Public Policy Specialist

Role: Policy and Engagement Advisor

REPORTING TO: Chhavi Bhandari (Co-director, Impact & Engagement) and Alice Witt (Senior Policy Fellow)

LOCATION: Delhi, India.

About The George Institute

The George Institute for Global Health (TGI) was established in 1999 with a mission to improve the health of millions of people worldwide, particularly underserved populations, by challenging the status quo and using innovative approaches to prevent and treat the world's biggest killers: non-communicable diseases and injury.

With offices in Australia, India and the UK, our 700+ people support 245+ active projects and clinical trials across 50+ countries, with 400+ more staff across our social enterprises. We focus on the global health challenges that cause the greatest loss of life, the greatest impairment of life quality and the most substantial economic burden, particularly in resource-poor settings.

What we do

• Lead world-class, large-scale clinical trials, epidemiological studies and health systems research to transform treatments and healthcare delivery
• Look beyond single diseases, across the life course, to identify patient-centred approaches to care that can be implemented at scale
• Develop low-cost, innovative solutions to global unmet needs
• Drive our global impact through a program of research, advocacy, thought leadership and disruptive social entrepreneurship

For more information about The George Institute, visit www.georgeinstitute.org and explore the impact of our research here.

Context of the role

The role will support the translation of research into policy and practice through stakeholder engagement, policy implementation, advocacy and strategic partnerships. The work will be delivered through two teams within The George Institute for Global Health; 60% of their time supporting the Medical Science Sex and Gender Equity (MESSAGE) project and 40% time supporting the Impact & Engagement (I&E) team.

The I&E team aims to increase the impact of the Institute's research by supporting a focus on impact from the earliest stages of research. The team increases researchers awareness and understanding of the policy environment, and supports researchers to develop meaningful pathways to impact; including through engaging with communities and people with lived experience. Team members facilitate coordinated engagement with policymakers and other key stakeholders, including developing and/or strengthening relationships with potential partners and collaborators. They also promote evidence from TGI's research that has clear and specific implications for policy and/or practice and advocate for change in line with those implications. The Engagement Advisor will support I&E work in a global capacity and work with teams from the UK, India and Australia.

The MESSAGE project is a policy, research and advocacy initiative working to address the sex and gender data gap in health and medical research. The team works with a range of stakeholders from across the health research sector, particularly funding organisations, to promote adoption, implementation and evaluation of sex and gender policies for health research. The team's efforts have focused on the UK to date, where the NIHR, Wellcome and the British Foundation have adopted new sex and gender policies based on MESSAGE's co-designed framework. The Engagement Advisor will support MESSAGE's new initiative, with a particular focus on engaging with and supporting stakeholder engagement in India.

Role

The Policy and Engagement Advisor will conduct national, global and multilateral advocacy and engagement activities to increase the impact of The George Institute's research. They will engage with researchers across the breadth of the Institute's research programmes in the UK, India and Australia, as well as being responsible for stakeholder engagement with funding organisations in India regarding sex and gender.

Relationships

The Policy and Engagement Advisor will have dual reporting to Chhavi Bhandari (Co-director, I&E) and Alice Witt (Senior Policy Fellow, MESSAGE). They will be based in the I&E team and will collaborate with:

Internal:

• The MESSAGE project team
• TGI research programme leads, to align advocacy priorities with strategic research priorities
• TGI researchers, to help develop and implement meaningful pathways to impact and identify opportunities for engagement and advocacy activities
• Colleagues in the I&E team, to identify opportunities for collaboration across regions, amplification of activities at the global level, and global team activities
• Colleagues in the communications, philanthropy and CREST teams, to enable co-ordination and collaboration across activities
• The Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine in Australia

External:

• Key stakeholders at WHO and other multilateral agencies, global health organisations, civil society and advocacy networks, to build mutually beneficial partnerships and help ensure the Institute's research is both informing, and informed by, the global health agenda
• Key Health research funders based in India, particularly the Indian Council for Medical Research and India Alliance/Wellcome DBT

Key Responsibilities

India focus: For the MESSAGE Global project (60%), the Advisor's responsibilities are to:

• Lead strategic engagement with Indian health research stakeholders, particularly funders, in person to secure buy-in to the pilot and facilitate effective collaboration.
• Support sex and gender policy roll-out by research funders through design of tailored implementation plans, engagement with key point persons and delivery of training.
• Deliver co-design workshops online and in-person.
• Conduct document analysis and semi-structured interviews with key informants.
• Support project management.

