Project Officer Participatory Research (Consolidation & Partnerships in Bath

Help shape the future of participatory research. Build meaningful partnerships. Turn learning into lasting impact.

If you're passionate about working alongside communities, skilled at building trusted relationships, and excited by the challenge of turning insights into action, we'd love to hear from you! This is an opportunity to play a key role in the final phase of Participatory Research at Bath, helping us understand what works, strengthen partnerships across our region, and create the foundations for future collaboration between researchers and communities. You'll join a supportive team that values curiosity, reflection, and learning, where your work will directly influence how research is shaped and delivered in partnership with society.

As our Project Officer, you'll contribute to a programme of relationship-building, evaluation and learning across a diverse network of community organisations, researchers and partners. This is an action-learning role. You'll spend time listening, reflecting, analysing and bringing together different forms of evidence to help us better understand how universities and communities can work together to address shared challenges. You'll work closely with colleagues in the Public Engagement Unit to gather and synthesise learning from participatory research and upstream engagement activities, helping to identify opportunities, barriers and future directions. You'll maintain and strengthen community relationships, support connections between researchers and local organisations, and develop practical recommendations that will inform future strategy and investment.

One day you might be meeting with community partners to understand the long-term impact of a project, the next analysing feedback from multiple engagement activities, developing a stakeholder database, or creating guidance to help researchers build stronger community partnerships.

You enjoy working with people and understanding different perspectives. You're curious about how research can connect with communities and create positive change. You like bringing together ideas, experiences and evidence to help others make better decisions. You're comfortable working independently, building trusted relationships, and managing multiple strands of activity. You enjoy making sense of complex information and communicating insights in a clear and practical way. You believe that meaningful partnerships take time, trust and listening, and you're motivated by helping create the conditions for successful collaboration.

You'll succeed if you are:

• an excellent relationship-builder who enjoys working with diverse communities and stakeholders
• skilled at gathering, analysing and synthesising qualitative information into clear recommendations
• organised and proactive, with the ability to manage competing priorities effectively
• a confident communicator, both verbally and in writing
• comfortable working independently while contributing to a collaborative team environment
• motivated by strengthening connections between research, communities and society

During the project you'll deliver a range of outputs that will help shape future engagement activity, including:

• an evaluation report capturing impact, learning and recommendations from previous activities
• a community readiness assessment highlighting opportunities, barriers and local priorities
• guidance to support effective collaboration between researchers and communities
• a maintained stakeholder database and community contact network
• a community communications plan to support ongoing engagement and partnership working

This is a part-time role, working 21.9 hours per week (0.6 FTE) for a fixed-term period until July 2027. We'll offer flexibility through hybrid working and a strong commitment to professional development, as well as a unique opportunity to influence the future direction of participatory research and upstream engagement.

We consider ourselves to be a university where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equity and intersectionality, receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students, and encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and communities, particularly from underrepresented groups, and value the positive impact that will have on the university.

We're continually expanding our benefits package to better support you and enhance your experience with us, and the below is just an example of some of the many great benefits we offer:

• Generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work-life balance
• Generous employer contributory pension schemes
• Cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
• Staff discount at Team Bath gym
• Staff benefits, including discounted postgraduate tuition and language courses, alongside a wide range of personal and professional development opportunities such as apprenticeships, LinkedIn Learning, and more
• Local discounts, including free entry to the Holburne Museum in Bath
• A family-friendly workplace
• An excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce
• Relocation allowance

We're committed to creating a health-supporting working environment where everyone can thrive and be at their best. We offer a range of resources to enable you to do that from your first day here, including:

• Staff support groups and networks
• A network of Staff Wellbeing Champions
• A suite of tools, resources and frameworks that enable you to be at your best and thrive