Public Involvement Officer - Coventry Health Determinants Research Collaboration

Our Values

It’s great to know that you are interested in working with us at Coventry City Council. As a prospective employee, it is important that everyone who works for us is committed to our One Coventry values and shares our commitment to becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation. 

Our Values are:

About the team we are recruiting to

We value diverse perspectives and experiences and are striving to create a workplace culture that is inclusive, is accepting of all and is free from discrimination and bias.

The Coventry Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) is a new National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded research platform, collaboratively led by Coventry City Council Public Health team alongside partners from Coventry University, the University of Warwick, University College London, and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust as well as a wide range of collaborators within the community and voluntary sectors.

The Coventry HDRC will develop research infrastructure, capability and capacity at a local level to enable us to tackle the wider determinants of health which drive health inequalities.  Our key aim is to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities in our population.

This HDRC will drive culture change which will lead to high levels of evidence-based decision making and embed the wider determinants of health into our thinking.

This is an exciting and challenging time to work in the Coventry HDRC.  If you are an individual that is committed to achieving the best outcomes for people across Coventry, our team can help you make a difference through high-quality professional support, supervision, and excellent learning and development opportunities.

What is the job role?

This role is a 3 year fixed term contract/secondment.

We are looking for a Public Involvement Officer to support and deliver on Public Involvement in research, on behalf of the Health Determinants Research Collaboration, providing expert advice and challenge to shape the good quality engagement and involvement in research, on which the Collaboration’s success relies and to contribute to the research evidence base to inform practice.  You will support the Collaboration’s vision to "inform, consult and involve" local people and communities in its research. 

You will work in a team which is leading on Public Involvement and is one of the five ‘pillars’ of the Coventry HDRC and with members of other pillars:

1. Research Data and Governance processes
2. Staff Research training and skills development
3. Public Involvement
4. Evaluation
5. Impact and Implementation

For an informal chat about the role please contact the Coventry HDRC team at CoventryHDRC@coventry.gov.uk

Who are we looking for?

You’ll have significant knowledge and understanding of engagement, involvement and consultation methods in research plus extensive experience in designing and delivering such methods within the Public Sector.

You’ll have knowledge of the voluntary and community sector and how this differs and complements the public and private sectors.

Detailed knowledge of working with the voluntary sector and volunteers, specifically how to recruit, motivate and retain them

Understanding of project management techniques, including performance management and evaluation. 

When applying for this role you will be asked to write a personal statement, please include the following information in your statement:

• Demonstrate your experience of working effectively with multi-sector partnerships, acting in the lead community involvement role to find solutions, overcome barriers and reach shared outcomes.
• Examples of where you have been a highly effective communicator at all levels and using a variety of methods both verbally and in writing to a wide range of audiences. 
• Effective organisational skills and an ability to work unsupervised and demonstrate initiative.

Candidates from under-represented groups are encouraged to apply for this role.  

For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'

Interview date(s): 5th December 2023.

About Coventry

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 4800 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies