RIC Communication and engagement lead RIC Communication and engagement lead

The RIC Communication and Engagement Lead is responsible for shaping and delivering on communications and engagement activity to maximise impact from RIC's work under the direction of the Programme Director. The post holder will work with the director to execute on a strategy for the centre's communications and engagement activities aimed at maximising impact from RIC work and helping create a positive context for the take up of research insights. This involves engaging with a wide variety of stakeholders and audiences inside and outside the BBC, managing external communications, the internal BBC RIC Gateway hub and an external website, as well as RICs social media presence. The post holder will lead on communications and supporting engagement in a wide range of activities and events with partners, industry, policymakers, civil society, and other stakeholders. Specialisms may include comms, social media, content production, organising online events and webinars., As the Communication and Engagement Lead for RIC you will play a critical role in shaping and delivering on communications and engagement activity to maximise impact from RICs work under the direction of the Programme Director. Under their direction you will:

• Be responsible for developing a diverse portfolio of appropriate communication, engagement, and impact focused activity to ensure RIC's research reaches the desired audiences and that relevant groups are effectively engaged with RIC's research in support of RIC strategy and goals.
• Liase with appropriate BBC teams (e.g BBC R&D and BBC central communication teams) to ensure appropriate visibility of RIC's communications and join up where appropriate, working in collaboration to ensure opportunities are capitalised on and any sensitivities are issues are appropriately addressed.
• Work with RICs partners to produce communications about joint initiatives or timely topics and issues
• Review and proofread research reports and produce short and accessible outputs and specific pieces of communication for research that uses the post holder's specialism to communicate complex concepts and influence diverse groups of stakeholders (sometimes with divergent views) across and beyond the BBC.
• Play a key role in helping to create an environment that maximises the success of research impact.
• Be responsible for leveraging appropriate platforms/media to ensure RIC reaches relevant audiences
• Lead on producing RIC internal and external updates, newsletters and communications
• Establish and maintain a strong network of contacts internally and externally; you will create and manage a team database of key stakeholders and contacts, helping to establish, foster and broaden RIC's relationships within and outside of the BBC to enable RIC to deliver desired impact.
• Work with the network co-ordinator to help organise events, webinars and/or workshops. Specifically, you will ensure information related to events are effectively communicated and that outputs are communicated and made visible to appropriate groups and audiences - working with the RIC programme director to help ensure we reach relevant BBC teams, partners, policymakers, industry practitioners.
• Work with RIC subcontractors and external agencies to ensure alignment with RICs communications/messaging and- depending on skill set - assist with design or media production work.
• Be an ambassador for RIC and Responsible Innovation - engaging with the wider communities of practice to support the RIC in delivering its goals.
  
  For this role we are looking for someone with a passion for people, excellent strategic communication skills and looking to make positive changes to support good digital futures. We are focused on building a small, highly effective and supportive team and on hiring for potential so a key requirement for the position is a passionate, collaborative, people focused outlook.
• Educated to degree level (or minimum of 3 years equivalent experience working in a similar role)
• Experience in a research, policy or industry related communications or engagement role
• Strategic mind-set, able to communicate specific research activity in the context of RIC's goals and understand how to position research outputs appropriately,
• Ability to coordinate and manage the development and production of communications materials
• Ability to draw out and position key messages for non-subject matter experts
• Skills in website editing and social media account management
• Proficient in proofreading and copy editing
• Experience of using social media and external communications in a professional context
• Skilled in producing content in a range of styles, addressing different kinds of audiences
• Good interpersonal skills; at ease communicating with different personalities and able to influence them to contribute to or engage with RIC where appropriate
• Good planning skills with keen eye for detail. Able to deal with multiple projects in parallel and deliver each of them on time and to budget
• Influencing skills required to obtain stakeholder buy-in
• Desirable - design skills and the ability to create visually engaging content
  
  The Responsible Innovation Centre (RIC) is a new independent research centre hosted at the BBC. It is funded by UKRI, a non-governmental public body that directs UK research and innovation funding. RIC delivers research to generate timely evidence and critical insights on the social, editorial and ethical challenges technology raises for public media, people and society.
Located in BBC R&D and working with the BBC and 12 world-leading partner organisations whose work advances technology in the public interest, RIC produces scholarship and resources to help ensure a strong and resilient public service media sector now and in the future. RIC is led by BBC Research & Development's (R&D) Dr Rhianne Jones and is funded by a £1.9 million Future Leaders Fellowship grant, which enables emerging research leaders to work with their institutions to deliver world-class research and innovation. Working collaboratively with internal and external experts and members of the public, our work seeks to advance responsible and distinctly public service-oriented approaches to technology - to support a healthy future digital UK society. Our independence as a research centre means we can undertake research into fundamental, longer-term questions, challenges and opportunities technology presents in public service media contexts. This benefits the BBC as host and provides a critical resource for public service media organisations around the world. When you join you will be joining a new team and will play an important role in helping to establish the centre and deliver this important programme of work. You will be part of a small team of highly passionate and motivated researchers who care about ensuring that technology works for public media, people and society. You will work closely with the research operations team and wider research team to have a direct impact on the work and success of the centre, helping the BBC and public media organisations around the world navigate important challenges. As a member of the team you will be supported to develop yourself and learn new skills and will have the opportunity to build interdisciplinary networks inside and outside the BBC. We offer a warm, flexible and inclusive culture that supports people in the team to grow and thrive. We want our team members to share our passion for the work, knowing that what they are doing is making a difference in the world., The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC for different reasons and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants. Priority consideration means for those employees seeking redeployment their application will be considered alongside anyone else at risk of redundancy, prior to any individuals being considered who are not at risk. We don't focus simply on what we do - we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you've read about our values and behaviours here. Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential. We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC - whether that's to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity. We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.

Our comprehensive benefits package includes:
• An employer pension contribution of up to 10%
• 26 days' annual leave (based on full time hours) + bank holidays and the option to buy/sell additional days
• Contributory lifestyle benefit options including discounts at hundreds of retailers, cycle to work scheme, discounted gym memberships and healthcare schemes
• Employee assistance and well-being programmes
• Learning and development tailored to your role - this could include industry recognised qualifications, coaching and mentoring
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join staff networks including: Women's Network, National Disability Networks and many more.
Family friendly flexible working arrangements, such as hybrid working, job sharing, flexi-time and compressed hours can be requested. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and especially welcome individuals from underrepresented groups.