Engagement Officer, Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales

The Role

We are seeking to appoint an Engagement Officer to work as part of the Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership (Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales), funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales brings together researchers, policymakers and communities to tackle the major challenges facing the region. It aims to promote inclusive, sustainable, development towards a ‘wellbeing economy’ by filling evidence gaps, exploring innovative solutions and enhancing the use of research to support effective policies.

The work programme engages a range of people in innovation labs to develop and test novel interventions, community-led research projects focused on local concerns, dialogues, new data collection through surveys and short studies, and the creation of a Rural Wales Data Hub. The post-holder will support public engagement, knowledge exchange, and communications activities for Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales, including organising events and workshops, managing website content and social media accounts, and assisting with the dissemination of research findings to diverse audiences through a range of media.

The post will be based in Aberystwyth, working closely with the Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales Policy and Engagement Manager and other members of the professional services team, but will involve work with colleagues in other organisations in Wales and travel for meetings and events. Hybrid working arrangements will be considered.

To make an informal enquiry, please contact Professor Michael Woods at

The post-holder will support public engagement, knowledge exchange, and communications for Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales, the Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership, working closely with the Policy and Engagement Manager. Funded by the ESRC, Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales is a partnership that brings together researchers from a range of disciplines at Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University and the University of Gloucestershire, and experts in partners including Together for Change, the Centre for Alternative Technology, Antur Cymru, Datblygiadau Egni Gwledig, Represent Us Rural, Rural Health and Care Wales, and Sgema.

The objective of Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales is to facilitate effective policies and interventions that promote inclusive, sustainable, growth in Rural Wales through the framework of the ‘wellbeing economy’, which prioritises an economy designed to deliver social justice for current and future generations on a healthy planet in which citizens are actively engaged in their communities. It aims to fill evidence gaps, explore innovative solutions, and enhance the use of research to support effective policies working toward this goal.

Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales also has a strong emphasis on capacity building for inclusive participation in regional and community development, including supporting communities to undertake their own research, equalities mainstreaming, and actions to enable the involvement of often under-represented groups.

The activity of Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales is structured around seven work streams:

WS1:
Innovation Labs

WS2:
Community-led Action Research

WS3:
Data Integration, Analysis and Mapping

WS4:
Surveys

WS5:
Responsive Research

WS6:
Public Engagement, Knowledge Exchange and Capacity Building

WS7:
Evaluation and Learning

The detailed work programme wis dynamic and responsive to emerging issues. Topics for investigation and analysis are proposed by members of four Thematic Groups, each comprised by academic experts, stakeholders, and community representatives. The Thematic Groups are aligned with the four priority themes for Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales, which are: ‘Building a Regenerative Economy’, ‘Supporting the Net Zero Transition’, ‘Empowering Communities for Cultural Recovery’, and ‘Enhancing Wellbeing in Place’.

The post-holder will primarily work in WS6:
Public Engagement, Knowledge Exchange and Capacity Building, which is focused on making the results of Cymru Wledig LPIP Rural Wales research and analysis widely available to users in rural Wales and…