London’s Global University

Job Description
Research Finance Administrator Grade 7

IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Location: Bloomsbury, London

Society

Centre for Longitudinal Studies

Social Research Institute

Reports to :

In undertaking these responsibilities you will be responsible to the CLS Centre Manager.

About IOE

IOE is UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society. With more than 900 academic staff, 8,000 students,
190 research collaborations and cross-sector partnerships spanning five continents, our seven
departments work across education, culture, psychology and social science to improve lives.

Founded in 1902, IOE has been shaping policy and helping government, organisations and
individuals navigate a changing society for the last 120 years. We embrace collaboration and
excellence to create a future that is inclusive and just, and have been ranked number one for
education every year since 2014 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

In December 2014 we merged with UCL, putting us at the heart of a comprehensive, world-top-ten
university with a shared legacy of innovation and academic excellence. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe

IOE is led by a Director, supported by three academic Pro-directors and a Director of Operations.

IOE comprises six academic departments:

• Social Research Institute (SRI)

• Learning and Leadership (DLL)
• Culture, Communication and Media (CCM)
• Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment (CPA)
• Psychology and Human Development (PHD)
• Education, Practice and Society (EPS)
About the Social Research Institute

The Social Research Institute – formerly the Department of Social Science – in the UCL Institute
of Education is one of the leading centres for social research in the UK. It is home to seven
internationally renowned research units:

• Social ReCentre for Longitudinal Studies

• Centre for Time Use Research
• CLOSER
• EPPI-Centre
• Quantitative Social Science
• Social Science Research Unit
• Thomas Coram Research Unit

Our strategy is to exploit and promote our key characteristics:

• All of our centres are multidisciplinary, with staff drawn variously from sociology, social
policy, demography, economics, psychology, anthropology and social statistics.
• We are working across centres/units to promote cross-methodological, problem-solving
interdisciplinary research on particular themes where we have outstanding scholarship
and critical mass, e.g. gender, families, work, inequalities, migration, bio-social
interactions.
• We are tackling major social challenges, e.g. on how societies support family wellbeing,
gender equality and economic prosperity.
• We have a central role in sociological studies at UCL, with staff working on empirically and
theoretically rich research.
• Our work is increasingly transgressing the boundaries of academic social science, taking
us into life sciences (health, social epidemiology, biosocial research), natural sciences
(information science, environmental science) and the humanities (peacebuilding, creative
arts).
• Our staff actively engage with public priorities in policy and practice (as seen in our
many Impact Case Studies) and with networks for knowledge exchange.
• We are active in the collection and curation of data as a public resource and in the
development of research methods as well as in substantive research.
• We have a globally central position in longitudinal research, time use research, and
systematic reviews.

More than 180 academic, research, teaching, technical and professional service staff work in the
department. In addition to the seven research centres, it is home to three undergraduate
degrees, three masters programmes and a thriving doctoral community.

About Centre for Longitudinal Studies

The Centre for Longitudinal Studies is an interdisciplinary research centre, which is funded by ESRC
to scientifically lead and run four of Britain's internationally renowned cohort studies:

• 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS)

• 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70)
• Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
• Next Steps (formerly the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England)
The Centre has also recently been funded to test the feasibility of establishing a new UK birth cohort
study, the Early Life Cohort Feasibility Study (funded by ESRC), and is collaborating on two further
new longitudinal studies, the Children of the 2020s (funded by DfE) and the Covid Social Mobility
study (COSMO) (funded by UKRI).

The Centre collaborates closely with the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing in the Faculty of
Population Health Sciences in UCL, which leads the 1946 National Survey of Health and
Development (NSHD), the oldest of the UK’s national birth cohort studies.

The cohort studies follow individuals throughout their lives. They involve multiple surveys, together
with other specialised forms of data collection (for example physical measurements and biological
samples), and linkages to administrative records. The information collected is broad, covering areas
as diverse as education, employment, and income, family and parenting, physical and mental health,
and social attitudes. As well as conducting regular surveys of the cohorts, CLS delivers a strong
interdisciplinary research programme, as well as programmes of research on survey methodology
and statistical methods. Our academic staff specialise in applying advanced quantitative methods
to the cohorts data to produce high quality research and inform policy in areas such as education,
health, labour markets, child development, child and adult wellbeing, and ageing.

