Details
Job Summary
The post holder will provide reliable, accurate and efficient executive assistance to the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Research in Computational Intelligence and Applications (CERCIA) in the School of Computer Science. The post holder should be able to use his/her own initiative, work under pressure, be flexible in moving from one task to another and be able to prioritise tasks.
Main Duties
1. Provide executive editorial assistance in running an international journal (50%)
- Experience of, or ability to learn quickly, the new web-based electronic submission systems, ManuscriptCentral.
- Proof-reading manuscripts (many authors are not native English speakers) and correcting language errors.
- Maintaining paper and electronic copies of manuscripts and all correspondence.
- Maintaining a database of all manuscripts and other relevant information, including authors, associate editors and reviewers.
- Preparing letters and emails to associate editors and authors, including assignments, acknowledgement and feedback.
- Communicating with the IEEE Journals Department (in USA) regarding the production of each issue. This includes checking the final manuscripts and electronic files, copyright forms, authors\x{2019} biographies and photos, producing covering pages, etc.
- Alerting the Editor-in-Chief on any potential problems at any stage of the manuscript processing and monitoring the progress of associate editors or reviewers.
- Producing various reports about the journal, e.g., list of reviewers, statistics about review times, journal impact factors, etc.
- Providing editorial assistance on other journals if the need occurs.
2. Provide reliable, accurate and efficient executive assistance to the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Research in Computational Intelligence and Application (CERCIA) (30%)
- Providing administrative support to CERCIA Director. This requires the ability to gain extensive knowledge and understanding of University policies, procedures and systems, as well as AWM\x{2019}s (Advantage West Midlands) agendas, policies, procedures and systems.
- Researching, developing and managing systems and processes to ensure work is successfully completed to deadline. This includes, but is not limited to: drafting and finalising project progress reports (which summarise our activities, targets met and projections) under the supervision of the Director; drafting and finalising briefing papers (which often include statistical data on research projects and company R&D activities) under the supervision of the Director.
- Writing correspondence, coordinating meetings on and off campus (including room bookings, time scheduling, travel, catering and accommodation), maintaining an efficient filing system for the office, communicating with Personnel on staffing issues (including appointments, contract renewal, increments and promotion).
- Communicating with other University units and external organisations on the Director\x{2019}s behalf, including a wide range of issues, from research and teaching to outreach, and from meetings to follow-up action.
- Working closely with Cercia staff in the smooth running of Cercia. This may involve processing financial orders (including making decisions on whether and how to liaise with the Finance Office on a particular order), maintaining project accounts (including checking expenditures against different sub-headings), alerting the Director and Manager about potential discrepancies and problems, coordinating meetings, preparing agendas, minute taking, travel and accommodation arrangements for visitors, chasing follow-up action to deadline etc.
3. Provide assistance of an administrative nature to CERCIA deputy directors and the External Relations Manager on CERCIA-related matters (10%)
- Arranging meetings with industrial/business visitors, including room booking, travel, catering and accommodation arrangements.
- Assisting with the arrangement of industrial/business events, e.g., industrial open days and workshops (including all aspects of local arrangements).
- Assisting with other outreach activities that are relevant to CERCIA
4. Receive and welcome visitors and arrange refreshment, lunches and overnight accommodation as necessary. (5%)
5. Perform any other duties as requested by the CERCIA Director. (5%)
Decision Making/Problem Solving
(i) without reference to others
- All non-technical editorial decisions for the international journal
- Maintaining page budget for the journal
- Managing the production of each issue in collaboration with the IEEE staff in the USA
- Proof-reading of all accepted papers in terms of English language and other non-technical aspects
- Supervising system upgrade, maintenance, bug reports, etc. for the ManuscriptCentral system in collaboration with IEEE and ScholarOne staff (both in USA)
- Managing the entire paper review process to ensure the deadlines are met
- Organising meetings, including venue, travel, accommodation, catering, materials for distribution, etc.
- Preparing and writing briefing papers
(ii) after consulting others
- Preparing and writing reports for both internal and external bodies
- Processing financial orders in collaboration with the School accountant and University Finance office
- Proposing annual page budget for the international journal
(iii) or that would be referred to someone else.
- Recruitment
- Committing expenses
Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications and Experience Required
- Excellent level of education.
- A very high standard in English and a good standard in mathematics.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills.
- Excellent interpersonal and organisational skills.
- Previous experience of providing secretarial support to senior members of an organisation.
- Demonstrated ability in maintaining confidential information and documents.
- RSA II in typing/audio/word processing or equivalent.
- Excellent IT skills. Detailed knowledge and experienced with the MS Office suite, e.g., WORD, EXCEL, and ACCESS, and web-based systems. Must be keen on learning and improving IT skills.
- Ability to assess priorities and work on own initiative.
- Demonstrated ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
Communication Skills
Contact / Purpose/Skills Required
Centre Director / Editorial assistant and PA to the Director. Excellent oral and written communication skills required. Ability in maintaining confidential information and documents required.
Centre Manager and External Relations Manager / Administrative assistance.
IEEE Staff (USA) / Undertake editorial work on behalf of the Director (editor-in-chief). Excellent oral and written communication skills required.
Other Centre Staff / Undertake work on behalf of the Director. Excellent oral and written skills
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