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Strategic Programmes Research Executive
We have established a number of high‑profile strategic programmes to drive progress towards a cure. Most recently, we launched the Dementia Frontiers Fund, an ambitious global initiative empowering researchers to tackle the most urgent and complex questions in dementia.
We now have an exciting opportunity for a Research Executive to support the ongoing delivery of our major strategic programmes, providing essential administrative support to ensure their successful delivery, as well as contributing to the development and set‑up of new programmes of work.
This role sits within the Strategic Programmes team in the Research Directorate, an ambitious, supportive and friendly team that funds the best research to transform the lives of people affected by all forms of dementia. We are looking for someone who is highly organised with a good eye for detail, excellent communication skills, and is excited to support our mission.
Key Responsibilities:
Programme Management and Administration
· Work across the Strategic Programmes team and Partnerships function to provide administrative support associated with the delivery of ARUK’s strategic programmes. In particular:
· Support the ongoing management and delivery of the Dementia Frontiers Fund, acting as the central coordination point and primary contact for business administration activities and providing secretariat support as required.
· Manage the Dementia Frontiers Fund email inbox answering queries from researchers and grant awardees promptly and professionally.
· Support the monitoring of the Dementia Frontiers Fund by scheduling progress check-in meetings with awarded teams, supporting programme review processes, and taking accurate meeting notes to ensure effective follow‑up and documentation.
· Help to manage engagement with a wide range of stakeholders in the dementia research landscape, supporting their input into the programmes, with clear note-taking and systematic tracking of interactions and feedback.
Research meetings and events
· Organise research meetings and events by coordinating schedules, travel and accommodation arrangements, venue hiring, catering, and liaising with meeting attendees and ARUK’s Events team.
· Assist with the smooth running of meetings and events to ensure a positive experience for all participants.
Knowledge, skills and experience needed:
· Experience in supporting teams in an administrative capacity
· Overall IT competency and knowledge of Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
· First degree (or equivalent) in relevant biomedical science
· Knowledge of research funding processes
· Ability to work with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail
· Good organisational skills and the ability to prioritise workload
· Excellent written and verbal communication skills
· Team worker and flexible in approach
· Enthusiastic and professional manner
· Flexibility to work occasional unsociable hours if the role requires
Additional Information:
Ways of working:
As part of our Agile ways of working you will be required to work approximately 2 days a week from the office, which is subject to the requirements of the role and the business needs. Flexibility on where you work can be split between working from home and our office.
Roles that are classed as part of the Agile ways of working are not able to claim any costs for Mileage/Travel on Public Transport, Accommodation and/or Meals. This includes when attending the office for various meetings/events.
Our Office: Our office is at 3 Riverside, Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge, CB21 6AD.
Salary: Circa £24,000 per annum, plus benefits.
Please download the Vacancy Pack on our website for more information.
The closing date for applications is the 26th April 2026, with interviews being arrange once shortlisting has been completed. Please indicate in your covering letter if you are unable to attend an interview on a certain date. We would encourage you to submit your application at the earliest opportunity, as on occasion we may have to bring forward the interview date and/or the closing date based on the needs of the business. Although a possibility, this will only happen in exceptional circumstances. Please indicate in your covering letter if you are unable to attend an interview on a certain date.
We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, particularly from those in the global majority, those with disabilities, men and those from the LGBTQIA+ community. Any offer of employment is however subject to you having the right to work in the UK.
As part of our commitment to being an inclusive employer and ensuring fairness and consistency in our selection process, we will handle your CV and application with the utmost confidentiality. While we strive to anonymise your CV where possible, there are certain sections, such as the application question, that cannot be fully anonymised. We kindly ask that you remove any personal information, including your name, when answering the application question. The hiring panel will not have access to your personal details, such as your name and address, until you are invited for an interview. Should you require any adjustments at either the application or interview stage, please contact us via our website.
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Thank you!
