Senior Community Engagement Officer

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The Senior Community Engagement Officer will work as part of the Public Engagement Team in the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences at King's College London which is based at St Thomas' Hospital campus. Staff and PhD students focus on engineering better health.

The post holder's primary focus is to engage with our local community in Lambeth and Southwark with our cutting edge research, with the expectation that they also provide outreach/ engagement support across the School as needed. The post holder is responsible for building on our established partnerships with a range of organisations in Lambeth and Southwark to work with people currently not engaged with science and research. The post holder needs to be a visible and accessible team member, advocating for and building outreach and engagement within the School.

The post holder will implement our community engagement strategy to raise the profile of our research with priority local groups. The focus will be on engaging communities with opportunities to be involved in meaningful ways in setting research agendas, as part of King's commitment to being a civic university at the heart of London. The post holder will deliver existing, and initiate new projects based on mutually beneficial activities between communities and the School. This may be expected to involve some work outside of normal working hours, with an expectation to participate in community activity in order to build relationships locally. This is a part time post (60% full time equivalent / 21 hours per week) and will be offered as a fixed term contract for 1 year in the first instance.

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

• Essential criteria

• An in-depth understanding of the purpose of outreach, and in particular community engagement and best practice
• Knowledge and understanding of the techniques and practical issues in building and sustaining links with community gatekeepers, stakeholders and groups
• Experience of project management - working in parallel on projects of different scale and complexity, prioritising and meeting deadlines within budget
• Excellent verbal communication skills and ability to develop and deliver dynamic and engaging public presentations to diverse audiences in an accessible and positive manner
• Excellent ability to engage with individuals of different backgrounds, diversities, age and levels of expertise, including scientists, medical doctors, patients, children, and artists
• Excellent numeracy skills and the ability to manipulate and present data in an accessible format which will inform decision making
• Experience of working collaboratively as part of a team

• Educated to degree level in a relevant area and evidence of a commitment to personal professional development with the ability to use learning in the workplace
• Experience of working in the higher education sector
• Knowledge of the communities of Southwark and Lambeth and key local issues of interest/concern
• Experience in how the public can be involved in meaningful ways in setting research agendas and of working with people with lived experience
• Experience in developing and delivering training in community engagement

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community. We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.