Policy/Research Jobs in Greater London
Job Description
The Head of Advocacy and Policy will be responsible for developing an excellent Advice Service and Retention Team to support and advise students effectively to enable excellent student experience and satisfaction.
This role will lead on the development of effective insights, representation and support initiatives/campaigns for students, across our three campuses at Greenwich, Avery Hill and Medway.
This role will enhance work with the diverse student population of the University of Greenwich and lead a dynamic team to ensure students have consistent and accessible services that contribute to positive student experience.
This role sits within the wider Membership Services department, together with other key areas consisting of; Activities, Sport, Academic Communities, Representation and Democracy, we provide a high-quality service for students, that they can shape, steer and be at the heart of.
This postholder will be part of the GSU Senior Leadership Team and will be expected to contribute to department and organisation wide strategic development.
The post holder will:
- Have expert knowledge in areas of in relation to Advice and Retention and policies and legislation relating to such activity
- Support and develop strong student-led communities and campaigns in areas of: Advice, wellbeing and retention so that members can thrive
- Provide line management support to staff so that the team have up to date, specialist advice skills, knowledge and understanding of University regulations, policies and procedures that may affect the work of the Advice service and oversee engagement across Greenwich’s 3 campuses
- Undertake casework and provide expert advice for the team on all aspects of Advice
- Lead on the project management of wellbeing/health promotion campaigns and initiatives throughout the year, as well as any external bids through bodies such as OfS
- Oversee the Retention and Wellbeing Project work, and other relevant projects with external partners
- Lead on insights work relating to retention, wellbeing and support
- Lead on responses to external consultation and enquiry responses, including but not limited to OfS, Department for Education, OIA and Universities UK
- Support elected officers to deliver on campaigning priorities
- Ensure the Advice service has the skills and is equipped to support the diverse needs of students at Greenwich and Kent at Medway.
- Provide regular insights and reports on the GSU Membership to inform our strategy and service provision
- Work with other Heads to develop relevant and modern Front of House services for each GSU campus ensuring ease of access and consistency for all members.
Key Areas
- Be an engaged and active member of the Senior Leadership team, contributing regularly and working collaboratively with peers
- Provide leadership, strategic direction and day to day operational management to the Advocacy and Policy: recruiting and inducting members of staff, motivating, supporting and developing team members to ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge for their roles as well as manage performance
- Develop a proactive results driven culture within the team, ensuring agreed objectives and targets are delivered, whilst promoting a collaborative approach to working with internal departments
- Develop succession plans and identify training and development opportunities within the team
- Be accountable for the quality of outputs of the team
- Provide support to the Officer team helping and equipping them, particularly in their roles as representatives and providing pastoral support and guidance.
- Ensure the whole organisation is aware of and understands the work of the Advocacy and Policy Team and its contribution to our strategic objectives
- To maintain expert and up-to-date knowledge on sector policies and regulations relating to advice, retention and student success, providing relevant guidance to officers and staff as required.
- Develop and promote a culture of continuous improvement across the team to ensure we can adapt to changing students’ needs and priorities, as well as building on successes and preparing for the future.
Strategic Development
- Contribute to the strategic objectives of GSU, with a particular focus on advice, support and wellbeing in relation to the student experience
- Develop and oversee a new and innovative approach to proactive health and wellbeing campaigns that empower students to look after themselves and each other, as well as seeking support
- Lead on Access and Participation Plan Engagement, acting as the key contact on this area with the University.
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with relevant senior UoG staff and departments including Student Academic Services, Faculties and our partners at Kent Unio
- Develop and oversee the Advice service to support advocacy initiatives at multiple levels within the University, ensuring both students and University stakeholders view GSU as a credible and reliable source of information on the needs of students.
