Senior Research Fellow in Birmingham

The Senior Research Fellow role exists to drive forward Birmingham City University's research ambitions in your specialist field generating new knowledge, securing external funding, and translating insight into real-world impact through enterprise and knowledge exchange. You will be expected to operate as an independent researcher with a clear scholarly identity of your own, while contributing meaningfully to the wider research culture of the School and the University's strategic priorities. You will sit within a School research community that values both academic excellence and practical application. The post bridges three worlds: the production of original research (where you set the agenda for your own programme), the leadership of others (supervising postgraduate researchers and coordinating project teams), and the building of external reputation (through publication, networks, and income generation). Your work will feed directly into the University's REF submission and its strategic positioning as a research-active institution, and you'll be expected to act as an ambassador for BCU in your discipline both nationally and increasingly on the international stage. In short, you bring the ideas, the funding, and the leadership; the University provides the platform, the colleagues, and the infrastructure to deliver impact at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on research projects, taking responsibility for the design, delivery, and dissemination of your own research programme.
• Develop and submit competitive grant proposals, actively pursuing new sources of external funding from research councils, charities, industry, and other appropriate bodies.
• Publish in high-quality outlets and contribute to the Schools REF submission.
• Define research objectives and questions, generate new methodological approaches, and synthesise and interpret findings to advance the field.
• Supervise postgraduate research students and contribute to learning and teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
• Manage research budgets, resources, and project timelines to ensure delivery against agreed milestones and income targets.
• Provide academic leadership to research staff and project teams, including coordinating workloads, agreeing objectives, and undertaking line management where required.
• Mentor early-career researchers and provide first-line support to colleagues within your project areas.
• Engage in enterprise and knowledge exchange activity, including consultancy, KTPs, and other commercial collaborations.
• Build and lead internal and external networks, including chairing or participating in committees and developing partnerships with other universities, professional bodies, and funders.
• Contribute to School research strategy and the University's wider strategic planning process.
• Represent the discipline in promotion, marketing, and public outreach activity.

The role is busy and the demands are real you will routinely be balancing live grant deadlines, project delivery, PGR supervision, teaching contributions, and team leadership at the same time. We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and to an environment that supports lawful free speech and academic freedom. We will continuously review and improve our policies, practices, and procedures to ensure that we are promoting these in all aspects of our operations. We believe that by working together, combining our many different backgrounds and life experiences, we will empower each other to reach our full potential.

Disability Confident Employer Birmingham City University is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role will be guaranteed an interview.