Research And Engagement Officer - Lancaster University Ghana

We are a dynamic, ambitious and growing university community.  We offer a friendly working environment and are committed to developing:

• An excellent student academic and social experience;
• Students’ employability and enterprise skills;
• World-class academic staff, with strong links with industry;
• Research activities in collaboration with other higher education institutions in Ghana and elsewhere.

Job Description

Lancaster University Ghana / Transnational Academic Group Ghana is looking for dynamic, enthusiastic and self-motivated individual with passion for research and engagement and a commitment to excellence to fill the following position: RESEARCH AND ENGAGEMENT OFFICER (IRP, FITA)

Job Summary

This new high profile role will be an important member of the research team for the £6.8M RECIRCULATE project funded by Research Councils UK through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). GCRF funding over 4 years will support new partnership-based approaches to enable West African researchers to grow transformational impact through (i) working with, in and for their communities and (ii) developing robust, durable and equitable partnerships with UK researchers. RECIRCULATE is a collaboration between Lancaster University (LUMS LEC, Engineering and Biomedical & Life Sciences), LU Ghana, CSIR Ghana, and University of Benin, with phased expansion to other partners in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana. 

Major Duties and Responsibilities

The post holder will play a leading role in Work Package 1: Entrepreneurship and Innovation to develop a 12-months Integrated Research Project (IRP) around Fostering Incubation of Technology across Africa (FITA). This IRP initially focused on exploring, understanding and sharing experiences of incubation models in knowledge intensive environments across RECIRCULATE partners (such as universities and research institutes). It was agreed to support a pilot, creating a CSIR technology incubator at the Institute of Industrial Research. This project could provide physical space, in under-utilized offices and labs at the Institute of Industrial Research facilities in Accra, for technology-focused start-ups, which have the potential to encourage with the CSIR knowledge base and contribute to the CSIR entrepreneurial ecosystem. The CSIR technology incubator could also provide a facility to host SETS workshops, networking events and become a Tech Hub for Accra. Importantly, the model developed by the pilot could be used across all partners

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Impact 

• To identify what are the incubation models and innovation trends across African innovation ecosystem;
• Take a lead in developing proposals for supporting incubation in partners and encourage visiting incubators for scientists and entrepreneurs in the ‘water economy’;
• To contribute to the wider activities of the RECIRCULATE project that ensure the integration of technological innovation and incubation models across work-packages, partner organisations and academic disciplines;
• To work closely with RECIRCULATE partners, especially the other two Research/Engagement officers for WINA (Women Innovators Network for Africa) and SETA(Stimulating Entrepreneurial Thinking across Africa) 

Business Engagement 

• To contribute to workshops, training and networking events in the areas of innovation, networks, technology, knowledge exchange and entrepreneurship;
• To produce and present materials for presenting and disseminating SETA to the business community;
• To collaborate with business and their wider communities and to produce content for project reports, publications, website and social media;

Other Duties

The candidate will be required to produce relevant documentation/reports in line with requirements of the funding body as directed.

Duration

The candidate will be part of RECIRCULATE IRP based at Lancaster University Ghana. The appointment would be for 12 months in the first instance but, subject to funding, these could be extended if desirable.

Required Skills or Experience