Lead Technical Expert: Clinical Radiation in Manchester

The Health Research Authority (HRA) is offering a new and exciting opportunity for senior, experienced members of the professional Clinical Radiation community working in health and care research. These roles will contribute to improving study set‑up by streamlining processes and supporting sites to take assurances to reduce the time taken to set up research to 150 days or less, in line with the ambitious government target.

We are seeking expert input and leadership to support this work, and appointments will be made from this pool of experienced professionals. Roles will be fixed‑term secondments, for one year with flexible whole‑time equivalents, recognising that they will be undertaken alongside existing professional duties.

Successful individuals will work on behalf of the HRA to help develop improvements in set‑up and technical assurances provided for research involving radiation. We aim to support the NHS and Health and Social Care organisations (HSC Northern Ireland), reducing the need for local duplication where study level assurances and information can be provided, improving time to study activation in the UK.

• Help HRA increase central technical reviewer capacity so there are registered radiation technical reviewers in every NHS/HSC organisation selected to be a chief investigator or participating site.
• Help NHS/HSC organisations develop consistent approaches to study set‑up for radiation, building a standard way of operating when setting‑up research.
• Recommend improvements that could deliver quality Sponsor information and radiation technical information for set‑up.
• Deliver an agreed work package to develop and test new initiatives and existing assurances to improve their impact on site set‑up, removing unnecessary duplication of activity where possible.
• Further improve effectiveness and use of lead MPE and CRE reviews linking early information provision to feasibility at site selection, through to set‑up and NCVR.
• Help to develop and implement improvement initiatives that will strengthen industry confidence and study start‑up timelines.
• Contribute to the development of ideal pathway models aligned with the embedding of study‑wide assurance approaches and information for site set‑up within digital research systems.
• Contribute to the production of evidence for a long‑term operating model by December 2027.

• Registered clinical radiologist, clinical oncologist or nuclear medicine physician. Alternatively, a medical practitioner in another speciality with a certificate of training as an IRMER Practitioner or equivalent.

• Appointed as a Consultant clinical oncologist, clinical radiologist, nuclear medicine physician, or a consultant medical practitioner in another speciality with a certificate of training as an IRMER Practitioner or equivalent.
• Clinical Radiation Expert for one or more hospital departments that use ionising radiation.

• Significant experience as a Lead CRE conducting IRAS ionising radiation reviews in Part B Section 3 or of carrying out set‑up as CRE in departments using ionising radiation in compliance with IRMER.
• Current evidence of Continuing Professional Development.
• Experience of local, regional, national management/planning/co‑ordination of radiation exposure reviews.

• Conversant with research undertaken in one or more disciplines e.g. cardiology, neurology, oncology, orthopaedics, radiology, respiratory, rheumatology, vascular, etc.

• Secondment. Part‑time, Job share, Flexible working, Home or remote working.

• £113,565 to £150,569 a year – we will match your current salary.

• 3 Piccadilly Place, London Road, Manchester.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We welcome applications which represent the rich diversity of our community: age, disability, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and other diverse characteristics, and we have policies in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process.