Deputy Director - Research, The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre - Sax Institute - ResearchCareer

First listed on: 17 July 2018

 

  • Not for profit sector
  • Maximum-term contract - 5 years, part-time to full-time opportunity (0.6 FTE -1.0 FTE)
  • Ultimo Location, professional and friendly environment
  • Competitive remuneration package, including salary packaging

 

About the Sax Institute

The Sax Institute is a leading Australian expert body in helping decision makers find and make best use of research to solve real-world health and social problems.

We connect individuals and organisations with research, we build research platforms that generate new knowledge for use in decision making, and we lead thinking and knowledge around how to ensure more research has a real-world impact.

We are a transformative organisation established to develop innovative ways of better connecting knowledge from research with those who can use it.

 

Program Area - The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre

The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre (the Centre) is an NHMRC partnership centre established in 2013 that is taking a systems approach to the prevention of lifestyle-related chronic disease. Administered by the Sax Institute in Sydney, the Centre brings together system investigators from 7+ funding agencies to work with researchers from 10+ Australian universities and research centres.

Through its partnerships, the Centre aims to better inform policy and program decision making about what works in preventing chronic disease and in more effective implementation of prevention programs. The core group includes more than 30 leading investigators across Australia from 20 universities, government, non-government and private sector agencies with many other investigators and practitioners involved in specific projects.

The aim of the Centre is to be a world leader in prevention science applied to chronic disease. Its objectives are to strengthen the research base for prevention, synthesise and communicate evidence in ways that are more informative to policy and program implementation, and help activate an effective and efficient prevention system in Australia. The Centre will achieve this through a collaborative and integrated model of working with partners in knowledge production, translation and implementation.

Core funding for the Centre comes from a recently refunded 5-year NHMRC partnership centre grant and also includes $10 million from the Australian Government Department of Health’s Medical Research Future Fund for a three-year program of work on Boosting Preventive Health.

We are seeking a Deputy Director – Research to closely work with the Centre Director, Professor Andrew Wilson and the Leadership Executive Team in managing this exciting national initiative.

 

About the position

Together with the Centre Director, the Deputy Director - Research will provide academic leadership of the Centre’s research program and have a key liaison role with partners in the development of the research programs and in the promotion of the Centre’s work in informing policy and program decision making. This includes working with funding agencies to identify evidence into policy/practice gaps which may lead to the development of new projects, and identifying capacity building needs aligned to the Centre’s areas of expertise and interest.

 

You will have direct responsibility for at least one area of research within the program of the Centre, a coordinating role across research projects, and, lead the Centre’s capacity building activities.

 

You will have high-level leadership skills and understanding of public health policies and strategies. You will have higher qualifications in public health or other fields directly relevant to prevention science. Research or management experience in public health or evaluation is highly desirable.

 

About the Selection Criteria

Essential -

To be successful, the Deputy Director – Research should demonstrate the following technical and behavioural competencies:

  • Track record in conducting and publishing prevention peer review research

  • Demonstrated ability to lead the development and implementation of research projects

  • High level experience in working in co-production/partnerships

  • High level understanding of public health policy, the prevention system at a system perspective, and the capacity to manage policy-relevant research and evaluation

  • Demonstrated sound knowledge and understanding of the national and state health systems and relevant policy developments including population health initiatives and programs

  • Demonstrated ability to work in a collaborative research environment with diverse stakeholders

  • PhD in public health research

  • Experience in program evaluation.

 Desirable -

  • Understanding of/or commitment to working in a non-profit organisation.

     

About the benefits

  • Competitive salary including packaging

  • Opportunity to impact health policy and program delivery.

 

Further details

The position description is available on the Careers Opportunities page of our website: https://www.saxinstitute.org.au/about-us/career-opportunities/.

To apply please send your CV and a cover letter addressing the Selection Criteria to jobs@saxinstitute.org.au with the subject heading: Deputy Director - Research, The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre.

For any enquiries please contact Professor Andrew Wilson at Andrew.Wilson@saxinstitute.org.au

Applications close date: 5pm, 17 August 2018.

The Sax Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer.