About Health Data Research UK

Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) is the national Institute for data science in health.  Our UK team of experts develop and apply cutting-edge data science approaches to clinical, biological, genomic and other multi-dimensional health data to address the most pressing health research challenges facing the public. 

Our mission is to make game-changing improvements in the health of patients and populations through data science research and innovation.

For the first time we are bringing together the UK’s population-wide health data assets, enabling specialists across academia, industry and healthcare to unlock knowledge and deliver new insights from molecules to humans.  By undertaking research at scale, across a population of up to 67 million people, we have an unrivalled opportunity to use data to the highest ethical standards to drive breakthroughs in medical research.  This unleashes the potential to improve the way we are able to prevent, detect and diagnose diseases such as cancer, heart disease and asthma.

At Health Data Research UK, we employ talented individuals who bring their own unique skills and experience to support the vision and benefit the whole team. 

About ADR UK

Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK) is a partnership of government and academic groups, led by a team within UKRI’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), working with UK government departments and devolved administrations to create linked research datasets from administrative sources, then making these available to researchers via the ADR UK Trusted Research Environment (TRE) network.

Good government policy – policy that solves social and economic problems and improves lives – needs good evidence. But good quality evidence is expensive and time-consuming to produce, and evidence from academic research can also have a different focus from what government needs most to make policy decisions and deliver effective services.

ADR UK’s mission is to solve both these problems by transforming the way researchers access the UK’s wealth of public sector data. By joining up the abundance of administrative data already being created by government and public bodies across the UK and making it available to approved researchers in a safe and secure way, we are enabling vital research that has the potential to lead to better informed policy decisions and more effective public services, in areas from improving education and healthcare to tackling crime.

ADR UK’s work plays an important role in bridging the gap between government and academia, enabling government policy to be informed by the best evidence available, and putting us on the path to a future in which the true potential of administrative data to improve society is realised.

About UKRI

Launched in April 2018, UKRI is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). 

UKRI brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England, which support research and knowledge exchange at higher education institutions in England, and the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, to create an independent organisation with a strong voice for research and innovation, and a vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. More information can be found at www.ukri.org. 

 DARE UK Programme (UK Trusted and Connected Data and Analytics Research Environments)

The formation of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has provided an opportunity to develop a collective and coordinated vision for the research infrastructures in the UK, and specifically to create a coherent state-of-the-art national Digital Research Infrastructure that will enable UK researchers and innovators to harness the full power of multi-dimensional data, modern digital platforms, tools, techniques and skills.

The UK Trusted and Connected Data and Analytics Research Environments programme (DARE UK) aims to deliver a novel national federated digital infrastructure to establish the next generation of Trusted Research Environments (TREs) (i.e., secure, cloud-enabled environments for advanced analytics). It will:

• Define how organisations can best use data for public good whilst protecting sensitive information about individuals.

• Define the technologies, combined with changes in wider governance, policy and business frameworks, that could enable the sharing and use of data in a privacy-preserving manner.

• Support researchers to safely store (as and when required), but mainly process, curate, link and analyse potentially identifiable/sensitive data (generally, unconsented ‘FAIR ified’ data from different modalities/sources) at UK scale; bring advanced analytical algorithms (e.g., AI/ML algorithms) to the data export software/algorithms and analyses results developed and produced within this environment.

 DARE UK’s scope would include all research conducted by UKRI Councils that uses, or anticipates use of, large scale personal/sensitive data related to social, biomedical and environmental science relevant to humans. The programme will review existing infrastructure within each of the Councils, identify opportunities for joint-working, and novel approaches and innovations. It is envisaged that the DARE-UK programme would be delivered in three phases, with phases two and three dependent on the conclusions from phase one and the securing of the funding:

Phase 1: Design and Dialogue (~13 months, July 2021 – July 2022)

Phase 2: Build, Test and Establish (~12 months, August 2022 – July 2023)

Phase 3: Deliver, Optimise and Federate (~35 months, August 2023 – May 2026)

The first phase (Phase One – the foundational phase) of delivering to UKRI digital ambitions focusses on investment in a portfolio of high priority, timely and community-validated digital infrastructure requirements, based on a prioritisation exercise conducted by UKRI’s Councils.

Purpose and responsibilities of the post

 Main Responsibilities

 As the Programme Manager for DARE UK, you will be accountable to the Senior DARE Programme Manager and responsible for supporting the successful development and delivery of the entirety of the foundational Phase 1: Design and Dialogue.

• Support work with the DARE UK joint oversight group, to ensure identified key programme tasks are completed on time and new activities continuously planned in.

• Project manage specific activities across the programme including stakeholder mapping (listening and engaging), and establishing the aims, objectives, outputs, and outcomes of DARE UK

• Support with developing and commissioning a series of sprints to test the hypothesis of a common federated data architecture with shared standards for governance, ethics and metadata (in collaboration with the UKRI MRC)

• Support with coordinating the involvement of key stakeholders at appropriate stages throughout the programme.

• Support with coordinating a programme of community and public engagement on the DARE UK vision

• Support finance tracking and liaise with the HDR UK Finance team / UKRI MRC.

• Support development of reference communication materials such as standard presentation and comms decks.

• Enable use of appropriate team communications and project management tools.