CLS is a truly multidisciplinary group, and staff have backgrounds in economics, sociology,
psychology, epidemiology, demography, social statistics, mixed-methods research, survey methods
and data collection, data management, and techniques of policy evaluation. CLS combines
academic excellence in research and scientific direction of the studies alongside outstanding
professional staff who deliver the studies, and communicate their findings. CLS also commits
considerable resources to assisting the wider research community in using its longitudinal resources.

Our substantive and methodological research circulates in books, academic journals and in the CLS
Working Paper series, as well as being widely disseminated through oral presentations and
international conferences and workshops. Within the department CLS works very closely with
colleagues in Quantitative Social Science (in the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate
teaching and supervision, and through a joint seminar programme) and CLOSER (a consortium
which brings together eight of the UK’s world-renowned longitudinal and cohort studies to maximise
their use, value and impact).

Main purpose of the job

The role will specialise in administering the financial activities of the designated area, ensuring
effective procedures are documented and adopted for dealing with all aspects including
processing financial transactions, procurement and monitoring expenditure of the centres grants.
The post will assist the Centre Manager and Centre Director in achieving a high quality and timely
service to staff, and others internal and external to the centre.

The role will include handling matters relating to the MyFinance system. They will provide financial
information and reports for the Centre Manager, and other Senior Managers to monitor
expenditure. They will also help in monitoring grants, budgets, expenditure enquiries and arrange
reimbursement of expenditure to staff and students.

The post is available until 31st March 2025 in the first instance.
Duties and responsibilities

• Act as the finance point of contact for research finance matters and take ownership in
resolving issues and offering appropriate advice and training.
• MyFinance is UCL’s online finance system. The role holder will use this to process all
financial transactions.
• To have specialised knowledge in MyFinance to manage online financial transactions and
reporting.
• To assist other members of the team in using the financial systems.
• Liaise with central finance and research services in the exchanging of information and
managing financial data, attending meetings as required.

Financial Processing and Procurement

• Responsible for processing and monitoring all interdepartmental transfers, ensuring the
coding is correct and liaising with staff in the faculty and central UCL teams on
reconciliations of funds on shared work activities. 
• Management and monitoring of all expense and travel claim forms ensuring the expenses
are allowable and are supported by the correct documentation.
• The role holder will have the knowledge to ensure expenses are within UCL regulations and
make people aware of the financial policies and any changes to them.
• Contribute to the production of monthly management reports to ensure the completeness
and robustness of project budget figures in relation to actual transactions and forecasts.
• Handling all foreign payments, ensuring forms are completed correctly and in the currency
required.
• Responsible for raising requisitions and purchase orders and receipting goods.
• Provide advice to centre teams to set up UCL procurement contracts for goods and
services.
• Responsible for handling sales invoices and liaising with central finance department to
ensure these have been paid.
• Reviewing and reconciling transactions to ensure that all are accounted for correctly.
• Liaise with school finance team to set up and maintain CLS core account codes.
• Create and submit purchase requisitions for equipment/materials for the centre, ensuring
value for money.
• Setting up new suppliers in conjunction with the UCL Data Processing office.

Research Grant & Funding Administration

• Provide funding related information to Centre Manager to inform decision making; providing
reviews of grant activity and the funds remaining and assist with requesting variations to
award (e.g. no-cost extensions).
• Assist Centre Manager with funding administration when required, monitoring expenditure
against grant budget, and alerting Centre Manager/others, as appropriate, of potential
under- or over-spends. Assist the Centre Manager with pre-award costing and bid
submissions whenever required.
• Report on financial data as required by the funder.
• Monitoring and processing of IoE HR forms for research staff appointments and contract
extension including one-off duty payments.
• Reconcile research grant accounts.
• Monitor technical purchase orders and records of expenditure for the project, liaising with
centre staff.
 • Collaborate with UCL research services, funders, project partner universities and industry
partners to ensure all project reporting deadlines are met.
• Initiating research contract requests on Worktribe.

Financial Reporting and Planning

• Discuss with team leaders on annual budget proposals and forecasts and agreeing them
with Centre Manager/others, as appropriate, and then operating and monitoring the
resulting budgets.
• Provide financial data and advice on budgets to principal investigators, and research staff.
• Manage inductions/updates to staff on financial procedures.
• Liaise on a regular basis with academic leads regarding current and future staffing plans.
Provide guidance and advice on recruitment and selection procedures for recruiting new
staff.
• To be an authorised signatory for purchase orders and staff expenses on specific centre
grants.