Monitoring and Evaluation
- Develop and oversee a structured approach to gathering, analysing and reporting on data relating to engagement of students with our services and to student views on key issues relating to retention and success
- Develop and oversee processes of collecting quantitative and qualitative data from casework to analyse trends and inform feedback for the SU and university
- Ensure evaluation mechanism are embedded in the teams working practises and that findings are shared and used to implement learnings with the goal of improving services
- Support Officers by preparing information, statistics and trends about key services to be shared within the University committee cycle
- Be responsible for the implementation of service standards for the Advocacy and Policy Team and to monitor and report on adherence to these standards
- Prepare materials to apply for any relevant quality mark accreditations for the service.
Budget and Financial Management
- Manage a budget relating to Advocacy and Policy including any restricted funds.
- Be responsible for the teams resources, ensuring these are effectively allocated, managed and controlled
- Review and establish processes, systems, polices and where appropriate standard procedures to maximise efficiency ensure deadlines are met and a positive return on investment
- Review and provide narrative for scrutiny at monthly management meetings with the Finance Team
Stakeholder management
- Collaborate with GSU colleagues, particularly the Student Voice and Engagement Teams to ensure we have a consistent approach to how we work with and support students
- Work with students through our representative structures and forums to ensure we shape services students want and need, taking into consideration the varying campus priorities
- Maintain strong relationships with key university staff to develop, deliver and evaluate collaborative projects and interventions supporting advice and retention
- Attend meetings relating to Advocacy and Policy as well as associated areas at both GSU, the University and externally, included, but not limited to regional networks
- Identify opportunities to share best practice and represent the work of GSU and your team to the wider HE community, through conferences and publication.
Personal Specification
Essential Experience
- Line management experience
- Relevant experience working in the youth, education, students’ union or other membership or advisory organisation
- Experience of leading a multi-functional team
- Experience of mentoring coaching staff/elected officers
- Experience of developing operational policies and procedures
- Experience of budget management, project management, and operational management
- Experience of working with a range of stakeholders and partnership working or strategic networking
Essential Skills and Abilities
- Ability to work with and lead a high performing team
- Ability to troubleshoot difficult situations, and deal with them calmly, efficiently and effectively
- Ability to produce confident, clear written reports and be able to write succinct documents on complex areas
- IT skills at a level that supports membership CRM systems, Advice Pro and other platforms
- Excellent time management and organisational skills with the ability to manage others to reach deadlines, within agreed budgets and to a consistently high standard
- Ability to write strategies and be able to effectively communicate vision and mission
- Ability to stay focused and efficient in the face on changing priorities
- Track record of successfully developing and implementing projects and operational change
- Able to draft policies and procures with an eye for detail and accuracy
Essential Knowledge
- Awareness of current issues within the higher education sector
- Knowledge of relevant external bodies and organisations including Advice UK, NUS, Citizens Advice, OIA, Ofs, Student Minds
- Knowledge of relevant health and safety legislation
- Knowledge of Safeguarding, advice legislation, risk assessments and GDPR
- Knowledge of providing 121 support
Education/Training
- No one specific qualification is required, but evidence of recent continuing professional development in a professional area relevant to the post is required. For example: ILM, City &Guilds etc.
Personal Attributes and other requirements
- Able to travel within the Borough and Region.
- Able to work some evenings and weekends and stay overnight where necessary.
- Works well in a team with a flexible approach to work
- Be eligible for a DBS check if needed
- A commitment to the principles and practices of equality and diversity
- An ability to apply awareness of diversity issues to all areas of work.
- Commitment to the values and ethos of GSU.
Desirable other requirements
- Visionary, creative, and innovative strategist
- A positive, solution focused leader – able to make ‘tough’ decisions; determined and resilient in order to cope with the demands of the role
- Empowering, authentic leader with high levels of emotional intelligence
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Centre for London is London’s independent think tank, and a registered charity. As Research Director, you will lead Centre for London’s research team, developing new solutions to London’s critical challenges, securing funding for our work, preparing, publishing and promoting reports, supporting public events, and communicating our work to stakeholders and policymakers.
As a member of the senior leadership team, you will help develop and implement the organisational strategy; contribute to the development, fundraising and delivery of events and other projects; and promote the ideas of the organisation to build its influence in existing and new public and private arenas.
