Job Description

Position Details

College of Arts and Law


Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK


Full time starting salary is normally in the range 29,647 to 31,460, with potential progression once in post to 35,388


Grade: 5


Part Time (17.5 hours per week)


Fixed Term contract up to August 2027


Closing date: 3rd August 2025


Interviews are expected to take place: W/c 18th August 2025

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.


The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.


We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.


We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.


Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.


The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.


Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

The Global Philosophy of Religion Project 2 is a major research initiative aimed at transforming the philosophy of religion into a truly global and diverse field of inquiry fit to address contemporary challenges. Central questions to be addressed include the meaning of life, how to live well, and human purpose, and what role (if any) fundamental spiritual reality might play in answers to these question. The emphasis will be on religious traditions and geographical regions which are historically underrepresented in the discipline. The project will run a number of funding competitions to distribute significant funds supporting (i) academic research, (ii) teaching and training, (iii) public engagement and impact. It will also host events in Birmingham and major international conference in Indonesia, Nigeria, and India. As such, the post holder may be required to undertake some international travel.


The project is hosted in the School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion within the College of Arts and Law. The School is world-leading in philosophy of religion and this is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a transformative initiative within the field.


The post holder will be based in the College's Operations Team (Research & Knowledge Transfer), which brings together staff who support internally and externally funded research activity and will provide the post holder with a hub of expertise to support them during their tenure as PCPT Project Administrator.

Role Summary

This role provides critical administrative support in the context of a John Templeton funded programme of research 'Global Philosophy of Religion: Fundamental Spiritual Reality, Human Purpose, and Living Well'. In this important role, the post holder will work closely with the project team and report directly to the Project Manager.

Main Duties

You will be able to deal with complex systems and procedures and will be expected to offer advice on these, including deciding on the response to more complex queries. You will be expected to exercise your judgment on the answer to queries or on the direction of work within parameters set by your manager. On a day to day basis you will be expected to resolve more complex queries without necessarily referring to your manager. You will still be expected to act as a role model and coach members of the team. Maintain high profile working relationships with key stakeholders on your own initiative, fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate. Will manage some smaller projects on own initiative, but will also carry out desk research and source data from internal and external sources in order to contribute to wider projects. You will be expected to use a variety of complex University systems and processes to research, analyst and interpret complex data, producing bespoke reports as required. This may include identifying and resolving issues with the data. Support the management, development and implementation of operational processes and systems. Process more complex data (which may be financial, HR, student-related or other), monitoring accuracy, chasing up missing information, and resolving any issues as appropriate. Provide specialist advice and training to colleagues on area of activity, through email correspondence, remotely conducted video calls and through face-to-face meetings on Campus. As required, provide a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings. You may be required to be responsible for one or more of the following: + monitoring budgets including processing payments, authorising expenditure, raising concerns where finances are not in line with the budget,
+ procuring goods and services through the University system,
+ updating and writing contents for the department's communications eg intranet pages,
+ dealing with health and safety and facilities issues,
+ dealing with arrangements for international visitors,
+ monitoring internal procedures/compliance and ensuring these are followed and disseminated as appropriate.
Supports equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

Educated to A Level standard, or equivalent level 3 qualification such as a Level 3 NVQ, or level 3 national diploma or relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role. Minimum of grade C in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent. Highly proficient IT skills, in particular the ability to handle complex electronic diaries and emails, the wider MS Office suite of programmes including Excel and PowerPoint, and some experience of using an enterprise resource planning package. The post holder should also be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required. Proven ability to plan ahead and anticipate requirements, proactively planning own (and sometimes others' workloads) to manage time effectively, progress tasks concurrently and work to deadlines. Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for different audiences, and to required deadlines. Excellent interpersonal skills. The post holder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times. A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues. A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self-motivating approach. Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions work. Ability to understand policy and procedures and how to apply these. Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace. Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

Dimensions

This role will require the exercise of personal initiative within and beyond the department.

Planning and Organising

The role is required to work independently on daily, weekly and monthly tasks but also on projects with medium-longer-term horizons without daily supervision.

Problem Solving and decision making

They will work with direction from management but with a significant degree of autonomy. They will deal with more complex queries and be expected to resolve any problems in their area of responsibility.

Internal and External relationships

This role will be liaising with internal colleagues and stakeholders, likely to be University-wide and with external stakeholders.



Informal enquiries to Rabab Anjum email: r.anjum@bham.ac.uk or Caroline Harwood email: c.m.harwood@bham.ac.uk


View our staff values and behaviours here

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy

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You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone

on our website

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