Program Officer, Health Sciences, Contracts, and Research Partnerships. Research and Innovation

The Research Office is responsible for advancing the research enterprise of the University by obtaining, allocating, and administrating research grants, negotiating research contracts, and ensuring compliance to national and international standards in human and animal ethics certification.

The **Program Officer, Health Sciences, Contracts, and Research Partnerships is a full-time continuing** role responsible for a diverse range of activities related to supporting faculty and student research in the health sciences by working closely with the Research Office to ensure the successful administration of all Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), as well as oversee research-related contracts and agreements at UW.

**Responsibilities**:

- Manages the CIHR and health sciences award processes.
- Maintains contact with other program officers to ensure that the university is aware of current funding opportunities, quotas, and changes to policies, and is adhering to funding agency guidelines and regulations.
- Creates and analyses annual health sciences research-related grant statistics, along with a five-year trend, to assist with writing reports.
- Conducts critical reviews of project descriptions, budgets and supporting documents and offers constructive, technical and substantive feedback.
- Meets with new and existing faculty members to provide individual advice on their research program and funding opportunities.
- Interprets and implements policies, procedures and regulations on day-to-day research-related questions and issues.
- Coordinates and delivers workshops, training and information sessions for faculty, students and staff.
- Works on planning, formulating, developing, and implementing best practices, policies, and procedures related to strategies of research assessment and impact of UWinnipeg researchers.
- Provides support to the Research Office, including scheduling and preparing correspondence related to contracts and agreements, in the creation and maintenance of resource libraries.
- Works under the direction of Vice-President and Legal Counsel to ensure patent filing administrative obligations are met and invoices for patent costs and maintenance fees are paid.
- Provides support to Legal Counsel with respect to:

- the negotiation of research agreements;
- assists with preparing, proofreading, editing and formatting legal documents;
- specifically, assistance drafting internal intellectual property agreements;
- assistance drafting Statements of Work and Budget documents where required;
- maintaining paper and electronic files documenting the negotiation, review and approval status for research contracts.
- Acts as the preliminary point of contact for all faculty/researchers entering into funding and/or research agreements.
- Answers general enquiries about the process for drafting and review of legal agreements.
- Monitors and upholds contract-related institutional policies by maintaining familiarity with evolving regulatory requirements and best practices.
- Ensures fully executed copies of contracts are distributed to appropriate parties and are filed properly, securely, and confidentially.
- Monitors and assesses external non Tri-Agency opportunities for health-related funding.
- Attends meetings of and liaises with Research Impact Canada on all topics related to knowledge mobilization, translation, and research impact.
- Acts as the main point of contact for the development of new research partners across all sectors, including acting as a liaison with members of the industry on research commercialization and innovation.

**Qualifications**:

- Master’s Degree Required, preferably within the natural sciences or health fields.
- Minimum 4 years of directly related experience.
- Experience working in post-secondary environment an asset.
- Experience in research grant writing.
- Experience in large-scale research project and infrastructure management.
- Experience in organizing and managing academic workshops and events.
- Experience in drafting and maintaining multiple budgets accurately.
- Experience with accounts payable.
- Excellent organizational and time management skills, with the ability to plan, prioritize competing demands, and work independently with a high degree of accuracy and attention to details.
- Ability to show initiative and work independently with a high degree of accuracy and attention to details and to work productively under minimum supervision.
- Ability to make independent judgements within area and University policies, procedures and guidelines.
- Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with diverse groups at various levels of internal and external contacts.
- Demonstrated computer and website maintenance skills, experience with the Canadian Convergence portal and ResearchNet portal would be an asset
- Ability to collect and synthesize relevant resources.
- Ability to be flexible and work as part of a team and within the University