Imperial College London s8

Job Description

Job Title: Research Associate – Public Transport Department/Division/Faculty: Civil and Environmental Engineering/RTSC/Faculty of Engineering Campus location: South Kensington Job Family/Level: Level 3b, Professional, Technical and Operational Job Family Responsible to: Senior Research Associates (Level 4) and also RTSC Project Managers as required Line Management responsibility None for: Key Working Relationships Works within Railway Transport Strategy Centre (RTSC) project teams (internal): Key Working Relationships Senior public and private sector clients worldwide (external): Contract type: Full-time, Open-ended

Purpose of the Post

The RTSC at Imperial College London is a globally recognised applied research and consultancy group, focused on public transport and aviation. We are a growing, multidisciplinary team combining people from industry, consultancy and academic backgrounds. The RTSC's primary activities are research and consultancy for international groups of metro, rail, light rail, bus and airport providers.

We help many of the leaders of the world’s transport providers to improve their performance, based on the identification of global best practices and using annual performance benchmarking. The activities are far reaching; recent studies have included fares and funding policies, driverless metros, whole life costs, and service planning. Our partners include over 100 public transport providers worldwide including Transport for London and the Hong Kong MTRC. We also work for international institutions including the World Bank.

To support sustained growth in existing and new research and consultancy markets, we are seeking to appoint a Research Associate – Public Transport (equivalent to Senior to Principal Transport Consultant/ Planner). You will be part of a friendly and supportive team, made up of around 25 professionals, who are committed to working together to conduct high quality work that makes a real difference to clients and to our stakeholders.

This post involves carrying out projects for transport providers, often using international comparative analysis, to generate advice and recommendations for their senior management. You will gain exposure to the many facets of railway, metro (subway) bus and/or light rail management at both a technical and strategic level, dealing directly with senior figures in the public transport industry.

Key Responsibilities Job Description

 Work independently and collaboratively to deliver research and consultancy projects, taking responsibility for managing small projects.  Synthesise and summarise a large quantity of diverse qualitative and quantitative information from public transport providers, identifying trends and exceptions and verifying accuracy and comparability, then interpreting results and drawing meaningful insights and recommendations.  Write clear project scopes and/or proposals that are realistic given the available budget and will usefully add to knowledge on the topic.  Design information collection methods with analysis in mind, planning for the method of research and data management, and considering clear and comparable definitions of data items to be collected.  Deal directly with external partners, including public transport operating managers, to verify data inputs and find out more about interesting practices.  Develop and use spreadsheets to manage inputs and present data.  Prepare reports and presentations that communicate findings in a clear and engaging manner.  Plan an accurate and realistic timescale and budget for discrete research projects.  Deliver projects to timeline, budget, and quality agreed with project manager.  On a project basis, manage and direct supporting work provided by Research Analysts.  With others in the RTSC, to help coordinate and develop the international benchmarking consortia. It will sometimes be necessary to attend and help coordinate meetings overseas where the member public transport providers will hear and discuss presentations of the RTSC’s work.  Work closely with public transport providers to understand their needs, develop strong relationships with them and deliver research and consultancy that aids the management of their companies.  Analysis of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) capabilities for the various benchmarking groups managed by the RTSC.

Person Specification

Requirements Essential (E)/ Candidates/post holders will be expected to demonstrate the following Desirable (D)  An excellent understanding of the public transport industry (UK or international). E Education  Educated to degree level (or equivalent) in a discipline with a significant numerate E content such as Transport, Urban Planning, Civil Engineering, Geography, Economics, Mathematics or a related field.  A Masters’ degree (or equivalent) or equivalent demonstrable experience is D desirable. Experience  Applications are encouraged from people with experience in the public transport E industry (including consultancies, transport operators/authorities, governments, institutions and regulators); prior work in academia is not a prerequisite.  A proven record of dealing directly with senior clients or management. D

Knowledge  Knowledge and/or professional experience of the public transport industry (UK or E international) in areas such as planning, economics, operations, engineering, Job Description

technology, regulation, and safety. Skills & Abilities  Strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills with an ability to draw E conclusions from information and datasets.

 Diligent, with excellent attention to detail. E  Fluency in written and spoken English. E  Experience of writing concise and pertinent reports of high quality. E  Experience of delivering effective presentations. D  Good networking and collaboration skills, including proven competence in working E in project teams and interacting well with professionals at all levels.  Good organisational skills, including working to strict deadlines and budgets. E  Proven project management skills, including setting work programmes and D managing projects to deliver high quality work within budget and time constraints.  Self-motivated with ability to exercise initiative and take responsibility for E deliverables.  Due to the international nature of the work the ability to speak a foreign language or D a demonstrable interest in travel/other cultures is desirable. Other requirements  Must be willing and able to travel worldwide for short durations. E

Please note that job descriptions cannot be exhaustive and the post-holder may be required to undertake other duties, which are broadly in line with the above key responsibilities.

Imperial College is committed to equality of opportunity and to eliminating discrimination. All employees are expected to follow the 7 Imperial Expectations detailed below:

1) Champion a positive approach to change and opportunity 2) Encourage inclusive participation and eliminate discrimination 3) Communicate regularly and effectively within and across teams 4) Consider the thoughts and expectations of others 5) Deliver positive outcomes 6) Develop and grow skills and expertise 7) Work in a planned and managed way

Employees are also required to comply with all College policies and regulations paying special attention to:  Confidentiality  Financial Regulations  Private Engagements  Conflict of Interest  Health and Safety and Register of Interests  Data Protection  Information Technology  Equal Opportunities  Smoking

They must also undertake specific training and assume responsibility for safety relevant to specific roles, as set out on the College Website Health and Safety Structure and Responsibilities page. Job Description

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial- research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level. http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research- integrity/animal-research/

Committed to equality and valuing diversity, we are an Athena SWAN Silver Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Disability Confident Employer and work in partnership with GIRES to promote respect for trans people.