CREAF

CREAF is seeking for a Societal Impact Officer to work full-time on the SEVERO OCHOA program (2018 SEVERO OCHOA Excellence centers, ref. CEX2018-000828-S, from the Agencia Estatal de Investigación). This contract is envisaged to start in October 2020 and it will end on December 2023. The Societal Impact Officer will be responsible for planning, developing and implementing the CREAF research impact strategy. As impact is defined as an effect on change or benefit to the economy, society, public policy, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia, this will include developing and embedding impact activities and seeking to maximize engagement among non-academic audiences and research users. He or she will be part of the Communications Department and will work closely with the Strategic Promotion Department.

TASKS
Lead the institutional research impact strategy of CREAF
- Develop, manage, implement and monitor an effective strategy for maximizing the impact of CREAF research.
- Establish and manage a system to record, monitor, evaluate and publish CREAF’s research impact.
- Review current and emerging trends on impact managing, contribute and advise on best practices.
- Lead the CREAF participation in the “Red Española de Evaluación del Impacto de la Investigación”.
- Boost a culture change on impact in research.
Maximize the impact of CREAF research
- Develop and implement impact related activities specifically for projects and/or research topics to maximize their impact (e.g., through a program of internal focus group workshops).
- Promote and coordinate training and guidance about research impact and its strategic importance to research staff (PI, predoc and postdocs), technicians, as well as to managing and support staff.
- Collaborate within the Strategic Promotion Area to assist with the preparation of the impact sections of research grant proposals.
Give visibility to the impact of CREAF research
- Act as the key contact for CREAF with the end-users and stakeholders in respect of research impact.
- Facilitate and promote events and delivery of materials or other opportunities for engaging non-academic audiences with the CREAF’s activity.
- Establish strong working relationships with research colleagues to help them guide and communicate the impact of their research.
- Coordinate a communications strategy to include impact case studies and information in the CREAF’s communication plan.

REQUIREMENTS
- Degree in biology, environmental sciences or similar relevant discipline.
- Experience in some of the following areas will be particularly valued: forestry, climate change adaptation, soils, ecosystem services, ecosystems restoration, environmental and biodiversity management or water adaptations plans.
- Experience of translating complex ideas to non-academic audiences is a must.
- Excellent networking skills.
- Experience in working with stakeholders, NGOs or other publics in the environmental or social third sector.
- Fluent in Spanish or Catalan, and English.

ASSESSABLE CONDITIONS
- Experience of working with policy-making environments or participative projects would be an advantage.
- Experience of planning, managing and delivering successful short-term projects, coordinating activities and events.
- Proven abilities in understanding, evidencing and communicating the impact of academic research. For example, through impact case studies.
- Experience with Citizen Science projects.
- Experience of assisting with funding applications.
- Expertise in evaluation techniques – defining evaluation questionnaires, using a range of methods to collect and analyze data, drawing insightful conclusions and identifying implications for practice.
- Experience on promoting the Responsible Research and Innovation approach: open access strategy, public participation, ethics, gender questions, etc.
- Experience in the evaluation of economic and societal impacts.

SELECTION PROCES AND CRITERIA
The selection process is led by the specific scientific commission, and will be overseen by the Management Office and the Human Resources Area of CREAF. This process consists of:
1. Admission of candidates: applicants must submit a résumé, a cover letter (maximum 500 words) and the questionnaire attached to the offer (filled), by e-mail to laboral@creaf.uab.cat, until 3 July 2020, indicating the reference code of the offer. Applications referred to another portal, other than CREAF job openings section and the instructions included in this, will not be accepted.
2. Pre-selection: determination of compliance with the minimum requirements of the offer.
3. Selection: assessment of the preselected candidates by scoring based on objective criteria, and will be done in september. 
4. Final decision: in case of finding the suitable person, the election will be formally communicated to him/her, and the identification of the chosen person will be published on CREAF job openings section.