JOB DESCRIPTION

  1. General Information

JOB TITLE: Research Training Programmes Manager

(School of Translational & Experimental Medicine)

GRADE: AfC Band 7

DEPARTMENT: R&D - Biomedical Research Centre

HOURS:37.5

RESPONSIBLE TO: R&D/BRC Chief Operating Officer

ACCOUNTABLE TO: R&D/BRC Chief Operating Officer and Cluster Lead for the School of

Translational & Experimental Medicine

Guy’s & St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is one of the largest hospital trusts in the country, with a staff of almost 15,000, a turnover of over £1.3 billion and 2.3 million patient contacts a year.

The Trust comprises two of London’s oldest and best known teaching hospitals. The hospitals have a long history, dating back almost 900 years, and have been at the forefront of medical progress and innovation since they were founded. Both hospitals have built on these traditions and continue to have a reputation for excellence and innovation.

We are part of King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC), a pioneering collaboration between one of the world’s leading research-led universities and three of London’s most successful NHS Foundation Trusts. Our AHSC is one of only five in the UK. It consists of King’s College London, and Guy’s and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts. King’s Health Partners includes seven hospitals and over 150 community based services, is responsible for seeing 4.2 million patients each year, has 36,000 employees and 25,000 students, and a £3.1 billion annual turnover. Itbrings togetherthe best of basic and translational research, clinical excellence and world-class teaching to deliver groundbreaking advances in physical and mental healthcare. See

From 1 April 2011, the management of community health services in Lambeth and Southwark transferred from the local Primary Care Trusts to Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, marking a new era for community services locally.

The integration of community services into GSTT provides an opportunity for staff to help shape services so they better suit patient needs, balance demands across the whole system and create a seamless care pathway for patients.

Research & Development Department Information

The R&D Department at Guy’s & St Thomas’NHS Foundation Trust (GSTFT) is one of the focal points for innovative research in London through its nationally recognised research portfolio and research infrastructure. The broad ranging portfolio includes one of only five National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) comprehensive Biomedical Research Centres awarded in 2007-2012 in partnership with our academic partner King’s College London, one of only eleven NIHR Biomedical Research Centres receiving funding from 2012-2017 and one of twenty NIHR Biomedical Research Centres recently awarded funding from 2017-2022 (£64.4m). The portfolio also includes numerousNIHR Programme Grants for Applied Health, Research for Patient Benefit Project Grants, and a wide range of externally funded Research Grants. In addition, the Trust is a stakeholder in theaccredited Academic Health Sciences Centre, King’s Health Partners and the King’s Health Partners’ Clinical Trials Office. The R&D Department also supports the Clinical Research Facilities (CRF) at St Thomas’ Hospital, Evelina London Children’s Hospital and Guy’s Hospital based within the recently opened Experimental Medicine Hub. The NIHR CRF award from 2012-2017 has also recently been renewed for 2017-2022 (£7.25m). As well as hosting the South London Local Clinical Research Network (LCRN), the Trust is a major player in the South London network both in relation to the NIHR research study portfolio and accruals into studies, being the highest recruiting Trust in England for both 2014/15 and 2015/16. The Trust, in partnership with the University of Leeds, has also recently been awarded the contract from the Department of Health to provide the NIHR Clinical Research Network Coordinating Centre (NIHR CRNCC), totalling £90m over 5 years from April 2015. This Consortium of the Trust and University of Leeds also draws in expertise from the University of Liverpool, Newcastle, Imperial and King’s College London in an alliance to deliver the NIHR CRNCC. This contract allows the Trust to influence research activity at a national level.

The NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at GSTFT and KCL

The NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at GSTFT and KCL has recently been awarded a further £64.4m over the period 2017-2022 as part of the Department of Health’s strategy for Research & Development to deliver world class translational research to benefit the health and wealth of the nation. The first BRC award from April 2007-2012 allowed us to establish state of the art research infrastructure including the development of an Experimental Medicine Hub at Guy’s Hospital. The BRC’s research is strategically integrated and managed by five Research Clusters: Advanced Therapeutics and Experimental Medicine; Precision Medicine; Data Analytics; the School of Translational and Experimental Medicine (STEM) and the Infrastructure Cluster. Research within these Clusters from 2017 will be based around nine outstanding research themes encompassing Cardiovascular Disease; Cutaneous Medicine; Genomic Medicine; Imaging Sciences; Infection & Immunity; Transplantation; Oral Health; Regenerative Medicine and Cellular Therapy; and Women’s & Children’s Health.

The Experimental Medicine Hub houses state of the art facilities for the delivery of translational research and includes the BRC/R&D Department Management offices, Clinical Research Network for South London, and King’s Health Partners’ Clinical Trials Office, and the Translational Bioinformatics Research Platform creating a one stop shop for researchers, as well as the CRF at Guy’s, the Immune Monitoring Research Platform, Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Cell Therapy Suite and Genomics Research Platform, as well as the GMP Pharmacy, the Assisted Conception Unit with a GMP stem cell suite, and BRC Imaging Core.

