Post Graduate Research Officer

Post Graduate Research Officer

Apply for the Post Graduate Research Officer role at The University of Sheffield.

The University of Sheffield pays a base range of £27,319 to £31,236 per annum (pro‑ratio). The salary can progress to £33,951 (pro‑ratio) through outstanding contribution.

Our postgraduate research student community plays a central role in the research life of the University. Students undertake their own programmes under academic supervision, while support officers enable student success and contribute to the research culture.

• Act as first point of contact for PGR students, working with the academic PGR supervisors, School PGR Leads, and the Faculty PGR Lead and their deputies.
• Maintain a regular overview of student progress and attendance data to ensure that students meet milestones on time, reporting data to the Faculty Doctoral School Manager.
• Support the PGR application process, working closely with central admissions and School PGR Leads to support the central initial assessment, directing relevant queries to academic supervisors, ensuring interviews are arranged and conducted, recording decisions, communicating with applicants, and supporting compliance with the University’s PGR recruitment regulations and standards.
• Support pre‑ and post‑registration activities for accepted PGR applicants as appropriate, working with School PGR Lead, including induction, registration and welcome events for new students.
• Make arrangements for a variety of progress milestones, such as organising venues and attendees for confirmation reviews or oral examinations, ensuring these are compliant with the University’s regulations and standards.
• Advise on the application of the University’s Code of Practice for PGR degrees and other procedures, including liaising with Professional Services.
• Support the administration of internal and external scholarship processes and applications for PGR studentships.
• Update and maintain appropriate University, Faculty and School systems and databases, to provide an ongoing record of PGR and research activity.
• Support the administration of financial activities relating to the setup of funding forms and processing of RTSGs.
• Ensure student details are captured correctly and by the deadlines on external systems such as Je‑S (which is used by UK Research & Innovation, UKRI).
• Ensure financial and progress reports are provided to UKRI funders via Je‑S.
• Provide support to and represent the School/Faculty at relevant committees, meetings and events as appropriate.
• Contribute to the production of materials for PGR students including School online handbooks (as appropriate), programme materials and descriptions, ensuring that all materials are consistent with those provided by the Faculty and institution.
• Engage with local and University networks to ensure up‑to‑date knowledge of internal policy and procedures.
• Understand and be able to signpost to other support available to PGR students (e.g. international, well‑being and mental health).
• Provide administrative support for Centres for Doctoral Training where required and agreed with the Doctoral School.
• Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the post.

Essential criteria

• Excellent interpersonal and customer service skills with experience of responding efficiently and effectively to queries.
• Ability to communicate effectively with staff and students in person and in writing.
• Ability to deal sensitively with students and staff from a wide variety of cultures.
• Ability to manage own workload in consultation with colleagues, and meet planned deadlines as well as unscheduled tasks.
• Ability to work on own initiative, recognising when to refer matters to senior colleagues.
• Proven IT skills, with experience of working with Microsoft packages, Google packages, email and the internet.
• Ability to analyse and solve problems with an appreciation of longer‑term implications.
• Ability to manage sensitive and confidential information appropriately.
• Ability to work effectively within a team, developing positive relationships with others and assisting others to achieve objectives.
• Excellent event…