Communications and Engagement Officer

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCOB) is looking for an enthusiastic, creative, and organised communications all-rounder to support our communication and engagement activities and assist in our mission to ‘Make Ethics Matter’.  

The role

The Communications and Engagement Officer role combines work on events, stakeholder management, public affairs and communications, all seeking to build audience engagement and increase the profile and influence of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.   

The is a vital role within our Executive team, working across our priority areas and workstreams, with range of stakeholders, and utilising a variety of channels including in person and online events, website, email, social media and traditional media.  

The Communications and Engagement Officer reports to the Senior Communications Manager and works closely with them across all communications functions. This post will have responsibility for updating our website, running our social media channels, producing internal and external newsletters and championing and maintaining our new brand identity, which is being introduced from November 2024. The post holder will also help to deliver our media relations and policy influencing activities, playing an active role in delivering media campaigns and in supporting our Parliamentary and Government engagement.  

This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to develop their skills across the full range of communications and engagement, working on projects and campaigns in the high-profile area of bioethics, and supporting our ambitious policy-influencing agenda. 

About you 

We are looking for someone with experience across the communications and engagement mix, including in events and internal communications, stakeholder management and digital and social media content creation. Our work focuses on research and policy in health and life sciences, and while you don’t need to be an expert in those areas, you should have an enthusiasm to develop knowledge of them and the ability to quickly get to grips with the landscape in which the Nuffield Council operates, our strategy and our target audiences. 

You will enjoy working in a team environment and will have excellent written and verbal communication skills. You will be confident working with a range of stakeholders, ranging from subject specialists and academics to policy makers, journalists and members of the public. We are seeking someone who can think creatively about communicating complex and technical research and can work independently on a range of projects. You will be highly organised, with good project management skills and the ability to prioritise and work across several projects at once. 

We are looking for someone with a creative mind, strong news sense and ability to tailor communications to the appropriate audience. You will be able to turn your hand to writing newsletter copy, consultation responses, stakeholder emails and event materials / briefings to a high standard. You will be able to distil key messages from our outputs and use them to create content for a range of communication channels and audiences. 

Ideally, you will have some experience of managing both online and face-to-face events. You will be confident working with audio visual equipment and systems and have experience of using data for analysis, reporting and evaluation. 

Stakeholder engagement is a big part of the role, so you will need some knowledge and experience of using databases/CRM systems to manage and report on stakeholder communications.  

For further information about the role (including the full job description), please click through to the listing on our website.

About us 

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCOB) is a leading independent policy and research centre, and the foremost bioethics body in the UK. We are on a mission to embed ethics in decisions regarding biomedicine and heath so that we all benefit. 

For over thirty years we have tackled some of the most complex and controversial bioethical issues facing society. We are funded jointly by the Nuffield Foundation, Wellcome and the Medical Research Council.  

We aim to inform policy and public debate through timely consideration of the ethical questions raised by biological and medical research so that the benefits to society are realised in a way that is consistent with public values. Our work has led to shifts in public understanding and policy change on topics ranging from assisted reproduction and genome editing to managing the disagreements that arise in the care of critically ill children. 

Central to our reputation and standing is our independence – we do not represent any  particular group or view and we select our own topics, methodologies and outputs.   

We select topics to examine through our horizon scanning programme and use a variety of approaches to identify, consider and resolve the ethical issues they raise. Our approach is multidisciplinary and deliberative. We draw on a wide range of expertise and experience and use the best available evidence.

We collaborate where our expertise complements those of other organisations (e.g. see our current collaboration on Genomics and AI Futures with the Ada Lovelace Institute).   

We engage with a wide range of different voices and views and are committed to increasing the diversity of the people we work with. As part of the Nuffield Foundation, we are a small team with the practical support of an established organisation that cares for its employees. 

Further information and how to apply 

The closing date for applications is 09:30am (BST) on Monday 9th September 2024, with interviews scheduled to take place on Tuesday 24th September 2024.

We are committed to inclusive working practices and during the application process we commit to:  

• As a Disability Confident employer, we will offer a guaranteed first stage interview for disabled candidates who meet the essential criteria for the role.  

• making any reasonable adjustments – for example providing documents in different formats, arranging for a sign language interpreter for interviews etc  

• paying for travel costs (and any childcare or care costs) for interviews where in-person attendance is required  

Our benefits package includes:  

• Consideration of requests for part time and/or flexible working (eg compressed hours arrangements, job sharing etc)  

• 28 days holiday per annum and all public holidays (with the option to buy or sell up to 5 days).  

• A salary exchange pension scheme that offers employer contributions of up to 11%.  

• Life assurance scheme.  

• Family leave policies that provide an enhanced level of pay.  

• Cycle to work scheme and loans towards season tickets.  

• Frequent opportunities for learning and development (including options for coaching and mentoring, and reading weeks) 

• Support with your physical, mental and financial wellbeing including an employee assistance provider, a private GP service, personal health reviews with Bupa, a will and funeral planning service and a staff network of trained Mental Health First Aiders. 

• Staff peer groups and social networks.