Research Coordinator

Job Summary

This position provides administrative oversite of projects and processes within the Diabetes Prevention Research Group (DPRG) laboratory at the UBC Okanagan Campus. The position supports the Principal Investigator/Project Director (Dr. Mary Jung)

This role is a multifaceted administration position that requires supporting the coordination and implementation of our research lab’s communications, finance, partnerships, and research projects within the lab. The Research Coordinator will also lead the overall planning, coordinating and overseeing of all logistics for meetings, workshops, and events hosted by DPRG.

Organizational Status

This position reports directly to the Principal Investigator (PI), Dr. Mary Jung, and/or her designate. The Research Coordinator will join an interdisciplinary team of scientists whose research focuses on health behaviour change, diabetes prevention, implementation science, scale-up and sustainability of health programming. This includes daily interactions with the Principal Investigator and/or Research Associate and lab members (staff, post docs, graduate and undergraduate students). The Research Coordinator will serve as the lab contact within and outside the University.

Work Performed

· Leading and supporting administrative tasks (e.g. organizing in-person, hybrid and online meetings; reimbursements and reconciling finances; updating CVs and research reports; scheduling; arranging equipment maintenance; internal and external communications).

· Coordinating and facilitating internal and external communications (e.g. website, graphic design, social media, video, podcasts, in-person events)

· Assists with planning meeting and event logistics for research team and research projects

· Collaborating with Dr. Jung in administration of grant applications and strategic work plans

· Monitor and keep records of all grant project expenditures

· Liaise with UBC Finance to oversee reimbursement of partner invoices

· Ensuring ethical, research data management, and financial protocols are being implemented correctly and accurately

· Building effective working relationships within and outside the lab (e.g. with students, trainees, researchers and staff, partners, and community members).

· Oversees project progress, liaises with other departments and partners as necessary, and ensures that timelines are met by aligning project plans with execution. Follows up and recommends action as necessary to help ensure project targets and deliverables are met.

• Oversee inventory of office supplies as well as research project materials/equipment under direction of PI and other senior members of the lab. Ensure all materials/equipment are properly stored and accounted for, order as needed, and ship research project materials to our research collaborators.

· Prepares, composes, edits, and proofreads reports and documents to be submitted by the Project Director and/or team for publication, academic proposals, grants, and presentations.

· Provide support and expertise to design, write, proof, disseminate, and maintain internal and external communications including community and partnership updates, website, posters, letters, memos, videos, social media posts, etc.

· Assists with writing grant proposals and liaises with granting agencies on a variety of matters.

· Monitors workflow to ensure high quality data collection, tracking, management and archiving.

· Ensures ethical standards of research are appropriately set up, followed, monitored, and maintained.

· Ensures timely notification of Project Director and team of issues or problems.

· Responds to inquiries from research participants and community groups (incl. government) related to on-going research.

· Assists with hiring of research assistants, writing job descriptions, posting positions, and screening applicants.

· Facilitate reappointments for staff and students with department HR.

· Organizes and leads orientation and training sessions for research assistants in relation to onboarding, daily, and off-boarding processes.

· Coordinates and participates in research team meetings.

· Coordinate PI’s calendar for lab activities, and liaise with administrative staff for PI bookings

· Performs other related duties as required.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

The Project Director associated with this research project will monitor the work of this position. Errors or incorrect decisions could seriously compromise the quality of the research and result in delays in completing projects. Additionally, serious compromises to the quality of the research will jeopardize future funding opportunities. Failure to clearly represent and communicate the work of the research team could result in severed relationships with the funding agency and collaborators. The work in this position must be completed at a high level of accuracy and efficiency.

Supervision Received
This position will work under the broad directives of the Project Director and research team. It is imperative that this position work collaboratively and with minimal supervision. They will act independently in performing defined duties from broad objectives and will alert the Project Director to any unusual situations and problems as they arise or are anticipated.

Supervision Given
This position may assign and check work of technicians, support staff or students.

Minimum Qualifications

· Undergraduate or equivalent degree in a relevant discipline, or in business

· Minimum of two years of experience or the equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

· Master’s degree in relevant discipline would be an asset.

· Project management experience, successfully managing multi-phase and method research projects through to completion.

· Experience supporting the submission of grants and research grant portals e.g. ResearchNet, Common CV.

· Excellent oral written communication skills including blog writing, research reports, and peer-reviewed publications and presentations.

· Knowledgeable with Microsoft 365 Suite Outlook, Excel & Word

· Understanding of inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility and social justice principles

· Ability to adapt to changing priorities, to multi-task, and to meet deadlines.

· Excellent attention to detail and organizational skills

· Ability to exercise initiative and innovative thinking.

· Ability to work effectively independently and in a team environment.

· Knowledge of qualitative and/or quantitative research methods applicable to health and/or partnered research.

· Experience working in a research partnership between researchers and research users.