What you will be achieving
As a key member of the Academy’s Policy Team, the Senior Policy Officer will play an important role at a critical moment for the organisation. This role will help the Policy team to plan and deliver a new set of priorities for 2026/27. Relevant priorities for this role include, but are not limited to:
- Improving health outcomes in the UK and internationally.
- Mobilising the UK health research system to turn discovery into practice.
- Making the UK the best place in the world to have a career in medical sciences.
Within these overarching priorities, there are some distinct policy programmes the incoming Senior Policy Officer is likely to work on, which could include:
- Maximising the impact of medical sciences in prevention and early detection.
- Transforming the generation and application of clinical evidence to speed up translation from discovery to patient impact, ensuring equitable inclusion of underserved groups.
- Making the UK a global leader in responsible, effective and equitable AI and data use across the biomedical sciences.
- Conducting a foresight exercise to identify high-impact innovations that will be critical within the near future and ensure the health system is enabled to support them.
The Senior Policy Officer will be line managed by a Policy Manager.
What you will be doing
As Senior Policy Officer, you will lead on or support a range of policy projects and activities to inform and influence the policy landscape in accordance with Academy priorities. This work may include leading on or supporting the following:
- Major working group studies and corresponding outputs.
- Informing and responding to Government set pieces and announcements.
- Consultations and rapid responses, and shorter position papers.
- Roundtables, workshops, and other relevant policy events.
- Correspondence and briefings for senior stakeholders.
- Working closely with Fellows and other experts to identify and analyse key policy issues, gather data and expert opinion. Construct impactful conclusions and recommendations to advise internal and external stakeholders.
- Delivering implementation and follow-up activities on policy recommendations across external audiences and stakeholders.
- Maintaining an excellent understanding of the policy landscape by monitoring developments and key policy issues, including the use of animals in research (please see the Academy’s statement on the use of animals in research).
- Scoping potential new areas of policy work, and/or identify opportunities for the Policy Team.
External engagement
- Collaborating with organisations from academia, Government, healthcare, industry and the charity sector.
- Maintaining and developing an effective network of contacts across the sector (including our Fellows) to inform and increase the impact of policy work.
- Representing the Academy at external meetings, parliamentary engagements (such as the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Life Sciences) and political events (such as party conferences).
Supporting the Academy’s wider functions
- Supporting the Academy’s briefings and parliamentary monitoring functions.
- Coordinating across a wide range of Academy functions, including its Briefings, Impact, and Events capabilities, to maximise the effectiveness of policy work.
- Working with the Communications and Engagement teams to co-develop relevant outputs and activities.
- Briefing senior stakeholders for high-level meetings and events where necessary.
- Supporting the development of core scripts on priority policy topics across the Policy team.
- Supporting the Monitoring and Evaluation team with monitoring the policy team’s impact.
Budget and line management
- Occasionally managing policy budget lines.
- Occasionally supervising policy interns and placement students.
Benefits
We provide our staff with a comprehensive benefits package outlined as follows:
- Generous pension scheme with flexible contributions – we contribute between 8% - 13% of your gross salary (with employee contributions of 3% - 8%).
- Life assurance at three times your salary.
- Hybrid and agile working. 50% office attendance.
- 26 days annual leave, plus Christmas closure days and bank holidays.
- Buying and selling leave.
- Family-friendly policies including enhanced maternity and paternity leave (subject to a qualifying period).
- Complimentary subscriptions to Headspace and Classpass to support your physical and mental wellbeing.
- Support through tailored learning and development.
- A range of enhanced benefits become available once you’ve completed your probation period.
For more information and to apply, please visit our careers portal.
Closing date: 9.00am on Wednesday, 22 April 2026.
Interview date: Thursday, 7 May 2026 (held online).
Thank you!
Hybrid/London (50% office attendance)
We are seeking a Grants Manager to join the Research Talent, Policy and Programmes Team and take oversight for the delivery of a sub-set of the Academy’s UK and international grants portfolio to support our strategy, and – notably - our strategic priority to support the next generation of researchers to reach their full potential.