Global focus: For the I&E team (40%), the Officer's responsibilities are to:

• Support and coordinate engagement with multilaterals including the WHO and other multilateral agencies, global health organisations and advocacy networks, developing mutually beneficial relationships with key stakeholders to ensure impactful outcomes.
• Maintain an awareness of developments in the global health sector and advise senior staff on advocacy and engagement opportunities and challenges.
• Use sector knowledge and experience to develop advocacy materials, respond to policy consultations, and plan engagement activities (including events), promoting evidence from the Institute's research that has clear implications for policy and/or practice.
• Secure funding through the inclusion of advocacy/policy engagement activities in successful research applications, and by winning commissions for standalone advocacy/policy engagement activities, including with multilaterals.
• Maintain good awareness of the work being conducted in all research programmes and support research teams to build the engagement pathways needed to influence policy, practice, and funding.
• Work with colleagues in the I&E, philanthropy and communications team to identify opportunities for collaboration across regions and amplification of activities at the global level, including advocacy campaigns
• Represent the Institute at global fora such as the UN General Assembly, World Health Assembly, and the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties - presenting evidence and insights through official statements, civil society and partnership meetings, events, and panel discussions.

As a Team Member:

• Participate in special projects to improve processes, tools, systems and organisation.
• Take responsibility for personal learning and development and for setting achievable and meaningful work objectives and managing personal targets, meeting obligations of The Institute's Performance Management and Development Policy.
• Demonstrate commitment to The George Institute's organisational values, including performing to an exceptionally high ethical standard and focus on integrity, collaboration and teamwork in all efforts.

Work, Health and Safety

• Comply with TGI's Work Health and Safety Policy and related procedures, and similar policies which apply when visiting the premises of affiliates and collaborating sites.
• Promote and contribute to a safe, secure environment for staff and visitors.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• 6-10 years of work experience

• Master's degree (or equivalent experience) in social sciences, public health, health policy, sociology, international development or a related field.

• Significant experience in the field of advocacy, policy influencing and strategy development in the global/public health or related sectors.

• Demonstrable experience of high-level stakeholder engagement across multiple sectors, including health research funders, multilateral agencies and government, NGOs and other civil society groups.

• Experience conducting document analysis and ability to conduct semi-structured interviews with key informants. Experience need not be from academic research in a university setting.

• Experience and proven effectiveness in designing and facilitating co-design workshops, both online and in‑person.

• Excellent communications skills, including the ability to write high‑quality pieces for diverse audiences (academic, policy & public audiences) and translate complex ideas for non‑technical audiences. Strong public speaking skills.

• Excellent interpersonal skills, and evidence of team collaboration and interdisciplinary working.

• Highly organised, with experience managing projects and an ability to work within tight deadlines and manage multiple priorities to ensure high-quality outputs.

Desirable

• Experience working with health research funders in India, particularly the Indian Medical Research Council and/or India Alliance/Wellcome DBT, academic research environment, government or multilateral organisation.
• Interest and knowledge about current evidence, debates and policy developments around sex and gender in health. Understanding of intersectionality concepts.

• Experience in policy design and/or implementation.

• Knowledge of the research cycle (from funding to publication) and ability to understand and interpret complex research and scientific projects to communicate key messages to specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Our big and bold mission to improve the health of millions of people worldwide needs a diverse and innovative team to deliver it. So we foster a dynamic, inclusive and flexible workplace where each individual can bring their best selves to work.

Everyone is encouraged to apply, including people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with a disability, people of all gender identities and sexual orientations, and mature-aged adults.

If this role excites you, please apply to [Confidential Information]