of duties and responsibilities, including but not limited to supporting the processing of amendments, research related agreements and research passports. The roles provide general administrative support to facilitate the management of research projects within the trust, ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation and governance requirements. This includes assisting with the archiving function by collecting and processing research projects which need to be sent to long term storage.

The ideal candidates will demonstrate strong communication and organisational skills and the ability to work well both in a team and using their own initiative.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Facilitate the review and processing of all research-related agreements including but not limited to clinical trial agreements, confidential disclosure agreements and service-level agreements.
• Liaise closely with reviewers/legal experts to aid timely approval and processing of such agreements. Work in collaboration with the delivery teams to prioritise study contracts where appropriate.
• Assist with the processing of amendments for Sponsor Authorisation for Christie-sponsored projects and issuing notification of no objections for hosted projects where applicable in accordance with regulatory and research governance requirements.
• Coordinate and track the review and sign-off of Honorary Research Contracts and Letters of Access for researchers.
• Ensure internal and external timelines for processing contracts, amendments and research passports/letters of access are adhered to.
• Support the R&I Coordinators in processing new research projects as required.
• Assist with the production of reports to summarise activity and aid performance management across the service.
• Work in collaboration with the R&I Coordinators to review the project information available on the Local Portfolio Management System (LPMS) and other trust systems as applicable to ensure accuracy and completeness, performing update information exercises as required.
• Use own judgement where applicable when using facts from situations which may require further analysis.
• Ensure that the Trust has documentary evidence that projects comply with relevant regulatory and research governance requirements.
• Management of the external R&I mailbox, ensuring distribution of communication where relevant and management of internal shared mailboxes as appropriate.
• Where appropriate, attend R&I meetings / meetings of R&I facility management committees as required.
• Where appropriate, organise and schedule research meetings/conferences/in-house training events, ensuring appropriate accommodation, attendance and distribution of papers, and that an agenda is agreed and where appropriate coordinate with outside sources.
• Provision of minute-taking for internal and external meetings as appropriate.
• Primary point of contact for the R&I Office to provide and receive complex information regarding R&I activity across the Trust and externally
• Work in collaboration with the R&I Office to develop and maintain appropriate work instructions and training materials.
• Contribution to service improvement initiatives relating to areas of work including the identification of deficiencies within the service and implementation of new ways of working in collaboration with the R&I team and across the division as required.
• Contribute towards the development and implementation of Trust-wide research strategies, policies and procedures.
• Plan workload effectively ensuring agreed objectives are met.
• Work within trust and divisional policies and procedures, working unsupervised and independently.
• Responsible for own professional/personal development, working with their line manager to develop and fulfil a personal development plan.

This job description is not meant to be finite and may be subject to change following discussion and agreement with the post holder. Similarly the post holder may be requested to undertake such other duties not mentioned in the job description which are commensurate with the grade.