Senior Research Project Officer - Diabetes Prevention Program

As part of the UQ community, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside the brightest minds, who have joined us from all over the world.

Everyone here has a role to play. As a member of our professional staff cohort, you will be actively involved in working towards our vision of a better world. By supporting the academic endeavour across teaching, research, and the student life, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to activities that have a lasting impact on our community.

Join a community where excellence is at the core of our culture, contributions are valued and a range of benefits and rewards are available, such as:

• 26 weeks paid parental leave or 14 weeks paid primary caregiver leave

• 17% superannuation contributions

• 17.5% annual leave loading

• Access to flexible working arrangements including hybrid working options, flexible start/finish times, purchased leave, and a condensed fortnight

• Health and wellness discounts – fitness passport access, free yearly flu vaccinations, discounted health insurance, and access to our Employee Assistance Program for staff and their immediate family

• On campus childcare options

• Cheap parking (from just $5.75 a day)

• Salary packaging options

The School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences have an exciting opportunity for an experienced and highly motivated Senior Research Project Officer. In this role, you will work closely with researchers and stakeholders from the Small Steps for Big Changes team, an NHMRC funded Research Project that is located within the Health and Wellbeing Centre for Research Innovation. You will play an integral role in Research Project coordination and support of high-quality Research Project outcomes through project management, collaboration with stakeholders and project staff, governance and research administration, scientific writing, data management and data collection at all stages of the research life cycle.

Small Steps for Big Changes is an evidence- and community-based diet and exercise intervention for individuals at risk of type 2 diabetes. Developed in Canada and designed for feasible and sustainable translation into communities, this 4-week program has demonstrated potent long-term impacts, with 85% of participants no longer having prediabetes 1-year post-program and nobody progressing to type 2 diabetes. It now needs to be delivered at scale to achieve population-level impact. The project will evaluate the program across multiple heterogenous communities across South-East Queensland in collaboration with community partners.

This role will require travel to each of the five participating sites a minimum of 4 times per year, and access to own transportation is required.

Key responsibilities will include: 

• Coordinating aspects of the Research Project cycle, including planning, delivery, monitoring, and evaluating to support the successful completion of projects

• Providing Research Project and administration support

• Assisting with implementing Research Project plans

• Communicating information accurately to diverse stakeholders

• Coordinating research documentation, including ethics and funding applications

• Preparing reports, graphs, figures, and presentations on research outcomes

This is a full-time (100%), fixed-term position for up to 3 years. Part-time arrangements (minimum 70%) would be considered upon negotiation with the preferred candidate.

At HEW level 6, the full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range $88,099 - $94,512, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $103,076 - $110,579 annually. As this role is covered by an Enterprise Agreement, you will also receive regular remuneration increases – at least once a year.

As the Senior Project Officer you will work with lead investigators to manage the successful delivery of Small Steps Big Changes in Australia. Therefore, you will have experience and relevant expertise in:

• project management

• engagement with industry personnel and stakeholders; and

• research governance

Additional criteria include:

• A Bachelor’s degree in the field of health promotion, public health, exercise and nutrition science, health psychology or similar with relevant experience or equivalent experience and/or equivalent education/training in Research Project management. A MPhil or PhD in any of these fields would be highly desirable.

• Demonstrated capacity to manage and coordinate Research Projects in a multidisciplinary environment.

• Well-developed problem-solving skills, with an ability to forward plan, prioritise tasks to meet deadlines and work with a high level of adaptability, both independently and as part of a team.

• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills with proven ability to produce clear, succinct documentation and the ability to liaise effectively with a wide range of stakeholders in a research environment.

• Strong writing and editing skills, with demonstrated ability to understand and present complex content in a clear and concise manner.

• Self-motivated with demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team, with excellent organisational and time management skills.

• Knowledge of research governance and skills that support research, including preparing and managing ethics applications, data management and carrying out literature searches.

• Commitment to upholding the University’s values, and with the outstanding personal qualities of openness, respectfulness, and integrity.

• Experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods is desirable.

• Experience with data cleaning and analysis is desirable.

In addition, the following mandatory requirements apply:

• Work Rights: You must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of this appointment to apply. Visa sponsorship is not available for this appointment. 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Professor Genevieve Healy at *******@uq.edu.au. For application queries, please contact ******@uq.edu.au stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line.
 

All applicants must upload the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Cover letter addressing the ‘About You’ section  

• Resume 

At UQ we know that our greatest strengths come from our diverse mix of colleagues, this is reflected in our ongoing commitment to creating an environment focused on equity, diversity and inclusion.  We ensure that we are always attracting, retaining and promoting colleagues who are representative of the diversity in the broader community, whether that be gender identity, LGBTQIA+, cultural and/or linguistic, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, or people with a disability. Accessibility requirements and/or adjustments can be directed to ******@uq.edu.au.

If you are a current employee (including casual staff and HDR scholars) or hold an unpaid/affiliate appointment, please login to your staff Workday account and visit the internal careers board to apply for this opportunity. Please do NOT apply via the external job board.

Applications close Tuesday 12th March 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (Job Reference Number - R-35742).