Job opportunity: Communications and Public Affairs Manager (Ethics Accelerator)

Applications are now closed.

Salary: Equivalent to £47,000 per annum pro rata (dependent upon experience)

Contract: 21 hours per week - fixed term contract for 18 months

Applications are now closed.

The Ethics Accelerator Project

The Ethics Accelerator project is funded by the UKRI and is a collaboration between a number of partners including the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Universities of Oxford, Bristol, Edinburgh and UCL. Its main aim is to harness and mobilise existing UK ethics research expertise to look at the multiple, ongoing ethical challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. This will involve providing evidence, guidance and critical analysis to help improve decision-making over the evolving pandemic response; enabling systematic public deliberation around key ethical challenges; and identifying strategies to embed ethics at the core of future epidemic preparedness.

The Ethics Accelerator will reside principally within the Oxford University Wellcome Centre for Ethics & Humanities. The work will be carried out in close collaboration with the the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, an independent body that examines and reports on ethical issues, and which has achieved an international reputation for advising policy makers and stimulating debate in bioethics. Accelerator activities will be organised across five priority areas task forces that will look at different aspects of the pandemic.

The Role

The role of the Communications and Public Affairs Manager is to develop and implement an external relations strategy to promote the work of the Ethics Accelerator, ensuring a co-ordinated and consistent approach across the different streams of work and partner organisations.

A key part of the role will be to develop and implement policy and parliamentary engagement strategies to promote the work of the ethics accelerator, building relationships with relevant stakeholders including parliamentarians and policy-makers. The post holder will be expected to plan systematic engagement with policy influencers and promote the work of the Ethics Accelerator through meetings, events and the media. Working closely with the different partners, the post holder will prepare public engagement activities and facilitate other public-facing activities.

The post will primarily be based and managed within the Nuffield Council on Bioethics but will involve working closely with partner organisations and their communication teams.

The position is for 3 days (21 hours) per week, with some flexibility to increase this up to 4 days per week. The salary will be in the range of £47,000 per annum pro rata (depending on skills and experience).

About you

You must be self-motivated, with the ability to organise a varied workload. You will have excellent drafting and communications skills and be able to develop good working relationships across a variety of stakeholders, including academics, parliamentarians, senior officials and individuals affected by the issues.

We are looking for an individual with substantial experience in communications and public affairs work with an excellent understanding of the political climate. Candidates should have the ability to engage and enthuse others in the work of the Ethics Accelerator, and will have excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a proven ability to develop strategic relationships and partnerships. Knowledge and understanding of policy issues in the biomedical field plus the ability to advise, influence and build communications capacity at a senior level are a must. An awareness and understanding of the issues raised by the COVID-19 pandemic would be advantageous.

Please click here to download the full job description.

How to apply

To apply, please click through to our online portal where you can submit your CV and covering letter explaining how your experience matches the requirements detailed in the job description and person specification.

The closing date for applications is 12:00 midday on Monday 8th February 2021. Interviews are scheduled to take place the following week.

If you have any questions about this vacancy, please contact Carol Perkins on 020 7681 9619 or cperkins@nuffieldbioethics.org.

We are an employer that values the diversity of its workforce and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Please note that at the moment we are working remotely, and changes to this will depend on Government advice.