View Vacancy - BK - Newton Fund Programme Officer, B3
The British Embassy in Bangkok is part of a world-wide network of 270 Posts, representing British political, economic, visa and consular interests around the world.
The UK Government is investing £735 million until 2021 in the Newton Fund, which supports science and innovation partnerships that promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries. The Newton UK-Thailand Research and Innovation Partnership Fund was officially announced in January 2015. Since the establishment of the UK- Thailand Newton Partnership, a wide range of collaborative science and innovation programmes have been set up. These include capacity building, research, people exchange and joint centres, research collaboration on development topics, and innovation partnerships.
The development and delivery of the Newton Fund programme in Thailand is co-ordinated by officers at the British Embassy in Bangkok. There is an opportunity for a Newton Fund Programme Officer to join the small team based in Bangkok. The successful candidate will play an important role in developing and delivering Newton Fund activities between the UK and Thailand.
The jobholder will sit in the Embassy’s Prosperity team and will interact regularly with a wide range of contacts in government and academia in Thailand. S/he will work closely with other teams at the Embassy, the regional Science and Innovation team based in Singapore, and some Newton Delivery Partners based in the UK. The role will involve travel, both domestic and occasional travel to UK and other Southeast Asia countries.
Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?:
Programme Management: Overseeing the implementation of a broad range of activities under the Newton UK-Thailand Research and Innovation Partnership Fund’s ‘people pillar’. The ‘people pillar’ of activities involves activities that focus on capacity building and people exchange such as PhD scholarships, Travel grants, professional development grants and workshop grants. This includes liaising with both UK and Thai Delivery Partners, supporting and facilitating programme implementation and maintaining relationships.
Monitoring: Ongoing monitoring of some the Fund’s programme activities including gathering examples of impact, identifying and drafting case studies.
Reporting: Lead on the collation of reporting material for the Newton UK-Thailand Research and Innovation Partnership Fund’s ‘people pillar’. This includes gathering together relevant information, identifying examples of impact and progress, and communicating with UK stakeholders. Financial reporting includes the internal reporting of expenses, travel, subsistence and other costs incurred by the in country team.
Communications: Lead on the development of communication strategy and plan for Newton Fund in Thailand including drafting PR messages and materials through all medias and relevants stakeholders. Respond to day to day communications such as promotions for open calls, guidance for prospective applicants and regular Fund enquiries.
Event Planning and Management: Lead on the coordination for Newton Fund events including high level planning meetings, partner visits and promotional events and workshops.
Strategic Development: Support the Newton Fund Programme Manager with relevant information to feed into the strategic direction of the Fund in Thailand. Contribute to in country strategic plans by identifying opportunities for collaboration and synergies amongst activities.
- At least 3 years work experience in a project management role
- Knowledge of the education, scientific, research and innovation community in Thailand and interest in these fields
- Excellent written and spoken English (TOEIC score of 750 or higher or an equivalent score in another language assessment) and Thai, enabling effective communications materials and coordination of activities with UK and local partners
- Experience in managing programme finances
- Excellent interpersonal skills and a proven ability to work autonomously to deliver a wide range of responsibilities
- Have energy, drive and a willingness to work under time pressure
- Degree in a field relevant to development assistance, such as public administration, business administration, development planning or other related field of study in Science and Innovation
- Experience of working with universities, research orgainsations and government bodies
- Understanding of fund management and/or Research and Development (R&D) management
- Strong IT skills and proficiency in using standard office applications.
- Good experience of working in a virtual team
The British Embassy offers a competitive remuneration package, including salary, benefits, a leave entitlement, Health Insurance and full training. The job is linked to the British Embassy’s Local Staff B3(L) grade. For those not liable to tax, the salary will be abated.
Employment offers are subject to successful clearance of pre-employment and security checks. Staff who are locally recruited by the British Embassy are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local employment law.
No accommodation or relocation expenses are payable in connection with this position. You must have or be able to obtain work authorisation in Thailand in order to apply. Any costs related to obtaining or renewing permits and visas are the responsibility of the successful applicant.
All applications must be received before 23:55 on 03 May 2017.
Incomplete application forms will not be taken into consideration, so please ensure you provide the information request. We regret to advise that we will only be contacting short-listed candidates. Applicants called for an interview will be assessed on the core competencies listed above.
Interviews for this position will commence during the week of 22 May 2017.
The successful candidate should be able to start as soon as possible.
Reminder for existing Embassy staff who will be interested to apply:
Along with the completed online application form, candidates should upload/attach their last two years End of Year Appraisals if applicable. If applicants have been employed for less than twelve months, they will need to provide permission from their Head of Section to apply and should attach this to their application.
Guidance on completing competency based application forms and sitting Interviews can be found on the BE Website and also on the Civil Service Learning portal, Virtual Ashridge portal and Goodpractice.net (both accessed through the CSL). Staff are strongly advised to refer to these.
We recommend all applicants to understand the Civil Service competences before applying for any role and in preparation for interviews. For more information, you can visit our website - https://www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/british-embassy-bangkok/about/recruitment.
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Please check your application centre regularly for any update on your application status.
This opportunity is closed to applications.