Working in a small team gives you the opportunity to develop line management skills, set and manage your budgets and be directly involved in securing funding for our schemes. You will keep abreast of developments in UK medical research funding policies and the wider career policy context to ensure that the Academy's grants schemes remain innovative, attractive and fit for purpose.
What you will be doing
Scheme Delivery
- Managing a subset of our portfolio of UK and/or international grant schemes, maintaining and developing robust operational processes in accordance with the high standards of the Academy.
- Drafting funding proposals, in liaison with the Head of Grant Schemes, for existing and potential new schemes.
- Developing and implementing new grants schemes and all associated processes and documentation, as required.
- Producing high-quality reports, briefing and updates for both an internal and external audience. This includes the preparation of papers for Council, Officers and other Academy meetings, as required.
- Being mindful of national and international developments in grant-making and exploring how the Academy’s schemes align with other emerging initiatives.
- Working with senior management to ensure the Academy implements best practice.
- Supporting with the monitoring of grant progress.
Line Management
- Line managing the Senior Grants Officer and overseeing their development.
- Supporting the Senior Grants Officer to administer their portfolio of grants, to include dealing with enquiries; the promotion of schemes; eligibility checking of applications; the organisation of peer review; the preparation of committee papers; attendance at panel meetings; providing reports and financial information; the awarding of the grants and their continued management; and providing feedback to both successful and unsuccessful applicants.
- Project managing and supporting other Senior Grants Officers.
Budgeting
- Developing and managing the budgets for a portfolio of grant schemes and/or activities, in line with internal management systems, to include the regular forecasting and monitoring of expenditure.
- Working closely with the Finance Department.
Stakeholder Engagement and Partnership Development
- Establishing contacts and liaising with a range of stakeholders, including Higher Education Institutions, funding agencies, delivery partners, other professional bodies and early research leaders, in order to ensure the Academy offer is reflective of the current landscape and that we are responsive to continued developments.
- Liaising with the Academy’s Communications and Policy teams to ensure the grant schemes relate to the Academy’s wider strategy and to raise the profile of our schemes.
- Working across the organisation, with individuals from different departments and at varying levels of seniority.
Other Responsibilities
- Developing and overseeing meetings and celebrations for award holders, including regular inductions, training workshops and scientific meetings.
- Undertaking any other ad-hoc duties that can be reasonably expected of this post.
What you’ll bring to the role
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (verbal and written).
- A confident and friendly team player/collaborator (within and across teams), who is comfortable dealing with individuals at a senior level.
- An enthusiasm (and ideally experience) for line management and helping others to develop.
- Experience and understanding of the medical research/academic environment.
- An interest in biomedical and health research.
- High level numeracy.
- Excellent IT skills.
- The ability to think analytically.
- A demonstrable ability to effectively build and maintain partnerships/networks.
- Excellent organisational skills.
- The ability to travel from time-to-time - either in the UK or overseas.
Benefits
We provide our staff with a comprehensive benefits package, including:
- Generous pension scheme with flexible contributions – we contribute between 8% - 13% of your gross salary (with employee contributions of 3% - 8%).
- Life assurance at three times your salary.
- Hybrid and agile working. 50% office attendance.
- 26 days annual leave, plus Christmas closure days and bank holidays.
- Buying and selling leave.
- Family-friendly policies including enhanced maternity and paternity leave (subject to a qualifying period).
- Complimentary subscriptions to Headspace and Classpass to support your physical and mental wellbeing.
- Support through tailored learning and development.
- A range of enhanced benefits become available once you’ve completed your probation period.
If you have any queries about this vacancy, please contact James Harden.
For more information and to apply, please visit our careers page.
Closing date: 5.00pm on 10 April 2026.
Interview date: w/c 20 April 2026 (online).