Coordinator, Interdisciplinary Research Initiatives

Job Category

Job Profile

Job Title

Department

Compensation Range

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End Date

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

This position may be located at either the UBC Vancouver campus or the UBC Okanagan campus.

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

UBC Health enables and enhances interprofessional and collaborative health education and interdisciplinary research to train people, develop knowledge, and shape policy—seeking to address inequities and improve the systems that produce health.

The Coordinator, Interdisciplinary Research Initiatives facilitates the development, delivery, and evaluation of initiatives that support health researchers to collaborate, share knowledge, and identify opportunities to collectively bridge research and practice and enhance health systems improvement.

This role requires project management and coordination skills to facilitate initiatives that foster interdisciplinary health research collaborations. Examples of initiatives in UBC Health's research core area include building collaborations among UBC Health scholars, emphasizing community engagement and innovation in knowledge translation, facilitating the development of a community of PhD students working to address complex questions and challenges by pursuing public scholarship that impacts health equity, and coordinating multiple program and funding streams.

The position also requires considerable judgment and problem-solving skills to develop approaches and techniques to achieve strategic goals and objectives. Leveraging strong organizational and communication skills, the incumbent will ensure that all project activities are executed following timelines, budgets, high standards of quality and ethics, and emerging best practices for partner, patient, and community engagement and relationship management.

Organizational Status

UBC Health is responsible for driving the vision of the Vice-President, Health portfolio by promoting an integrated approach to collaboration among all health programs at UBC and with external partners in the health sector, including patients and community organizations. UBC Health reports to the Office of the Vice-President, Health and serves as a resource to all health disciplines at UBC.

The Coordinator reports directly to the Assistant Director, Research and receives high-level strategic direction from UBC Health Directors. The incumbent works in close collaboration with other members of the team in the Office of the Vice-President, Health, as well as faculty and staff members from various academic and administrative units, and a wide range of partners internal and external to UBC, including Indigenous partners, patients, caregivers, government, health system partners, non-profit organizations, and other interest holders across the Lower Mainland and throughout BC.

Work Performed

• Develop actionable project plans for strategic initiatives that contribute to the UBC Health Strategic Plan, ensuring engagement with project partners.
• Develop and maintain communications and relationships with external partners, supporting their involvement in UBC Health activities, working groups, and committees.
• Collaborate with health system, community, and Indigenous interest holders to inform program development and implementation.
• Conduct needs assessments, environmental scans and literature reviews to inform specific projects.
• Manage full project cycles from the conception of ideas to completion of projects - develop project proposals, identify work priorities for projects, set timelines, monitor budgets, and ensure project objectives and deadlines are met.
• Coordinate logistics for project team events and meetings, including preparing and distributing agendas and other materials, taking notes, and tracking action items for follow-up.
• Create and maintain comprehensive project process documentation, plans, reports and financial summaries.
• Identify and support applications for potential funding sources.
• Prepare grant applications, reports, ethics applications, and other written materials.
• Collaborate to create, maintain, and disseminate content across various communication channels (e.g., newsletters, social and digital media, meetings, collaborative platforms) to develop and sustain relationships and ensure ongoing dialogue with UBC Health partners.
• Incorporate principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion at all stages of project development and delivery, and in engagement with UBC Health partners.
• Provide project support and other general administrative duties as assigned.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
The Coordinator is required to exercise professional judgment and initiative while undertaking all responsibilities and developing relationships. The work involves building and maintaining equitable relationships with external partners, including actively seeking and valuing collaboration with Indigenous partners, and patient and community organizations. It requires attention to real and perceived barriers to meaningful participation, including tokenism, power dynamics, stereotyping, systemic racism, exploitation, and other inequities. The incumbent must understand and exercise the principles of confidentiality and best practices for Indigenous, patient and community engagement, including continuous learning and adapting these practices to ensure they are respectful, inclusive, and equitable. Inappropriate actions, errors in performance or indiscretions in judgment can have a negative impact on the Office of the Vice-President, Health and the University, and may result in legal action, negative public relations, financial repercussions, and loss of credibility in the Office's ability to demonstrate value in the areas of collaborative health education, research and systems.

Supervision Received

Reports directly to the Assistant Director, Research. Coordinates specific projects under the broad direction of the Directors and/or Assistant Directors. Works with considerable latitude and minimal supervision. The incumbent must be self-directed and able to work independently, identify circumstances that require consultation with appropriate colleagues, and seek out such consultation in a timely and professional manner. Work is reviewed periodically to assess performance and ensure completion of project milestones.

Supervision Given

May supervise Work Learn students.

Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum of four years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one's own
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one's own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

Graduate degree in a health-related discipline (e.g., health sciences, public health, education).

Skills and Experience

• Experience and proven track record in project coordination or project management.
• Working experience in planning, organizing, managing, and monitoring multiple initiatives simultaneously, and within allocated time and resources.
• Insights into the opportunities and challenges in health care and systems, interdisciplinary health research, and/or patient, partner, and community engagement.
• Demonstrated ability to independently conduct needs assessments.
• Foundational knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to effectively communicate with research partners.
• Ability to analyze and interpret data, determine implications, synthesize complex information into summaries and reports, and provide recommendations.
• Experience with knowledge synthesis methodologies and tools (e.g., Covidence, NVivo, reference management software) is an asset.
• Ability to think conceptually and problem-solve; i.e., use creative, conceptual, or inductive reasoning or thought processes to identify patterns in complex data, and identify key or underlying issues in complex situations, from conception of ideas to completion of projects. This includes applying these approaches to navigate and overcome complex project challenges effectively.
• Ability to prepare and track project budgets, and conduct basic financial processes.
• Proven ability to communicate effectively and professionally, both verbally and in writing, and to facilitate inclusive meetings, workshops, and consultations that engage a diverse range of partners.
• Proven ability to develop and maintain cooperative and productive working relationships and foster collaborative partnerships.
• Experience with survey and polling applications (e.g., Qualtrics, Doodle), learning management systems (e.g., Canvas, Canvas Catalogue) and website platforms (e.g. Drupal, WordPress).
• Experience using Microsoft Office including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams at an intermediate/advanced level.
• Ability to learn new methods and technologies quickly.
• Ability to use video and web conferencing technologies (e.g., Zoom, MS Teams, Go-To-Meeting, etc.) for events and meetings.
• Ability to travel on occasion within the Lower Mainland to attend meetings as required.