• Maintain a structured filing system which includes easy identification and maintenance of the latest versions of key reference materials. Ensure that regular reports are received from different working groups and prepare updates based on these for onward communication.

• Be prepared and able to work flexibly to support colleagues as needed, adapting to an evolving environment and emerging priorities.

Planning and organising

 The Programme Manager will be responsible for supporting the management of the DARE UK Programme (Phase 1: Design and Dialogue, and will need to work closely alongside teams across HDR UK, ADR UK and UKRI. You will coordinate work with partners to ensure that staff across all organisations are able to work effectively and flexibly in meeting DARE UK’s strategic objectives. You will support work with partners to develop, implement and manage effective systems to deliver the operational functions of DARE UK within a governance structure.  This will require considerable planning, organisational, delivery and partnership skills, an organised mindset with strong grasp of detail and a flexible approach to work to fast-paced and changing demands.  

Influence

 This role will be required to work across many different organisations and sectors (UKRI research councils, civil service, devolved administrations, academia, technical suppliers), engaging with different stakeholder across these groups (including policymakers, technical developers and academics). This will require the ability to understand and navigate sensitive areas and diverse political environments.. This will require outstanding communications skills, the ability to build and manage relationships and foster efficient and collaborative ways of working across the whole of the community.

Problem solving

 The post holder will be expected to use problem solving skills to respond to diverse demands.  This will require confidence in dealing with enquiries and challenges that arise across the work programme and the ability to propose innovative solutions and work with others to develop and deliver these.  They will need to respond to challenges and opportunities with optimism and respect, seeking to identify the cause, rather than focussing on immediate issues, and thinking ahead to actively manage risks, anticipating issues and proposing solutions. They will need to display flexibility to adjust plans as necessary, managing ambiguity, providing clarity and support to others through change

Decision making

 The post-holder will make all day-to-day operational decisions for their own workload.  They will need critical thinking skills with the ability to formulate and contribute their own point of view and to help others through problem-solving.

Continuous improvement

 HDR UK is dedicated to continuous improvement through our quality management system and demonstrated by our commitment through our ISO 9001 certification. The post-holder will support with reviewing, analysing, identifying and implementing opportunities for quality improvement within their remit and as part of the wider team through our strategy development and internal audit processes.  Close relationships with the project teams will be essential and the post-holder will be required to trouble-shoot specific delivery challenges, as well as identifying opportunities to develop more systematic approaches to facilitate the success of the programme.

Key contacts/relationships

 The post holder will build and maintain effective working relationships across the programme, members of the central HDR UK office and with other key stakeholders including ADR UK, UKRI, ONS, NHS Digital, DHSC and other government departments.  The Programme manager will have strong listening and written and verbal communication skills as a key part of the role will be coordinating, building consensus and overseeing a diverse range of delivery partners.

 Knowledge, skills and experience

 Essential

• Expertise in successfully supporting the delivery of complex programmes with multiple components and many collaborating organisations in a fast-paced environment.

• Expertise in a range of specific project management tools and improvement methodologies.

• Ability to apply management principles and processes and proactively manage risk. 

• Ability to rapidly develop an understanding of data-influenced healthcare processes.

• Ability to process complex information and present targeted messages to different audience

• Flexible problem-solving ability.

• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to work accurately with attention to detail.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team and across different geographies and cultures.

• Ability to work autonomously

Desirable

• Experience with different team working and project management tools

• Experience of managing programmes in government or academia

• Ability to challenge technical experts

 Dimensions

•  This is a full time role on a fixed term 12 month contract

• Our offices are based at Gibbs Building, 215 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE. As a result of the pandemic, staff are currently working remotely. All HDR UK roles are primarily based at the London offices, however we are flexibly working across a number of geographical locations.

• Frequent travel will be required to research site and partner organisations across the UK

Values

HDR UK’s values guide how we work together within HDR UK and with our partners and other stakeholders:

• Transparency: we will share information, insights and innovations so that we learn faster together.

• Optimism: we believe that we can make things better, that we can do things differently and that we can overcome challenges to create a new and thriving health data ecosystem that benefits patients and the public, the NHS, scientific discovery and industry.

• Respect: we deliver better results when we work in a truly interdisciplinary way. We listen, share and respect a diversity of thought and opinion, perspective and experience. We are inclusive - leveraging and fairly attributing the expertise and capabilities of others.

• Courage: we are leading the way and will be prepared to try new things, take risks, embrace ambiguity and challenge the status quo. We will contribute opinions to shape the future of health data research.

• Humility: we have a lot to learn from others; and aim to be free from pride and arrogance.

 Equal Opportunities Policy Statement

Health Data Research UK is an equal opportunities employer, and as such aims to treat all employees, consultants and applicants fairly. It is our policy to provide employment equality to all, irrespective of:

·       Gender, including gender reassignment

·       Marital or civil partnership status

·       Having or not having dependants

·       Religion or belief

·       Race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins)

·       Disability

·       Sexual orientation

·       Age

We are opposed to all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination.  All job applicants and employees who work for us will be treated fairly and will not be unfairly discriminated against on any of the above grounds. Decisions about recruitment and selection, promotion, training or any other benefit will be made objectively and without unlawful discrimination.