Associate Professor in Exercise Prescription (Research and Education)

Background

The School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences is a world-leading School that performs cutting-edge and translational research in all aspects of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation. Ranked 7th in the World in the latest QS Subject rankings our research allows us to address societal challenges from multidisciplinary perspectives and enriches our degree programmes.

We are seeking to appoint a full-time Associate Professor in Exercise Prescription who will substantially contribute to research, education, and administration. The role holder will be expected to show excellent academic citizenship, likely to be demonstrated through generous, mutually respectful, and supportive working relationships with all staff and students.

We would welcome applications from individuals that can evidence involvement in clinical exercise physiology or exercise prescription, with a clear vision for maximising the impact of this developing discipline. We welcome applicants who can clearly articulate how their research and scholarly activity informs and shapes their teaching. In addition, we are keen to attract and support individuals working at the top of their field and able to demonstrate high quality research outputs and impacts. You will be joining a thriving community of physiologists, physiotherapists, psychologists, and sports scientists with access to excellent research and teaching facilities. We work closely with clinical centres of excellence and are excited to extend our research and impact for the communities we serve via a new state-of-the art Exercise and Rehabilitation Facility (ERF) due to open in January 2023.

About you

You will have a clear research vision, growing international reputation, and a track record of leading research in an area aligned with clinical exercise physiology and/or exercise prescription. Your research will have clear translational or applied elements that generates impactful outcomes in exercise and rehabilitation contexts. Through collaboration across disciplinary areas within the School and University, you will deliver impactful outcomes within the field of exercise prescription and generate research income through external and/or commercial funding.

In education, you will be an inspiring educator, able to communicate your work to researchers, undergraduates, and the public. You will contribute to programme delivery, leadership, and enhancement in exercise physiology, ensuring an excellent educational experience for your students.

In management and administration, you will lead and manage areas of activity in the school with the potential for University wide involvement - for example through sustained high value research, knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, and public engagement or similar activities.

We encourage applications from individuals with research and teaching experience in all areas of clinical exercise physiology and exercise prescription, including but not limited to: prescribing exercise, physical activity and lifestyle change to enhance health and well-being across the life-course, assisting in prehabilitation and/or rehabilitation of clinical populations.

The School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, having been awarded Athena SWAN Silver status, is committed to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusivity, and therefore welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds to join our global community.

The University of Birmingham holds Advance HE Race Equality Charter and Athena Swan Charter bronze awards and is a Stonewall Global Diversity Champion. Further information about working at the University of Birmingham, including information about employee benefits and childcare provision is at https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/index.aspx

Main Duties

Research

To pursue sustained research activity in exercise physiology through original research and scholarship, including other research-related contributions through conference papers and presentations. Where appropriate this will include:

• Making a major contribution to the management of research activities
• Leading successful external funding bids which develop and sustain research
• Consistently publishing leading research that results in a sustained, highly respected reputation of international quality
• Providing leadership of research that contributes to the progression of the discipline
• Refereeing and peer review of articles for academic journals and grant applications by research councils and/or other major funding bodies
• Leading sustained high value impact activity in knowledge transfer that leads to either policy development at a national or international level, and/or the development of industrial/network links and initiatives
• Developing novel methodologies and techniques appropriate to the type of research being pursued.
• Supervision and examination of PhD students, both within the institution and externally
• Supervision of other research staff

Education

To contribute at a senior level and on a sustained basis to the leadership and delivery of exercise physiology education. Where appropriate, this will include:

• Making a significant contribution to the pedagogical knowledge base of the subject that advances teaching through the enhancement of practice, the development of teaching resources and/or through practice-based research;
• Leading on curriculum design at module and programme level to ensure it is contemporary, inclusive, engaging and academically challenging;
• Leading the co-ordination of programmes or equivalent activities across the school
• Developing programme proposals and making substantial contributions to the design of teaching programmes more widely in the school
• Actively engaging students in curriculum design and sharing evidence of what works;
• Developing an external profile evidenced through engaging in external quality assurance activities related to teaching, e.g. external examining and engaging with/supporting education in other institutions;
• Playing an important and sustained role in the recruitment and admission of students;
• Leading the development of teaching, learning and assessment policies and strategies;
• Leading substantial and sustained high value impact activity in knowledge transfer and enterprise in sport pedagogy that enhances the student experience and/or employability
• Undertaking own teaching, which will include teaching and examining courses at a range of levels, planning and reviewing own teaching approaches, developing programme proposals, supervision, marking and examining. You will ensure that your teaching practice is informed by discipline based research, through participating in the research culture of the School.

