Strategic Research Development Manager

Staff - Non Union
Job Category
M&P - AAPS
Job Profile
AAPS Salaried - Research and Facilitation, Level D
Job Title
Strategic Research Development Manager
Department
Research | Life Sciences Institute | Faculty of Science
Compensation Range
$7,933.42 - $12,395.83 CAD Monthly
The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.
Posting End Date
May 29, 2023
Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the Posting End Date above.
Job End Date
Summary
The Life Sciences Institute is UBC’s largest interdisciplinary research institute, home to research programs of approximately 90 Principal Investigators from four UBC faculties (Science, Medicine, Dentistry, Applied Science) and over 15 departments, who conduct research on a wide variety of life science topics in collaboration with researchers across and beyond UBC. With a mandate under the Scientific Director to further increase the scope and collaborative opportunities amongst the researchers from across these Faculties, this role has been created to define and develop a strategy for research development and lead the development of multi-researcher, cross-Faculty, and cross organization collaborations to foster research excellence. The role will be responsible for creating interdisciplinary research synergies and providing strategic leadership and advice to teams of faculty and external collaborators, and other stakeholders across UBC and beyond, to secure and maintain sustainable funding for projects and large-scale initiatives. This role will design, implement, and oversee research support services, including grants facilitation, for the Institute's research initiatives and individual researchers. The role includes developing and providing authoritative information on administrative processes incorporating the requirements of all participating Faculties, and signing documentation on behalf of the LSI. The role will also define, develop, and lead strategies to maximize research outputs and maximize the visibility of these outputs in order to enhance the prestige and ranking of the institute.
The incumbent will be expected to establish and maintain highly functional collaborations with senior University administrators including Deans, Offices of Research Services (ORS) and Vice President Research and Innovation (VPRI), and the VPRI Tri-Agency and CFI Faculty Research Advisors, as well as similar entities in other institutions and organizations
Organizational Status
The position collaborates with faculty and senior administrators across all Faculties, campuses, hospital sites, health authorities, research agencies and with other institutional partners outside UBC.
Work Performed

• Leads the development of the Institute s research communication strategy, and oversees the development and execution of a variety of services and tools (periodicals, annual reports, website) to promote the research initiatives and achievements of LSI researchers and their collaborators across UBC and beyond.
• Leads and oversees the development and implementation of the Institute s Strategic Research Plan defining the research strategy and research support services of the LSI going forward.
• Plans, directs and manages the delivery of LSI researcher education programs (e.g., researcher information sessions, strategic grant writing seminars, CCV training sessions, manuscript writing bootcamps). This may involve recruiting guest speakers from funding agencies and developing the programs in collaboration with other Faculties and Research Hospitals.
• Leads planning, development and communications for all research projects.
• Provides leadership and strategic direction to the Institute s research support services, overseeing directly or indirectly through subordinates, the development and submission of all Institute research proposals; oversees the delivery of grant support programs (e.g., grant writing, internal scholarly peer review, editorial review, and criteria review) for all funding opportunities, with the aim of improving the research funding success of the LSI and the University.
• Fosters research excellence by leading the development, planning and execution of high-dollar value funding proposals (e.g., CERC, NFRF Transformation Stream) for the Institute. Develops, implements and manages Institute-wide initiatives in response to major funding calls (i.e. CFI-IF, CFREF).
• Creating new funding opportunities for the LSI by leveraging and liaising with funding partnerships programs of agencies such as MSFHR and Mitacs.
• Works with the LSI Director(s) to develop a vision and strategic priorities for the institute and translates these into strategic research and operational plans.
• Oversees communications and reporting for LSI either directly or indirectly through subordinates; research and development of high-level reports, and preparation of statistics and statistical analyses for the leadership of Institute and Faculties for dissemination; enhances internal and external dissemination of research to end-users and stakeholders via in-person meetings through various online channels; exercises high-level decision making on which research achievements to promote for news media attention.
• Represents LSI in high-level meetings and initiatives to enhance LSI s research excellence, including increased funding and increased collaboration across UBC distributed research sites and with external partners, including industry and government.
• Initiates and oversees the development of prestigious award nominations to increase recognition for LSI s research.
• Provides authoritative information on University, Faculty, and funding agency administrative processes, and approves and signs off on grant documentation on behalf of LSI.
• Identifies research synergies, creates new research collaborations, and provides strategic guidance to assemble new collaborative research clusters and position these clusters for research and funding success.
• Provides expertise on a wide range of research areas. Performs other duties as required.
• Fosters research excellence through business development collaborations on and off campus (e.g., CIHR, NSERC, MSFHR, Genome BC, CRC, CERC, NRC, ISED, Horizon 2020)

Consequence of Error/Judgement
A high degree of judgment and initiative is required to oversee effective development of research grant proposals and other research dissemination materials, as well as research support programs at the LSI. Tact and diplomacy is essential to foster faculty researcher buy-in. Ineffective management of the programs and processes could result in an ineffective system that is not supported by the Institute, Faculties, Departments, investigators or reviewers, thereby limiting the Institute s ability to compete effectively in funding agency competitions. Research grant applications that are not reviewed or processed properly may result in a loss of funding or may commit the investigator s department to unacceptable award conditions. The potential losses may vary from a few thousand to multi-million dollar arrangements. Poor management or improper decisions could compromise the successful grant development, research support, and research dissemination process, and could damage the reputations of LSI s research and its grant facilitation and research support program. Full confidentiality must be maintained when dealing with research ideas and data, as breach of confidentiality could compromise the research programs and credibility of LSI researchers.
Supervision Received
Reports directly to the LSI Director. Works with wide latitude and from generally defined goals from the LSI s Strategic Plan and the strategic research plans of the University as well as the Faculties of Medicine and Science.
Supervision Given
Supervises 2 M&P staff in the grant development/ research support, and communications; provides functional direction and guidance to faculty for the development and submission of highly competitive funding proposals. Also, may manage work-learn students, employees on contract or consultants
Preferred Qualifications
Post-graduate degree in a relevant discipline. Post-graduate degree or equivalent professional designation if responsible for a research project or Undergraduate degree if not responsible for a research project. Post-graduate degree or equivalent professional designation if responsible for a research project or Undergraduate degree if not responsible for a research project. Preference for someone who has a PhD in related scientific research field. Five years relevant experience in the research development field would be preferred. 7 years relevant experience or equivalent combination of education and experience if not responsible for a research project. Experience with strategic planning to optimize chances of successful, funded partnerships between researchers and external stakeholders. Experience with identifying partnership opportunities between academia and other sectors, and serving as an effective liaison to bring those relationships to fruition is required. Experience in a large, multi-functioning, complex organization

• Ability to provide training in workshops to varying audience groups
• Ability to comprehend, participate in and document accurately scientific discussions in areas of health, natural science and engineering, social science and humanities
• Ability to verbally communicate and present in an effective manner, and to be a clear writer to summarize relevant information in succinct and precise English, strong scientific writing skills.
• Ability to effectively engage stakeholders, to develop and maintain cooperative and productive working relationships with senior level academics, researchers, UBC administration, government agencies, external stakeholders and partners is essential
• Ability to identify common research interests and potential synergies, and engage multiple internal stakeholders to build strong research teams and strengthened research funding applications
• Ability to make thoughtful, informed and thorough decisions
• Ability to interpret and deconstruct program guidelines into clear descriptions of actions and essential steps
• Ability to read difficult or complicated text analytically and critically