Events and community engagement manager jobs in Stoke on trent, staffordshire

Parkinson’s UK works with health and social care professionals to transform Parkinson’s services across the UK. 

We do this through our Parkinson’s UK Excellence Network (PEN), a network of over 6,000 health and care professionals with a shared vision: to build an expert Parkinson’s workforce and improve health and care services for people with Parkinson’s.

We bring together and support health and care professionals to share best practice, network and collaborate, share resources and education, and drive improvements to services for people with Parkinson’s and their loved ones.

Since its establishment in 2015, the Excellence Network has provided networking and collaboration opportunities for professionals across the different regions of the UK.

To help us deliver our regional model, we are looking for one healthcare professional to take on the role of Regional Clinical Lead on a consultancy basis in the North East of England and Yorkshire.

About the role 

In this role, you’ll:

• Co-opt a multidisciplinary leadership team to support you in your role. This team should reflect the multi-professional composition of regional services, as well as the geography and should include at least one person with Parkinson's.

• Drive engagement and participation with the Excellence Network at a regional level. 

• Inspire, challenge and collaborate with the health and social care professional community to drive significant improvements to Parkinson’s services across your region.

• Act as a professional ambassador for the Excellence Network and help represent the professionals in your region.

• Engage with Integrated Care Board (ICB) leaders to help influence the development of your Integrated Care System (ICS).

• Work closely with the Professional Engagement team at Parkinson’s UK to organise and hold engagement opportunities in your region. This will include working with the team to hold and lead at least one in-person meeting in your region per year.

• Attend the annual in-person PEN national and regional clinical Leads meeting.

• Support the PEN national calendar of events through attendance or promotion. This includes Excellence Hub meetings and other activities centred around our national priorities.

• Work closely with the PEN National Clinical Leadership Team (CLT) to discuss and review national and regional priorities. Attend a virtual meeting with CLT 2 times per year. 

What you’ll bring:

• You’ll be a UK-based clinical healthcare professional, working in Parkinson’s or with extensive interest and expertise in the condition, with exceptional interpersonal and influencing skills. Healthcare professionals living with Parkinson’s are also encouraged to apply.

• You will have a good understanding of the landscape of health and social care delivery, education and workforce development to support the strategic aims and objectives of Parkinson’s UK.

This is an exciting time for Parkinson’s UK and we would love you to join us!

Please apply by sending us your CV, together with a detailed supporting statement which will fully demonstrate how you meet all the criteria of the role, as stated in the "What you'll bring" section of the job description.

To be considered for the role, you must be working in an NHS service based in the North East of England and Yorkshire region

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an interview, which will be held online via google meet w/c 4 May 2026.

Anyone can get Parkinson’s. It’s vital that the people who work for Parkinson’s UK are representative of our diverse community. We actively encourage people from all sections of the community to apply, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, disability, sexual orientation, or religion.

The Loop delivers high quality, accessible, evidence-based and evidence-making drug checking services and to disseminate harm reduction information to individuals, service providers and policy makers. This is for the purpose of creating a safer society where everyone can access accurate, timely, and relevant information to make more informed decisions about drugs.

The Communications Lead will ensure that we are able to extend the reach and understanding of harm reduction related to drugs and alcohol. This post will ensure The Loop expands its profile and presence, capacity and response, to maximise the opportunities to communicate harm reduction messages and information, raises the awareness, access and understanding of drug checking, and engages stakeholders and members of the public.

This will require the postholder to:

- Coordinate and increase the capacity of The Loop to effectively communicate related to our aims and purpose

- Develop and disseminate social media content, in collaboration with colleagues across The Loop

- Work with partners of The Loop including press and media to further the profile of The Loop for strategic benefit and greater reach to the public.

You will be motivated to assist in the development and delivery of The Loop and possess knowledge of drugs-related harm reduction approaches including messaging, with related or transferable experience in communications. You will contribute and be part of a passionate team of staff and volunteers determined to further introduce drug checking and related harm reduction interventions across the UK.

APPLICATION PROCESS

1. Applications by CV and expression of interest, demonstrating your ability to meet the requirements of this role and your motivation in working for The Loop, deadline 20 April 2026.

2. Shortlisting on 21 April, with interviews held on or between 27-30 April 2026, online.

3. Appointment and commencement in post, May 2026.

Please note: the successful candidate will need satisfactory references and a DBS check. Pay review pending.

The Loop is an equal opportunities employer, and embraces and celebrates diversity in our organisation, communities we serve, and across society. We welcome applications from all.

• Travel required: 15 days / year (approx.)
• Location: Home-based in either UK, Germany or Spain.

We are seeking a Researcher to support the activities of the Patient Evidence Department of Myeloma Patients Europe (MPE).

Please send your CV and cover letter at recruitment @mpeurope. org. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK, Germany or Spain. Applications without a cover letter will be rejected. 

The following tasks and core responsibilities are non-exhaustive and subject to change depending on needs of the organisation.

Job Purpose

The Researcher will support the Patient Evidence department in generating, analysing and communicating patient-centred evidence to inform clinical, regulatory, industry, academic and policy decision-making, and to fuel progress across MPE programmes and activities. The role involves working with qualitative and quantitative data, supporting research projects and contributing to evidence-based outputs that amplify patients’ experiences and needs. The Patient Evidence department conducts our own patient-focussed research and collaborates on external projects with patient and medical organisations, universities, clinical teams, industry partners and regulatory bodies.