The School of Translational & Experimental Medicine

Within the BRC's structure the School of Translational & Experimental Medicine (STEM) is the 4th Research Cluster. Its primary purpose is to build capacity and capability in translational and experimental medical research through the recruitment and training of junior scientists and clinicians. Since the BRC was established in 2007, we have overseen the training of over 130 students and fellows some of whom have progressed on to become independent researchers running their own teams. For the year 2016 - 17, we will have 45 students and fellows working on research projects.

Organisational Values:

The post holder will:

  • Put patients first - consider the patient’s needs and wishes in all that they do
  • Act with integrity - maintain the privacy and dignity of patients, work with integrity and be trustworthy, be accountable for their own work
  • Strive to be the best – in terms of patient care & teamwork
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  • Take pride in what they do – strive for highest standards on own work and challenge colleagues to do the same
  • Respect others – patients, visitors and colleagues. Actively give and receive feedback.

2. Job Summary

The Research Training Programme Manager within the STEM Cluster of the BRC has responsibility for delivering high quality administrative and operational management. Specifically, the postholderwill lead on coordinating all activities relating to the development, management and administration of the BRC’s research training programmes, fellowships and education and training initiatives including:

  • management of the recruitment of PhD students andclinical fellows (from advert to interview through to induction) and their ongoing progression;
  • management of the STEM cluster budgets with oversight of individual training budgets;
  • coordination of the Research Training Programme and other courses, and development and administration of new training courses, programmes and events;
  • collaboration with equivalent clinical research training teams within GSTT/KCL and with external partners;
  • maintaining information management systems for trainees (including alumnae) and producing regular reports on performance against given metrics.
  • line management of the STEM team and functional line management of the Healthcare Technology Co-operative (HTC) team (see attached organisation charts).

3. Key Relationships

Internal

  • STEM Cluster lead (and deputy) and Research Training Programme Coordinator;
  • STEM fellows and students;
  • R&D/BRC Chief Operating Officer, Assistant Director of R&D;
  • GSTT R&D Finance Team and Human Resources Department;
  • KCL Research Funds Manager, Human Resources staff, academic Divisional Managers and Finance staff;
  • BRC/R&D Communications team;
  • Cluster Leads and Managers for the other BRC Research Clusters/Core Facilities;
  • Researchers, Research Nurses and other Cluster research support staff;
  • BRC Director, Trust R&D Director, Senior Principal Investigators, Cluster Education Leads, BRC Theme Leads;
  • Education and training units within the Trust and College including the Integrated Academic Training Programme Office, Learning & Development teams, and the Postgraduate Medical Education team.

External

  • Training Director and Training Manager at the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust/IoPPN BRC;
  • Training Managers at the Francis Crick Institute, UCL BRC and Imperial BRC;
  • HR and finance departments in other Trusts in relation to fellowship secondments;
  • NIHR Training Co-ordinating Centre and NIHR BRC Training Forum, NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and Biomedical Research Units within England, and other relevant education and training groups, organisations and charities as appropriate.

4. Duties and Responsibilities

General Administrative and Operational Management

The Research Training Programmes Manager will be a member of the BRC Operational Management Group (OMG) and will manage the STEM cluster following the operational policies and strategic objectives of the BRC ensuring all Trust policies and procedures are adhered to. Specifically, the postholder will:

a)be responsible for the efficient and effective management of day-to-day administration and operations of the STEM Cluster activities, liaising appropriately with other staff as required and resolving day-to-day operational queries and issues in a timely manner;

b)organise Cluster Board meetings and support the Cluster Lead in ensuring agreed actions are implemented;

c)regularly review and revise STEM administration systems and processes to maintain and improve operational effectiveness and efficiency;

d)support development and implementation of any local BRC initiatives and national NIHR initiatives for organisational change to ensure efficient service delivery and productivity;

e)as a member of the OMG, contribute to strategic planning for the BRC;

f)participate in Executive Management Team meetings deputising for the Cluster Lead as required;

Human Resource Management

The STEM works with both the Trust and the College HR departments for student/fellow recruitment and contract management. The postholder will be responsible for:

a)line-management of the STEM team with responsibility for all HR processes in line with Trust and KCL policies. Functional management of staff in the NIHR HTC team;

b)all recruitment processes for research programme students and fellows (currently seven programmes per year) including liaison with partner organisations for joint fellowships;

c)liaising with fellows/students and Trust and College HR teams in managing training contracts, including negotiating changes to contract conditions;

d)working with the Cluster Leads and Principal Investigators to identify requirements for posts and sources of funding, and to support decision-makingfor changes to roles.