Management/administration

Lead activities in the School and represent the School on College/University committees or working groups. Where appropriate to the discipline, this is likely to include some but not all the responsibilities listed below:

• Making an important contribution to the development and running of the Department or School, for example, leading activity on research and/or teaching assessment
• Leading a successful international engagement at School or College level;
• Developing and managing staff and resources in support of major research and/or teaching activities
• Making important contributions to the development of the School's research and/or learning and teaching strategy
• Contributing significantly to the development and delivery of knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement and public engagement activities with sustained high value impact of manifest benefit to the College and the University;
• Promoting a culture (including policies and procedures) that embeds equality and values diversity and inclusion
• Leading, serving on and assisting the work of committees and task and finish groups beyond School/ Research Institute, e.g., Senate, Council, University Education or Research Committee etc.;
• Leading external committees, e.g., those associated with public/professional bodies or delivery of activities for an external body at an appropriate level, e.g., chairing sub committees associated with large elements of work;
• Leading/project managing a team to devise and implement a new and/or revised process (e.g. a new research initiative, or a recruitment drive);
• Making a sustained contribution to widening participation, schools outreach and/or public understanding of the discipline;
• Contributing to administrative activities within the University (e.g. appeals panels, working groups).

Citizenship

• Identifying wellbeing issues within the School/College/University and developing appropriate solutions to address these;
• Taking collective ownership of challenges faced by the School or College and working with colleagues to develop solutions;
• Mentoring and coaching of colleagues, particularly those in the early stages of their career.
• leading and managing a team to devise and implement a new and/or revised process (e.g. new programme or a recruitment drive);
• advising on personal development of colleagues and students;
• making a major contribution to some administrative activities within the University (e.g. appeals panels, working groups);
• managing enterprise, business development, and public engagement activities;
• developing and making substantial contributions to knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, public engagement, widening participation, schools outreach.
• actively manages equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour.

Person Specification

Essential

• Doctoral qualification in a research area related to exercise physiology (or close to completion)
• Experience and achievement reflected in a developing reputation in a research area related to clinical exercise physiology or exercise prescription
• Extensive teaching experience and scholarship within subject specialism
• Evidence of successful external funding
• Proven ability to devise, advise on and manage learning and research
• Demonstrated excellence in at least Research, with competence in Learning and Teaching and Management and Administration.

Research requirements

An excellent national reputation and a developing international profile in the field of clinical exercise physiology shown through significant original research work and a clear record of impact. Evidence of success under the following headings:

• High level peer esteem as evidenced by
• Excellent reputation in the UK and often internationally, reflected in sustained high quality output, level of innovation, impact on subject and recognition
• An excellent and sustained record of peer reviewed research publications
• Successful and sustained supervision of doctoral students to completion
• Substantial and sustained research income generation, e.g. through research grants, contracts, research consultancy or other external funding
• Substantial high value impact knowledge transfer and enterprise activity

Learning and teaching requirements

An excellent teaching profile and performance in terms of both impact and quality. The teaching quality demonstrated to be informed by an appropriate level of scholarship.

Where appropriate, evidence of success under the following headings:

• High national reputation for the development of teaching and learning excellence within the discipline
• Successful and sustained use of a range of appropriate teaching methods, and assessment strategies that promote high quality learning, including learning that is flexible, distinctive, and current and stimulates learners' natural curiosity
• Significant and sustained contribution to one or more of the following: strategic development of new programmes; approaches to learning; the development of learning resources
• High quality and sustained contributions to fostering excellence in teaching activities more widely, i.e. in the Department/School or College and/or externally
• Track record of substantial and sustained high value impact on the enhancement of the student experience, and/or employability
• Mentoring and expert advice which develops the skills of colleagues in teaching and in fostering learning

Management and administration-related requirements

Demonstrated significant achievement in management and administration-related activities, which may include leadership of activities/initiatives.

Evidence of success under the following headings:

• Successful and sustained performance in significant administrative/managerial role (s) (e.g. exams officer)
• Significant and sustained high quality innovative contributions to the management/administration of the Department/School/College or University
• Successful and sustained contribution to the corporate life of the School/College/University, displaying willingness to contribute actively to committees, collaborative teaching, and administrative tasks
• Actively promotes equality and diversity to internal and external stakeholders
• Able to use data to identify equality and diversity issues
• Experience of developing interventions to address equality and diversity issues

Informal enquires to Matt Bridge via email via m.bridge@bham.ac.uk