Research Development Manager

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About us

King's seeks a Research Development Manager for the Dickson Poon School of Law, who will help deliver University and Faculty research funding priorities, supporting the development and coordination of research funding applications to public and third sector funders. The Dickson Poon School of Law is one of the oldest law schools in England and recognised globally as one of the best law schools in the world. Our research and teaching address some of the most pressing questions of our time relating to equality and human rights, the legal implications of climate change, globalisation, international relations, trade, competition and global finance. Members of The Dickson Poon School of Law advise governments, serve on commissions and public bodies and are seconded to national and international organisations, helping to shape policy and practice nationally and internationally.

About the role

Key aspects of this role, which is a permanent (part-time) position at 0.6 FTE or 21 hours per week, include:

• Acting as the key point of contact for the Dickson Poon School of Law's research development portfolio.
• Working closely with academic staff at all career stages to understand their research funding goals.
• Encouraging and supporting applications to appropriate opportunities from concept to award offer.
• Supporting the coordination of responses to strategic funding calls.
• Working with colleagues across the University to maximise opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Working with the research development team to deliver training and development activities for academic staff which increase awareness of research funding streams and capability to apply.
• Gathering data to assess research performance and developing insight to support decision makers.
• Managing internal funding schemes.

The role reports to the Director of Research Development (Arts & Sciences) and sits within an ambitious, collaborative team of Research Development Managers who work across King's' 9 Faculties. It does not have any line management responsibilities. The role brings opportunities to support exciting disciplinary and inter-disciplinary research applications, and the chance to collaborate with academic and professional services colleagues within the Dickson Poon School of Law and, where appropriate, across the range of King's' research expertise.

Research Development Managers are part of the Research Strategy & Performance team, led by Dr Tom Foulkes (Director of Research Strategy & Development) under the academic leadership of the Vice-Principal, Research & Innovation (Professor Sir Bashir Al-Hashimi). The team incorporates c.25 staff, based across the university, who are responsible for research development, strategy, coordination of large-scale submissions and related activities. Our purpose is to enable the university to grow its research activity, exploiting synergies between research groups and helping connectivity across Faculties. This is delivered through an ambitious research strategy for the university covering income, collaborations and international relationships.

Research Strategy & Performance is part of the Research Management and Innovation Directorate, which delivers the full spectrum of research management functions for the university. The Arts & Sciences Research Development team provides strategic and operational support for research income generation activity across five faculties: the Dickson Poon School of Law; Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy; Faculty of Arts & Humanities; King's Business School; and Faculty of Natural, Mathematical, and Engineering Sciences. The Health Research Development team provides a similar role across the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences (FoDOCS); Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, (FoLSM), Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care (FoNMPC) and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN).

The increasingly interdisciplinary nature of research means that academic staff in Arts & Sciences, and in Health, have multiple collaborations with colleagues with other research expertise, requiring collaborative working with professional services and academic colleagues across the university.

This is a part time post at Grade 7, with a starting salary expectation of £53,947 per year (including LWA; pro-rata at 0.6 FTE or 21 hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract. To discuss the role, please do contact the Director of Research Development (Arts & Sciences), Dr Camilla Darling, on Camilla.darling@kcl.ac.uk.

About you

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

Essential criteria

• PhD in a subject area relevant to the Dickson Poon School of Law.
• Experience of working in an academic research or research funding environment.
• Good understanding of the research funding landscape and of the research development pipeline from concept development to application, through funder review processes.
• Experience of managing relationships with academics, with a customer focussed mind-set: motivated to help academics find timely solutions to their problems, and with excellent listening skills, able to quickly understand and explore key concepts.
• Excellent communicator, able to interpret and explain complex information with clarity and confidence; excellent writing skills, with demonstrable experience of delivering clear, structured outputs that deliver results.
• Confident supporting individual and group conversations that deliver insight.
• An engaging and inquisitive individual who thrives on building trusting relationships with experts and stakeholders at all levels.
• Comfortable working independently, knowing when to ask permission and when to inform.
• A high level of work organisation, self-motivation, resilience and determination, drive for performance and improvement, and flexibility in approach and attitude.
• Excellent qualitative and quantitative analytical and problem solving skills, with a solution focussed approach.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of the academic peer review process.
• Experience of contributing to strategic projects.
• Experience working with those new to funding applications.

Further Information

At King's, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university. The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension. We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King's guidance. 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 person specification section of the job description. 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. To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our 'How we Recruit' pages. Interviews are due to be held in March 2026.