Academic Engagement Adviser

Are you a highly motivated knowledge mobiliser, policy engagement officer, impact officer or similar looking for a secondment opportunity? Are you passionate about helping research and academic expertise have greater impact on public policy? Do you have experience designing engagement activities, developing practical tools and resources, and building sustainable approaches to knowledge exchange and collaboration?

If so, we would love to hear from you.

The Academic Engagement Team works across government to improve how civil servants engage with academic expertise, supporting better evidence-informed decision making. Our vision is to embed academic engagement as a core government skill and increase awareness of its value across departments.As demand for academic engagement continues to grow, the team is moving towards a more flexible delivery model that focuses on creating scalable tools, resources and services to support departments across government.

We are recruiting a knowledge mobiliser secondee to help deliver this vision. You will work across multiple areas of the teams portfolio, supporting engagement activities, developing practical resources and tools, and helping create sustainable systems that enable departments to access academic expertise more effectively.

GO-Science works at the heart of Government, ensuring policies and decisions are informed by the best scientific evidence and strategic long-term thinking. Our mission is:

1. Science advice mechanisms that are efficient, effective, speak truth to power and are embedded irreversibly in Government systems.
2. Visible impact through both pro-active and demand-led science advice that is relevant, excellent, and delivered fit for purpose.

This is a great opportunity to be seconded into a dynamic and high-performing team in the Government Office for Science (GO-Science), delivering innovative tools, resources and engagement activity that improve government access to academic expertise and evidence. The team is aiming to embed Academic Engagement as a core skill for all civil servants. The team are responsible for improving the way government works with research organisations, supporting collaboration between academia and policymakers, and developing practical solutions that make academic engagement easier and more effective.

Current work in the team includes:

• Launching and promoting the Academic Engagement Toolkit that helps civil servants engage confidently and effectively with academics.
• Maintaining and improving a range of academic engagement tools and services.
• Promoting opportunities for academic engagement and sharing good practice across government and the academic community.
• Piloting and improving targeted engagement activity to work with departments on capacity for academic engagement.
• Delivering support and guidance on Areas of Research Interest (ARIs).

Key responsibilities

You will play a key role across several areas of the teams work, including:

• Developing scalable tools and resources- Working with colleagues and stakeholders to identify common challenges and emerging needs across government and designing practical tools, resources and systems that can be adopted and used by departments. This could include improving existing products, developing new guidance materials, supporting AI-enabled services and identifying opportunities to streamline how advice and support is provided across government.
• Delivering engagement and capability-building activities- Supporting the design and delivery of workshops, events, training sessions and other engagement activities that help departments understand and apply good practice in academic engagement.
• Connecting people and sharing learning- Connecting people is fundamental to this role. You will need to build and maintain relationships across government and the academic sector, helping people access expertise, share learning and identify opportunities for collaboration.
• Provide advice on best practice Use your expertise and networks in the academic policy engagement ecosystem to advise on challenging and emerging issues, share experiences, and support the development of practical solutions that benefit multiple users and organisations.

You will:

• Build and develop relationships with colleagues across government, universities, academies, funders and other organisations involved in academic policy engagement.

• Identify common needs and opportunities across departments and help develop scalable solutions that improve access to academic expertise.

• Design and deliver engagement activities, tools and resources that support good practice in academic engagement.

• Work collaboratively with colleagues and stakeholders to develop, test and improve practical tools and services.

• Contribute to the teams long-term vision of embedding academic engagement as a core skill across government.

We would love to hear from you if you have:

• Experience working as a knowledge mobiliser, knowledge exchange professional, policy engagement officer, impact officer, research engagement professional or similar in a university, research organisation or policy environment.

• Strong understanding of academic policy engagement and approaches that help connect research and policymaking.

• Experience designing and delivering engagement activities, workshops, training sessions or events.

• Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to build productive relationships across organisational boundaries.

• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly to different audiences.

Desirable

• Experience using digital or AI-enabled tools to improve ways of working.

• Experience evaluating and improving engagement activities, services or programmes.