UKRI Infrastructure Advisory Committee - Call for Members

Call for Members – Infrastructure Advisory Committee 

Closing date for applications: 24 May 2020 (Midnight) 

Interviews will take place: 06 July 2020

Date of commencement of appointment: 03 August 2020 First IAC Meeting: Early-Mid November 2020 (TBC)

UKRI is seeking new members from across UKRI’s stakeholder groups to join a new Infrastructure Advisory Committee which will provide advice and guidance on long term infrastructure investment priorities and prioritisation of investments. We are seeking members with strong interest or experience in research and innovation infrastructure planning or delivery, who have both deep expertise in their professional area and an ability to think strategically beyond their discipline. 

Introduction

UKRI published a report The UK’s research and innovation infrastructure: opportunities to grow our capability in November 2019. This report is intended as a strategic guide to inform investment decisions for the next generation of research and innovation infrastructure. It sets out future infrastructure landscape and identifies needs, opportunities and key themes that could be a major benefit to the UK’s capability to 2030.  Building on this work UKRI is establishing a clear approach to prioritisation of major infrastructure investments and is assembling a new Infrastructure Advisory Committee (IAC) to support the process. The primary role of the Infrastructure Advisory Committee will be to provide advice to UKRI’s Executive Committee and Board on long term infrastructure investment priorities and prioritisation of investments through the cross UKRI Infrastructure Fund (previously called Grand Challenges Funding).  This Fund supports step-changes in infrastructure capability and/or capacity (including new infrastructure1, major upgrades, repurposing, transformative developments or decommissioning). It supports investments right across the disciplinary spectrum and from fundamental research to innovation focused activities. Investments may be located across the regions and nations of the UK or form part of major international collaborations. Such investments are often costly, may involve several UKRI Councils are not possible to accommodate through their core budgets. The research and innovation quality, impact potential, sustainability, including environmental sustainability and strategic importance are key considerations. Further details are subject to the outcome of future spending decisions. UKRI will publish further information on our website once this is available.  Membership of the IAC is being drawn from existing, relevant expert committees across UKRI including Council’s Councils supplemented by additional members recruited through this process (see Annex A).

Responsibilities of the IAC

The responsibilities of the IAC will be to:

a. provide advice to UKRI Executive Committee on the prioritisation of investments and portfolio options which meet the criteria of the UKRI Infrastructure Fund, including full infrastructure projects and associated scoping, design and pilot work.  

b. Keep a watching brief on delivery of the portfolio recommending refinements as investments move to implementation and further information about feasibility becomes known.

 c. Support UKRI in maintaining and developing our understanding of the UK research and innovation infrastructure landscape needs. This might include providing intelligence on the evolving landscape and identification of strategic gaps or emerging opportunities and input on wider trends in research and innovation which will be integral to infrastructure planning.

d. Provide advice on the wider research and innovation infrastructure landscape as requested. 

This recruitment 

UKRI is recruiting for up to three additional members to complement the existing Committee membership. This open process will enable us to achieve a balanced and diverse range of expertise across the scientific disciplines, as well as capture the experience of different research and innovation systems in both the UK and internationally.

We are seeking expert members with strong interest or experience in research and innovation infrastructure planning or delivery, who have both deep expertise in their professional area and an ability to think strategically beyond their discipline, making connections across UKRI’s broad remit.  IAC members will be drawn from across higher education, innovation and research organisations, industry and commerce, policy and/or civil society.

We welcome applications from all sectors and research communities and in particular from experts with industrial or commercial backgrounds and / or with an international perspective.  Members are not required to act as representatives of their own organisation, research area, or industrial sector and are expected to adhere to the Seven Principles of Public Life (Annex B).   Please note that UKRI employees are not eligible to apply.

Application process

To apply, candidates should submit a CV (limited to two A4 pages) containing details of your professional qualifications, research, work experience, and/or other relevant experience to date and either a statement of interest in the role, or short covering letter  (limited to two pages) to the infrastructure team (infrastructure@ukri.org) by 12:00 (midnight) on Sunday 24 May.  If you are interested in applying and have any questions, please contact the UKRI Infrastructure team: infrastructure@ukri.org