Financial Management

The BRC’s budget is managed jointly between the Trust and the College. The postholder will be a delegated signatory of up to £5k on the STEM Cluster budget, and will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the delegated Cluster budgets (pay and non-pay to approx £1.6m p/a). This will include:

a)monitoring pay and non-pay spend then preparing and submitting monthly reports, ensuring budgets are up-to-date and accurate and identifying changes to budgets as required;

b)authorising recharges between finance departments;

c)addressing and resolving transaction queries;

d)maintaining strong working relationships with Trust finance officers and KCL Research Awards office

e)raising and authorising purchase orders through the online procurement system;

Strategically, the postholder will:

f)support the senior management team in annual business planning;

g)ensure income capture, adherence to agreed budget plans, identifying savings and implementing plans to reduce costs as appropriate;

h)identify cost pressures, service development and cost improvement plans, develop business cases to meet requirements and present to data on performance as required.

Performance and Quality Management

The postholder will be responsible for ensuring that the BRC demonstrates excellent performance in training and education against the requirements of our funders and regulators. They will also have responsibility for the regular collation of data to support the milestones, metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) of the Cluster, and the regular reporting of delivery against these metrics/KPIs in line with governance requirements. This will include:

a)reporting standard research metrics such as publications and grant incomes and as well as Cluster specific metrics;

b)responsibility for the delivery of agreed projects relating to both the operational management of the Cluster and its related educational and research initiatives and programmes of research;

c)reporting regularly to the BRC Management Executive on all matters relating to the management and performance of the Cluster and its research training programmes;

d)responsibilityfor the development and implementation of appropriate systems to monitor STEM activities in the BRC.

Cluster specific duties and responsibilities: training and education

The STEM Cluster is the BRC’s locus for planning and delivery of training and education of researchers in translational medicine. The Research Training Programmes Manager will be responsible for:

a)planning, delivery and evaluation of the Research Methods Programme and related training courses for students and fellows, and development and delivery of new courses, programmes and events;

b)review and recording of trainee progress across all programmes; and identification and resolution of individual issues, liaising with the Cluster lead and Supervisors as appropriate;

c)supporting the strategic development of the BRC’s portfolio of training & education programmes and coursesin collaboration with the STEM Cluster Leads and Education Leads on the Cluster Board, and with education and training teams within KCL, the Trust, KHP, and external partners;

d)development and consolidation of a mentorship programme for all BRC trainees across the Cluster’s portfolio of training and education programmes;

e)supporting the STEM Lead in the development of applications to relevant funding bodies for education and training grants for the expansion of the BRC’s trainee cohort, the funding of existing courses or establishing new courses and programmes;

f)representing the BRC at Postgraduate/Academic/Research Training Forums within the Trust and College, and externally at the NIHR Training Forums.

Communication and Networking

The postholderhave responsibility for building and maintaining relationships with internal and external stakeholders and coordinate all communications output from the STEM cluster including:

a)acting as a BRC expert contact point for all research training and education queries;

b)building and maintaining effective management relationships with other Clusters within the BRC and Trust Departments, in order to ensure efficient management and research collaborations between the Cluster functions;

c)building and maintaining effective communications with each cohort of students/fellows and with BRC alumnae;

d)liaising with BRC Communications teams to develop and maintain effective internal and external communication strategies and tools, including the STEM web pages and social media;

e)representing the STEM Cluster and the BRC at relevant internal and external meetings and promoting a positive image of the Cluster at all times.

f)working collaboratively with the BRC management team to develop and maintain research training collaborations with internal and external partners, i.e. KCL Integrated Academic Training Programme, the BRC at South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, the Francis Crick Institute and other London BRCs.

The following statement forms part of all job descriptions

The post holder is required to follow Trust policies and procedures which are regularly updated including:

Confidentiality / Data Protection / Freedom of Information

Postholders must maintain the confidentiality of information about patients, staff and other health service business in accordance with the Data Protection Act of 1998. Post holders must not, without prior permission, disclose any information regarding patients or staff. If any member of staff has communicated any such information to an unauthorised person those staff will be liable to dismissal. Moreover, the Data Protection Act 1998 also renders an individual liable for prosecution in the event of unauthorised disclosure of information.

Following the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2005, post holders must apply the Trust’s FOI procedure if they receive a written request for information.

Information Governance

All staff must comply with information governance requirements. These includes statutory responsibilities (such as compliance with the Data Protection Act), following national guidance (such as the NHS Confidentiality Code of Practice) and compliance with local policies and procedures (such as the Trust's Confidentiality policy). Staff are responsible for any personal information (belonging to staff or patients) that they access and must ensure it is stored, processed and forwarded in a secure and appropriate manner.

Equal Opportunities

Post holders must at all times fulfil their responsibilities with regard to the Trust’s Equal Opportunities Policy and equality laws.