Research Projects Portfolio Administrator College of Social Sciences 104651 Grade 5

Position Details

College of Social Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range 29647 to 31460 with potential progression once in post to 35388

Grade: 5

Full Time Permanent

Closing date: 23 February 2026

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond support them to succeed and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas innovation and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and depending on the role we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible addition you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year one paid day a year for volunteering occupational sick pay and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool shops places to eat and drink our own art gallery museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

The post is situated in the Intellectual Disabilities Research Institute (IDRIS) in the School of Social Policy and Society. IDRIS is an applied cross-University research institute established in October 2024 with 2024 with the appointment of Professor Richard Hastings as 125th Anniversary Chair and Professor of Psychology Health and Social Care. IDRIS also includes in Social Policy and Society three other professorial staff an associate professor two senior research fellows a full time manager and a number of research fellows research associates and PhD students. Most staff are employed on/funded through external research grants especially from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Other members of IDRIS are based in Schools and Departments across the Colleges of the University. IDRIS works in close co-productive relationships with people with intellectual disabilities family carers and with disability advocacy and professional organisations. IDRISs research and policy/practice impact is across the lifespan and across sectors (education health social care). IDRIS staff are engaged mainly in research on the development and evaluation of interventions and services to support individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families.

The role holder will work across IDRISs portfolio of projects providing dedicated administrative support on larger projects with the day-to-day duties and responsibilities varying from project to project. They will also be responsible for Centre administration for example making bookings for Centre events and arranging and minuting Centre -production and external collaboration is vital to IDRISs research and so the role holder will often be responsible for liaising with external individuals and organisations particularly other higher education institutions groups that represent people with intellectual disabilities and their families including charities and healthcare organisations. You will be line managed by the Institute Manager and will work closely with them.
As well as providing central Institute Support the role holder will initially be supporting two projects; An evaluation of Care (EduCatIon) and treatment reviews for people with Learning disabilities and Autistic people (CECILIA) & DAISY - A digital parent support programme for parents of children with intellectual disabilities: The Digital Family Support study (DAISY). CECILIA focuses on assessing the effectiveness of Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (C(E)TRs) initially through surveying adults with learning disabilities carers & CETR panel members and later through interviews. DAISY will determine the effectiveness of Stepping Stones Triple P (SSTP) an online programme for parents of children with intellectual disabilities.

Job summary

As a senior administrator within a team/department you will provide support for a broad range of administrative duties some of which may be complex. You may also be responsible for managing other staff or for supporting colleagues and sharing knowledge. You will be able to use your wide range of skills both technical and administrative and have the opportunity to lead on specific tasks within a order to flexibly use resource you may be given the opportunity to work in different areas of the department or wider University.

Senior Administrators may work in any area of the University; with large groupings in HR Finance and School/College Hubs.

Main duties

You will be able to deal with complex systems and procedures and will be expected to offer advice on these including deciding on the response to more complex queries.
You will be expected to exercise your judgment on the answer to queries or on the direction of work within parameters set by your manager. On a day to day basis you will be expected to resolve more complex queries without necessarily referring to your manager.
Act as a role model and coach other members of the team.
Maintain high profile working relationships with key stakeholders on your own initiative fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate.
You may be involved in organising events including booking a venue sending invitations arranging refreshments liaising with speakers and attendees manage bookings co-ordination of colleagues advertising collating feedback and reporting back.
Will manage some smaller projects on own initiative but will also carry out desk research and source data from internal and external sources in order to contribute to wider projects.
You will processing project expenditure and monitoring expenditure against agreed budgets liaising with central finance teams
You will be expected to use a variety of complex University systems and processes to research analyst and interpret complex data producing bespoke reports as required. This may include identifying and resolving issues with the data.
Support the management development and implementation of operational processes and systems.
Process more complex data (which may be financial HR student-related or other) monitoring accuracy chasing up missing information and resolving any issues as appropriate.
Provide specialist advice and training to colleagues on area of activity.
As required provide a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings.
You will be required to be responsible for one or more of the following:
monitoring budgets including processing payments authorising expenditure raising concerns where finances are not in line with the budget
procuring goods and services through the University system
updating and writing contents for the Institutes communications eg intranet pages and social media
dealing with health and safety and facilities issues
HR-related tasks such as managing staff absence induction or dealing with leavers
dealing with arrangements for international visitors
monitoring internal procedures/compliance and ensuring these are followed and disseminated as appropriate.
Supports equality and values diversity moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.

Required Knowledge Skills Qualifications Experience
Educated to A Level standard or equivalent level 3 qualification such as a Level 3 NVQ or level 3 national diploma or relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
Minimum of grade C/4 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent.
Experience of administration in a research project environment that requires liaising with external stakeholders including members of the public
Highly proficient IT skills in particular the ability to handle complex electronic diaries and emails the wider MS Office suite of programmes including excel and powerpoint and some experience of using an enterprise resource planning package. The post holder should also be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
Proven ability to plan ahead and anticipate requirements proactively planning own (and sometimes others workloads) to manage time effectively progress tasks concurrently and work to deadlines.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills including the ability to write for different audiences and to required deadlines.
Excellent interpersonal skills. The postholder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
A high degree of professionalism tact and diplomacy and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues.
A high degree of initiative personal judgement resourcefulness flexibility and a self-motivating approach.
Ability to work effectively in a large complex organisation and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions work.
Ability to understand policy and procedures and how to apply these.
Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

Dimensions
This role will require the exercise of personal initiative within and beyond the department. May manage a team or budgets.

Planning and organising
The role is required to work independently on daily weekly and monthly tasks but also on projects with medium-longer-term horizons without daily supervision. May manage others staffs workloads.

Problem solving and decision making
They will work with direction from management but with a significant degree of autonomy. They will deal with more complex queries and be expected to resolve any problems in their area of responsibility. They may also manage the workload of others or coach others to achieve results.

Internal and external relationships
This role will be liaising with internal colleagues and stakeholders likely to be University-wide and with external stakeholders.

For informal enquiries about the position please contact Alexander White email:

View our staff values and behaviours here

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.