Research Project Officer

About the Blavatnik School of Government

Our vision is of a world better led, a world better served and a world better governed. We are a global school committed to improving the quality of government and public policymaking worldwide, through three routes: teaching current and future leaders; generating research with impact; and engaging with governments and practitioners.

What we offer

The School is a collaborative, friendly, and dynamic department based in an award-winning building in Oxford. We host regular events and talks with well-known guest speakers – all of which are open to staff. On the social side, we have regular coffee/cake mornings for staff, a family-friendly Halloween event, and Christmas and summer parties.

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ wellbeing and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including:

• An excellent contributory pension scheme
• 38 days’ annual leave (plus additional annual leave for long service)
• Family leave schemes and a comprehensive range of childcare services
• Cycle loan scheme and discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans
• Membership to a variety of social and sports clubs
• Opportunities for remote working.

About the Role

The Research Project Officer will be a key member of the School’s research support team and will – initially at least – primarily work on the ‘Climate Impacts on Early Child Development’ (ECD) project led by Principal Investigator (PI) Professor Alan Stein. This groundbreaking project, which is funded by the Wellcome Trust, aims to generate evidence for effects of climate change and extreme weather on early childhood health and development mainly in Asian-Pacific and African countries.

It will be key for you to work closely with the School research support team and with the PI, ensuring the smooth running of the project, including the organisation of all project activities and implementation of logistical arrangements and follow-up activities; and to use initiative to identify solutions to problems as well as providing excellent financial, administrative and communications support.

You will have responsibility for managing the day-to-day project and administrative activities of the project. This will include executing processes and procedures with partners, ensuring documentation for the grant are maintained, tracking progress on grant delivery and reporting; supporting the set of communications initiatives and events; and relevant diary management, scheduling and secretarial duties for the programme as needed. You will also be required to contribute to research project management across the wider School.

For further details, please consult the job description - click the 'Apply' button above. 

About You

You will have experience working in complex projects with many moving parts and ideally with working with large teams across multiple time-zones. You will have very strong problem solving, communication, team-work and diplomatic skills, as well as enthusiasm for the goals of the project. This is an excellent opportunity to work with a very ambitious and welcoming team, where professional excellence is valued, and where you will have opportunities to build project and grant management and delivery capabilities, learning from an excellent operational team at the School.

Application Process

You will be required to upload a supporting statement, your CV, and the details of two referees as part of your online application.

The closing date for applications is 12 noon (UK time) on Wednesday 8 January 2025.

We anticipate that interviews will take place in late January.

Advert information