Research & knowledge Exchange Funding Lead

University for the Creative Arts; Farnham; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

The University for the Creative Arts (UCA) seeks a Research & Knowledge Exchange Funding Lead to join the centralized Research, KE and Innovation Office in Farnham. You will support researchers through pre-award activities, helping secure external funding and shaping bids.

You will develop, write, edit, and cost funding bids, gather intelligence on opportunities, and deliver training to staff to boost funding success across UKRI, charities and other funders.

Qualifications

• Experience in writing and costing funding bids.
• Ability to gather intelligence about funding opportunities.
• Experience delivering training on research funding.

Responsibilities

• Identify and disseminate relevant funding opportunities from UKRI, EU, Arts Council, charities, and other funders.
• Support researchers in writing, editing, costing, and submitting competitive funding bids.
• Align external opportunities with UCA’s research strengths and strategic goals.
• Coordinate collaborative bids, including international and interdisciplinary partnerships.
• Deliver training sessions and maintain guidance materials on research funding.
• Track application outcomes to inform strategy and success rates.

Skills

Grant writing

Editing proposals

Costing/budgeting

Stakeholder communication

Job description

The Research & Knowledge Exchange Funding Lead is part of the centralized Research, KE and Innovation Office at UCA, led by the Director of Research, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation. The team provides support for academic staff, schools and research centres to facilitate, advance and evaluate their research and knowledge exchange activities.

The RKE Funding Lead provides support to researchers across all aspects of pre-award research funding. Their responsibilities include developing, writing, editing, and costing funding bids, gathering intelligence about funding opportunities and providing training to staff to enhance their knowledge and skills in securing external funding.

Reporting to the Research & Knowledge Exchange Manager and working collaboratively within the team, the RKE Funding Lead helps researchers develop and secure external research & KE grants by providing specialist support throughout the pre-award and contracting process. Their responsibilities include developing, writing, editing, and costing funding bids, gathering intelligence about funding opportunities, providing training to staff to enhance their knowledge and skills in securing external funding, providing data analysis and reports for the Director/Committees. Acting as a key point of contact for researchers, the RKE Funding Lead offers expert guidance on funder terms and conditions, costing and pricing, due diligence of external partners, and submission processes. They also play a vital role in negotiating research agreements, setting up projects, and ensuring a smooth transition from pre-award to post-award support by working closely with colleagues in RKEI Office and Finance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Identify and disseminate relevant funding opportunities from UKRI, EU, Arts Council, charities, and other funders.
• Support researchers in writing, editing, costing, and submitting competitive funding bids.
• Align external opportunities with UCA’s research strengths and strategic goals.
• Coordinate collaborative bids, including international and interdisciplinary partnerships.
• Deliver training sessions and maintain guidance materials on research funding.
• Track application outcomes to inform strategy and success rates.