Education Manager (Research)

About us

The UCL Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MAPS) is comprised of eight departments that are highly rated for research excellence: Chemistry; Physics & Astronomy; Space & Climate Physics; Mathematics; Science & Technology Studies; Earth Sciences; Risk and Disaster Reduction and Statistical Science. In addition, the faculty has its own interdepartmental undergraduate degree programme: Natural Sciences. UCL Mathematical and Physical Sciences employs over 1,400 members of staff, of whom approximately 80% are academic, teaching and research staff and 20% professional services. There are approximately 4430 undergraduate students, 950 postgraduate taught students and 1060 postgraduate research students. The faculty prides itself on providing a culturally diverse environment for students and staff alike.

MAPS encompasses a range of different research cultures, student populations, supervisory arrangements and departmental contexts. Chemistry and Physics & Astronomy have the largest PGR populations, with 227 and 222 students respectively, followed by the London Centre for Nanotechnology with 174 and Mathematics with 147. In the London Centre for Nanotechnology, PGR students make up the entire student population, while other departments combine substantial research communities with significant undergraduate and postgraduate taught provision. The Space & Climate Physics PGR student community are based in a unique setting in the Surrey Hills.

We are recruiting an Education Manager (Research) to join our Faculty Education and Student Experience (EASE) team. This is an exciting time to join MAPS as we establish a new Faculty-wide Education and Student Experience structure, launching in February 2027. The Education Manager (Research) will play a key role in establishing and leading our new approach to Postgraduate Research Administration across MAPS, supporting a community of approximately 1,100 research students across a highly diverse portfolio of departments and research environments.

Our model is deliberately collaborative and embedded, bringing together a team with specialist expertise in research degree administration as a Faculty-wide professional network, while ensuring that team members remain closely connected to the departments, academics, supervisors and research communities they support. This model is intended to combine local knowledge and relationships alongside Faculty-wide expertise, consistency and resilience.

About the role

The Education Manager (Research) will provide leadership for this integrated team and oversee the effective delivery of administration across the end-to-end PGR student lifecycle, including admissions, student records, progression and monitoring, examination processes, funding administration, regulatory requirements and student support. They will work in close partnership with the Faculty Graduate Tutor, Departmental Graduate Tutors, supervisors, Departmental Managers and other academic and professional services colleagues, as well as the UCL Doctoral School and Student Registry Services.

The role provides an opportunity to shape PGR administration at both departmental and Faculty level, balancing consistency and continuous improvement across MAPS with responsiveness to the very different needs of its research communities. A central part of the role will be creating a strong professional community among PGR administrators across MAPS.

The Education Manager will help colleagues to share expertise, identify and implement good practice, build resilience across departmental boundaries and provide a consistently high-quality service to research students and supervisors.

Key responsibilities

The Education Manager (Research) will:

• Lead and manage a team of Education Coordinators and Administrators supporting PGR provision across MAPS, overseeing priorities, workload distribution and service delivery.
• Provide operational leadership and oversight across the PGR student lifecycle, ensuring high-quality, timely and consistent administration.
• Build an effective Faculty-wide PGR professional community, enabling colleagues to share expertise, good practice and capacity across departmental boundaries.
• Maintain strong relationships with departments and ensure that Faculty-wide ways of working remain responsive to different disciplinary and research environments.
• Work closely with the Faculty Graduate Tutor, Departmental Graduate Tutors, supervisors and Departmental Managers to understand priorities and resolve complex issues.
• Develop consistent processes and ways of working where these improve the student and staff experience, while recognising legitimate differences between departments and research programmes.
• Support colleagues with complex student records, progression, examination and student casework.
• Use data and operational insight to identify pressures, risks and opportunities for service improvement.
• Contribute to Faculty education strategy and the development and implementation of wider EASE priorities.
• Liaise with key UCL partners, particularly the Doctoral School, Admissions, Student Registry Services and Student Support and Wellbeing.

This is a hybrid role, but visible engagement with departments will be an important part of the role. Flexibility will therefore be important. There will be periods when increased on-campus presence is required, and the postholder will spend time working alongside departmental teams across MAPS. Specific working arrangements will be discussed, agreed and periodically reviewed with the line manager.

Contact details

If you have any queries regarding the vacancy, please contact Cassie Wood – Head of Education and Student Experience (cassandra.wood@ucl.ac.uk).

If you need reasonable adjustments or a more accessible format to apply for this job online or have any queries about the application process, please contact maps.ease@ucl.ac.uk

About you

We are looking for someone who is excited by the opportunity to lead across a large, varied and research-intensive environment. You will need to be comfortable operating across organisational boundaries, building relationships with different academic communities and balancing the benefits of consistent Faculty-wide approaches with the particular requirements of individual departments.

The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:

• Educated to a degree level or equivalent professional experience
• Knowledge of the university structure, the pressures and challenges facing the higher education sector, and the importance of this to student experience
• Knowledge of processes and issues related to postgraduate research (PGR) student administration, including the management of scholarships
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams effectively by fostering collaboration, setting clear goals and supporting team members’ development
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to influence, negotiate and collaborate with colleagues at all levels as well as external stakeholders
• Strong analytic and problem-solving skills, including demonstrable ability to manage sense of complex issues even when information is incomplete
• Commitment to and knowledge of advancing equality, diversity and inclusion
• The ability to manage multiple projects and competing priorities effectively
• Strong line management and leadership skills and the ability to develop an effective, collaborative network across different locations and departments

Please see the attached job description and person specification for full details. Please also read the attached Candidate Guidance webpage. All applications must include a supporting statement telling us, using examples, how you meet the essential criteria listed in the job description. Applications without a supporting statement will be rejected.

If you have any queries about the role or application process, have any technical issues, or need reasonable adjustments or a more accessible format to apply for this job online, please contact the staffing team at maps.ease@ucl.ac.uk

Please note, we reserve the right to close the advert earlier than the published date if there is a high level of interest. As a minimum all adverts will remain open for two weeks.

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer great benefits some of which are listed below:

• 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
• Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• On-Site nursery
• On-site gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
• Discounted medical insurance

Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We particularly encourage applications from candidates underrepresented in UCL’s workforce, including those from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled people, and – for Grade 9 and 10 roles – women. Read more: UCL Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Applicants should also familiarise themselves with UCL’s policies on: Prevention of Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy and Personal Relationships Policy