International Alliance Programme Support Officer

Job Description

Reporting to: PMO ManagerContract: 12 monthsHealth Data Research UK (HDR UK) is the national institute for health data science. Our mission is to unite the UKs health data to enable discoveries that improve peoples lives. It is funded by UK Research and Innovation, the Department of Health and Social Care in England and equivalents in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and leading medical research charities.HDR UK was set up in 2018 to support research on health data at scale to advance our understanding of disease and enable new discoveries that will ultimately improve health and care. We have established national research programmes that use data at scale, and we are building an infrastructure to enable the responsible access and analysis of this data. Our work is structured around three key themes:

Uniting health data - which includes the UK Health Data Research Alliance and the Health Data Research Innovation Gateway.

Improving health data - which includes tools, methods, Health Data Research Hubs and the BHF Data Science Centre.

Using health data - which includes research discoveries and skills development across four national priority areas: Understanding the Causes of Disease, Clinical Trials, Public Health and Better Care.

We have been central to the UKs response to COVID-19, enabling a trustworthy, national approach to using health data, drawing on the full capabilities of UK research. This enabling health data for research into understanding the virus, clinical trials for treatments (including Dexamethasone), symptom trackers, risk calculators and impacts on vulnerable groups, including cancer patients.For the first time we are bringing together our unique nationwide health data assets and specialists across academia, research and healthcare to unlock knowledge and deliver new insights from molecule to man. This is being achieved through a three-part health data research infrastructure - the Alliance, Hubs and Gateway:

1. UK Health Data Research Alliance - an Alliance of data suppliers committed to making an unprecedented breadth and depth of data available for research and innovation purposes.
2. Health Data Research Hubs - making data available, curating data, and providing expert research services. The Hubs will be centres of expertise to get from data to insight and the location to collaborate and co-create.
3. Health Data Research Innovation Gateway - providing discovery, accessibility, security and interoperability to surface data, support linkage, and enable health data science safely and efficiently.

By undertaking research at scale, across a population of up to 65 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. In providing expert services and bringing together the best of multiple sectors to support research and innovation, Hubs provide an important vehicle in achieving this ambition.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 the International COVID-19 Data Research Alliance and WorkbenchThis is a high profile, charity-funded, international collaboration which will create an International Alliance of data custodians and digital workbench for researchers and innovators to impact our COVID-19 response by enabling the sharing of data at scale.Announced on 26 June 2020, the International Alliance is an independent consortium of leading life science, philanthropic and research organisations uniting to respond to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The aim is to transform the way that scientists and researchers access health data from clinical trials, biomedical and health research studies to answer the most pressing health-related questions about COVID-19. It is particularly focused on ensuring inclusion from researchers from lower- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The Workbench will provide a trustworthy platform to access data for collaborative data science. It will have several key functions:

Allow researchers to search and find relevant data from multiple repositories across the world.

Allow researchers to request access to data from multiple sources to address specific research questions.

Allow data custodians to retain control of decisions about how data they hold can be accessed and used.

Allow researchers to form virtual teams to address specific questions or projects in private, secure workspaces provisioned to meet the requirements of their projects.

The International Alliance and Workbench will facilitate access to data from multiple sources through a trustworthy data infrastructure, with robust governance and stewardship to enable a rapid response to COVID-19 and future disease outbreaks.These are important because they are addressing an urgent, unmet need to access global health data at scale for research and innovation to rapidly understand the disease and how to prevent and treat it.The launch event took place on 8 July 2020 and provides more information about the initiative.Purpose of the postTo coordinate programme activities and manage the dynamic working groups across all areas of the programme. You will be involved in all aspects of delivery of this ground-breaking programme and will be integral in assisting the International Alliance team to realise the goals of this initiative.Main Responsibilities

Work with the International Alliance Programme Manager and wider team, to ensure identified key programme tasks are completed on time and new activities continuously planned in.

Project manage specific activities across the programme including: Co-ordinating and assisting in delivering working group activities, including Workstream meetings, support for Driver Projects and events and workshops with key stakeholders (in conjunction with the Communications and Engagement team).

Disseminate the outputs of programme activities, organising meetings, ensuring tasks from multiple projects within the programme are on target and escalated to the Project manager as required.

Coordinate stakeholder engagement across the programme, including external partners and funders.

Become an expert user of the Customer Relationship Management system, ensuring accuracy and completeness of data, developing reports for HDR UK leadership.Provide diary management and executive assistant support t