The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. We mobilise these disciplines to understand the world and shape a brighter future.

The British Academy inspires, supports and promotes outstanding achievement and global advances in the humanities and social sciences. We are a fellowship of over 1000 of the most outstanding academics and an international community of leading experts focused on people, culture and societies. We are the voice for the humanities and social sciences. We use insights from the past and the present to help shape the future, by influencing policy and affecting change in the UK and overseas.

The Academy invests in the very best researchers and research. We foster international collaboration, and work to inform and enrich debate around society’s greatest challenges. We are developing a new organisational strategy, to be published at the start of 2023, with a renewed focus on research and researchers, and with an emphasis to become more outward facing, engaged and impactful across the UK and internationally.

It is within this exciting context that we are now seeking a new Director of Research to lead the delivery of the Academy’s UK and international research portfolio. Working closely with the Chief Executive, the Vice-Presidents and the senior management team, the Director of Research will play a lead role in our relationship with BEIS and will be integral in stewarding the wider transformation within the Academy. The Director will work to enhance our relationships with partners and stakeholders in the UK and internationally and ensure the impact of our programmes.

Candidates will have demonstrable experience in strategic leadership and operational management in a complex organisation. We welcome applications from any sector, but candidates should have familiarity with the funding of research at the national and international level, as well as with the wider higher education landscape. Candidates will feel comfortable liaising with a wide range of stakeholders, internally and externally, and developing strong partnerships with government, other research funders, universities and academics.

For details of the appointment, including further information about the job description, person specification and how to apply, please visit: https://candidates.perrettlaver.com/vacancies/ quoting reference 6061.

For informal inquiries please contact Elsa Robinson on [email protected] or +44 (0)20 7340 6286.

The deadline for applications is 23:59 BST on 2nd October 2022.

Protecting your personal data is of the utmost importance to Perrett Laver and we take this responsibility very seriously. Any information obtained by our trading divisions is held and processed in accordance with the relevant data protection legislation. The data you provide us with is securely stored on our computerised database and transferred to our clients for the purposes of presenting you as a candidate and/or considering your suitability for a role you have registered interest in.

As defined under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Perrett Laver is a Data Controller and a Data Processor, and our legal basis for processing your personal data is ‘Legitimate Interests’. You have the right to object to us processing your data in this way. Formore information about this, your rights, and our approach to Data Protection and Privacy, please visit our website http://www.perrettlaver.com/information/privacy/