Scientific Policy Officer

Salary: £34,500 per annum plus benefits including 27.5 days annual leave, entry into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, and access to the Perkbox benefits portal.

Details: 9-month fixed term contract with possibility to extend up to 12 months. Full-time/part-time (ideally not less than 0.8 FTE) applications and secondment requests (supported by the applicant's seconding organisation) are welcome for this role.

Location: 2 Redman Place, Stratford, London. Applicants can choose to be home or office based. When working remotely, all staff have supported use of IT equipment provided by the HFEA.

Start date: January 2025.

The Scientific Policy Officer will play an active part in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) Policy Team by focusing primarily on projects based in the Scientific Policy side of the team, but will also undertake non-scientific policy work. This post reports to the Policy Manager.

A key part of this role will be to support the Scientific Policy team in carrying out reviews of HFEA policy, which can include giving scientific policy advice and guidance both internally and externally. You will be working on various areas of policy including our law reform work on future scientific developments and artificial intelligence, which involves working closely with colleagues from across the HFEA. You will act as secretariat to the HFEA's Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee (SCAAC), made up of scientific experts and clinicians, and support the HFEA's horizon scanning function. The successful candidate will also be responsible for dealing with patient, public and sector enquiries, including queries from the media and parliamentary question.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who is proactive, can work effectively as part of a team, and who has good written and verbal communication skills – including an ability to handle sensitive patient enquiries. You will need the scientific understanding and the skills required to undertake scientific literature searches, be confident at reviewing scientific publications, and have the ability to summarise and identify key points from a wide range of evidence. You should be able to demonstrate experience of servicing meetings, particularly minute taking.

Given the varied nature of this role, good time management skills and the ability to prioritise tasks effectively, is key. You will be educated to degree level or equivalent in a biological or clinical subject or have equivalent experience.

This is a unique opportunity to play a key role in supporting the Policy team. You will have the chance to make a real and tangible difference to our work and the lives of patients. For more information about the work we do, please visit our website.

Please note that this post is fixed-term, as it is to cover the permanent postholder's internal secondment to another role.

To find out more and to apply for this role, go here.

Closing date for applications: Monday 2 December 2024.

Interview date: Week commencing Monday 16 December 2024.