The recommendations of your team will make a difference to policy and practice – tackling issues such as housing, poverty and inequality, employment and skills, transport and the public realm, the climate and nature crises, community resilience, and London’s place in the UK and the world. You will be line– managed by the CEO and work closely with the External Affairs and Development teams.
This role would best suit someone with significant experience leading policy research programmes – in a think tank, consultancy, central or local government, academia or similar. You will have a strong understanding of policy in London and the UK, project management skills, and be able to credibly communicate complex ideas to different audiences – in meetings, in writing, through blogs and articles, and in speeches. You will have strong analytical skills, including a track record of qualitative and quantitative research. You will have experience in fundraising, will have managed budgets, and will be confident working with researchers at different stages in their careers. However, we are less interested in what you have done, and more in what you can do.
This is ideally a full-time role; however, flexible working is embedded within our culture. We would be open to applications from people who would like to work compressed hours, part time (0.8 minimum) or to people applying as a job share. We view London’s rich and diverse culture as a strength, and we want our team and trustee board to reflect the city we serve. We are keen to encourage applications from women, people from minority ethnic and/or less advantaged backgrounds, or from communities often underrepresented in urban policy.
Full details of the role can be found in the job description. If you meet the criteria in the person specification and are excited about this opportunity, we’d love to hear from you. The successful candidate must have permission to work in the UK by the start of their employment.
We are committed to reducing unconscious bias in our selection processes. Staff who shortlist applications will not see applicants’ personal information (including your name and responses to our diversity monitoring questions). For this reason, please create an application ID code (your initials, followed by two random numbers) and use that on your CV and cover letter instead of your name.
If you would like to speak with someone about this opportunity, please check our website for contact details to email Johnathan Tuck (Operations Manager).
For full details on how to apply, please check our application guidelines in our job description attached.
We will ask you to complete an online form with your CV attached.
- The form will ask you to upload a pdf of your CV.
- Your CV should be maximum 2 pages.
- The filename should be your initials and two numbers e.g. AA14. Please include this code as a header within the file too.
- Please remove any reference to your name, including your email address.
- The form will ask you to respond to the question: How do your experiences and interests make you a good candidate for this role? (400 words max)
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
This role will primarily sit within our Capacity Building and Standards (CB&S) function but will work closely with our Innovation and Practice (I&P) and Advocacy and Communications (A&C) functions.
The CB&S function aims to build capacity both inside and outside of public institutions to embed the processes, skills, structures and cultures needed for effective public participation in decision-making. The I&P function is responsible for the deliberative, dialogic and participatory projects and processes that we run. The A&C function aims to build political and public understanding of and support for making participation and deliberation an everyday, integral part of our democracy.
This role will have a thematic focus on public engagement in decision-making within the science, technology and data sectors. Candidates do not need an educational or work background in this sector, although it would be useful, but we would expect the successful candidate to take a keen interest in these topics.
Involve achieves its impacts by growing expertise in sector-specific areas where public engagement is important. Science and tech represent policy areas where citizen engagement on both principles and practice is vital and where public engagement can also open the door to broader deliberative democratic interventions and feedback loops. Technological advancement, including AI, presents risks and opportunities and will be an ongoing priority for government with five critical technologies likely to be central to UK policy for at least the next Government.
Involve has a significant pedigree and is well networked in the area of public engagement in science. Over the last 20 years we have been thought leaders in this space, in particular running the government’s science and tech engagement programme, Sciencewise. We have developed a reputation for best practice public dialogue, deliberation and capacity building.
Given the opportunity to grow this area, our reputation, and the important democratic need, we don’t want to stand still.
As Engagement Lead you will play a central role in leading Involve’s work, and building out our strategy, on public engagement in the science, technology and data field. The job will involve leading on our Sciencewise programme of public dialogue as well as supporting, growing and communicating our science and tech public engagement in general. You will be a proven project leader and strategic thinker looking to make your next move and develop your leadership and profile in this interesting and important area of public engagement in decision-making.