Main Duties and responsibilities

Perform the following duties in conjunction with and under the guidance of the Head of Patient Research:

• Independently design research projects and develop research protocols aligned with MPE’s research strategy, including surveys, interviews and literature reviews.
• Support the development of proposals to secure public and private funding to support research activities.
• Independently conduct assigned research tasks in accordance with project deliverables and timelines.
• Conduct and analyse qualitative (interviews, focus groups) and quantitative research (surveys).
• Conduct desk research (systematic and non-systematic literature reviews) on topics such as patient experiences, health systems and psychosocial impacts of myeloma.
• Maintain accurate records of participant data, safeguarding the confidentiality of participants and patient data, as necessary.
• Write up research results and prepare visualisations of data for different audiences (including for patients, clinicians, academic journals).
• Disseminate research results including presentations at international and national conferences, internal and external meetings and workshops. Represent MPE at internal/external meetings when needed.
• Collaborate with communications colleagues to design strategies to disseminate our research to wider audiences.
• Collaborate with relevant stakeholders to develop recruitment and involvement strategies to enhance participation from underserved groups and from different parts of Europe.
• Engage with patients, families, clinicians, patient organisations and other stakeholders involved in MPE patient evidence projects and other myeloma research.
• Provide administrative and organisational support for the Research Advisory Committee.
• Contribute to our member research support training programme including delivering workshops and training events on research design and methodology.

Other responsibilities

• Undertake any other reasonable duties as required by the Head of Patient evidence.
• Critically appraise and provide advice to the wider MPE team on research and evidence requests.
• Build good relations with members, internal and external stakeholders (including doctors, researchers and medical representatives within companies).
• Respond to external patient organisations’ requests on research and evidence topics.
• Attend scientific congresses and meetings and stay abreast of important developments related to myeloma patient evidence.
• Develop content for MPE website, social media and other communications.
• Participate in advisory boards for the pharmaceutical industry.
• Engage with training and continuing professional development.

Essential criteria

• An undergraduate degree in a relevant subject (such as psychology, social sciences, health policy, health and social care, public health or related fields)
• Master’s degree in a relevant subject (MRes Health Research, MPH, or health-related subject MSc with substantive research component)
• A minimum of 3 years experience conducting applied health research
• Knowledge and experience of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies including surveys, focus groups and interviews applied to health-related research
• Strong skills in qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods analysis.
• Understanding of principles of Good Clinical Practice in research.
• Proficient at Office suite – Word, Excel, PowerPoint (or equivalent), and specialist quantitative/qualitative analysis software (e.g. SPSS/R, or Atlas/Nvivo).
• Ability to work from home in a virtual setting with a team spread across Europe.
• Strong listening, communication and presentation skills.
• Rigorous work methods and high attention to detail.
• Demonstrated excellence in writing, proofreading, and editing in English.

Desirable criteria

• A PhD in a related field
• Project management experience
• Experience in cross-national research
• Experience in working with patients, researchers, doctors and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry desirable
• Experience in systematic or non-systematic literature review
• Publications in peer-reviewed journals
• Familiarity with patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and patient experience data
• Knowledge/expertise of cancer patient experience research
• Knowledge of drug development process and clinical trials
• Knowledge and experience of ethical review procedures
• Fluency in additional European languages

Personal attributes

• Organised, with excellent project management and time management skills.
• Ability to lead and work independently on assigned tasks and take appropriate initiative.
• A motivated and self-aware team player, who can work independently or collaboratively with equal success.
• Ability to explain complex scientific terms and knowledge into lay language.

We offer:

• Opportunity to contribute to impactful, patient-centred work at a European level.
• An exciting position in the emerging field of evidence-based patient advocacy, working together with key patient advocacy leaders across Europe.
• Permanent position with flexible hours giving the opportunity to progress and to integrate in a dynamic, friendly and multi-cultural team working from different European cities.

About MPE

Myeloma Patients Europe (MPE) is a pan-European organisation representing 57 myeloma and amyloidosis patient groups from over 35 European countries. It is registered as an international non-profit organisation under Belgian Law. A Board mainly composed of patients and caregivers is elected by the membership to oversee the strategy and governance of the organisation. A team of 14 staff members runs remotely the day-to-day operations, programmes and services within 4 divisions: Access and Policy, Medical Education and Scientific Engagement, Patient Evidence and Member and Patient Community Programmes.

MPE’s vision is a world where every person affected by myeloma has access to the knowledge, diagnostics, treatment and care they need to have the best possible outcomes and quality of life.

Our mission is to drive advocacy by empowering the myeloma community through research, education and collaboration.

Read more about our strategic goals for 2025-2030 here: w ww.mpeurope.or g/about-mpe/our-goals/

About the Patient Evidence department

The MPE Patient Evidence department was established in 2020 to generate evidence to better understand and articulate patients’ perspectives, influence decision-makers and use evidence as a driving force for progress across our strategic goals.  The team is led by Dr Eilidh Duncan and our goal is to lead the development of robust patient evidence to improve experiences, outcomes and access for myeloma patients and their families. We achieve this by spearheading novel patient research initiatives that address gaps in the evidence and ensure the meaningful inclusion of patient perspectives in research design, conduct and interpretation. We use the evidence we generate internally to fuel progress across all MPE programmes and activities and externally by decision-makers including those in clinical, regulatory, industry, academic and policy settings.

The deadline for applications is 1 May 2026 and all applications will be reviewed immediately afterwards. Our hiring team will schedule interviews with successful candidates to take place in the following weeks. We will be in touch following the review period regarding next steps. 

If you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to us at our recruitment email address.