General Financial Administration

• To be a point of contact for suppliers, staff and any other external enquiries.
• Manage and implement systems for filing of financial records in relevant folders, databases,
and spreadsheets.
• Investigate and resolve discrepancies and queries arising on accounts, involving liaison
with UCL financial systems, departments, outside suppliers and other institutions.
• Manage financial processes associated with UCL deadlines such as month-end and year-
end tasks.
• Liaise regularly with members of Research Administration, Research Funding Unit, Human
Resources, and Finance Division. 
• Liaise with UCL taxation and commercial accounting to ensure that different income
streams are being received into the correct funds for taxation purposes.
• Administer income from workshops and ensure there is an audit trail.
• Provide cover for colleagues during periods of absence, or assist with peaks in workload in
other areas.
• Organise UCL insurance for all staff travelling abroad on business as required.
• Responsible for the booking of accommodation, travel and equipment related to specific
projects.
• Provide staff with access to project codes in line with financial regulations.

In addition, the post holder will be expected:

To actively follow and promote UCL policies, including Equal Opportunities and Race Equality
policies.

The staff member will have a responsibility to carry out their duties in a way that embodies UCL’s
environmental and social sustainability values, actively supporting UCL’s Sustainability Strategy,
policies and objectives within the remit of their role.

To maintain an awareness and observation of fire and health and safety regulations.

To carry out any other duties commensurate with the grade and purpose of the post.
The successful candidate will need to meet UCL’s expectations of core behaviours as outlined in
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/policies-advice/core-behaviours-framework

As duties and responsibilities change the job description will be reviewed and amended in
consultation with the post holder.

UCL is currently trialling hybrid working and it may be possible for the successful applicant to work
remotely for up to 60% of the week depending on their location and requirements of the role. This
can be discussed during the recruitment proces

[May 2022]
Person Specification
Essential Assessment method
Criteria or (Application/Interview)
Desirable
Qualifications, experience and knowledge
Educated to a degree level or having acquired relevant E A/I
skills in finance or accountancy or equivalent work
experience
Knowledge of financial processes and regulations E A/I
associated with general financial administration
Knowledge of research funding processes and E A/I
regulations within a higher education/research
environment
Excellent knowledge of Excel, including the ability to E A/I
understand and use numerical formulae
Proven effective service in a busy office environment E A/I
Experience of financial processing and reporting systems E A/I
in a context such as a Higher Education institution, e.g.
UCL’s MyFinance and Axiom Reporting
Proven experience of working as a proactive member of a E A/I
team
Proven experience of preparing financial budgets and E A/I
forecasts
 Experience of research grant administration E A/I
 Experience of working within a HE or similar research D A/I
environment
Skills and abilities
Computer literacy and familiarity with the Microsoft suite E A/I
of software to an advanced level in Word, Email, Outlook
and the internet
Excellent oral and written communication skills which enable E A/I
the post holder to liaise and interact with a variety of people
at all levels of the university
 A commitment to customer focus and the need to provide E A/I
an efficient, professional and effective service to the many
users and contacts both internally at all levels of the
organisation and externally
High level of numeracy, with the ability to understand and E A/I
interpret a variety of figures and statistics, and deliver
accurately against operational deadlines
Proven consistent ability to meet tight individual and E A/I
organisational deadlines and to manage own workload
through effective prioritising, time management and
organisational skills
Willingness and ability to undertake training and adapt to E A/I
new systems quickly
Excellent analytical skills including ability to research, E A/I
analyse and interpret financial information and determine
appropriate action
 Essential Assessment method
Criteria or (Application/Interview)
Desirable
Ability to prepare and co-ordinate accurate financial E A/I
reports for a variety of uses
Demonstrable ability to develop, maintain and review E A/I
administrative and finance systems
Ability to take initiative and contribute to decision making E A/I
Personal attributes
Ability and willingness to work collaboratively as well as E A/I
independently
Ability to work calmly under pressure to tight deadlines E A/I
Delegating with appropriate guidance and encouraging E A/I
initiative
Documenting and sharing solutions E A/I
Commitment to UCL’s policy of equal opportunity and the E A/I
ability to work harmoniously with colleagues and
students of all cultures and backgrounds

Apply
To apply for this position visit:
ucl.ac.uk/jobs