Bath Institute for the Augmented Human Manager (fixed-term)

Bath              ·               Full time

Job title: Bath Institute for the Augmented Human Manager (fixed-term)

Department: Computer Science

Salary: Starting from £45,585, rising to £54,395

Grade: Grade 8

Contract Type: Full Time

SOC Code – Visa Requirements: 3539

Placed on: Thursday 30 November 2023

Closing date: Thursday 28 December 2023

Interview date: To be confirmed

Reference: ED11202

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The Bath Institute for the Augmented Human (IAH) is the University’s newest research Institute, established in 2023, as an innovative and agile leader in Human Augmentation R&D in the UK and Internationally.

The Bath Institute for the Augmented Human Manager will have significant responsibility for delivering the strategy of the Institute on a day-to-day basis and maintaining alignment to the Institute’s long-term vision.

The Institute Manager will collaborate with the Academic Directors and steering committee, and administrative and technical support staff associated with Institute. The Institute Manager will also act as line manager for other administrative/technical posts within the Institute. The post-holder will be required to work closely with colleagues across the University, in both academic and professional services departments.

The Institute manager will contribute in leadership to achieve a cohesive and performance driven team, ensuring team members are equipped, motivated, and supported to achieve the successful delivery of shared goals across the Institute. 

This is a five year, fixed-term position. 

Our opportunity 

Human augmentation – the use of science and technology to enhance physical and cognitive performance – has the potential to transform every aspect of our lives. It can enable humans to transcend our biological limitations, improve our health and wellbeing, and extend our lifespans.

Increasingly, we are using cutting-edge technology to keep us healthy and help us perform better. There are so many areas where intelligent machines can make a difference.

For instance, there are wearable neurotechnology headsets now that measure the brain activity of a person who, due to sickness or injury, can no longer communicate or move, and then translate these signals into responses people can understand. Strategies are also being developed to link brains directly with exoskeletons – a special kind of suit that can be worn by a person recovering from a stroke or by firefighters or construction workers. These suits enhance a person’s ability to walk, climb and carry heavy loads, and can accelerate recovery from injury or improve workplace safety. We’re also working on brain-training neurotechnology that can enhance performance in sport and mental wellbeing, and can be used to treat a range of conditions such as stroke, chronic pain, ADHD, depression and PTSD.

The speed at which advanced innovations in this field are developing is rapid. The opportunities to bring multiple new human-machine interfacing technologies together are immense and it is very important for the UK to lead innovation in human augmentation and capitalise on these opportunities.  There is an opportunity to help humans across the whole spectrum of their lives – not just physically and mentally but supporting the way we live and work on a day-to-day basis, and thus human augmentation is expected to lead to many beneficial social and economic impacts. 

Our response

The Bath Institute for the Augmented Human aims to be a leading institute nationally and globally, driving responsible, cutting-edge research and trialling and deploying human augmentation technologies that can impact broadly.  Our vision is a complete multidisciplinary training and innovation ecosystem that revolutionises the way that humans’ interface, interact, improve, and evolve with technology. The Institute will be a unique body of interdisciplinary research focusing on research excellence and addressing the global need for new tools and technologies for augmenting the human and developing researchers that have the skills to develop, trial, regulate and deploy human augmentation technologies.

No other Institute has the capacity to bring together such a breadth of interdisciplinary research involving the body, the mind, the physical environment, the digital environment, and the social and policy contexts, in a way that Bath has demonstrated.

We’re setting ourselves an ambitious programme involving 50+ academics from an excellent mix of disciplines, from robotics, engineering and computer science to health, neuroscience and psychology. Together, we’re establishing a world-leading research institute.

We will work together – along with industry partners, patient groups and others – to find new and imaginative ways to integrate machines with our bodies and minds. Our end goal is to push the limits of our natural capabilities – improving quality of life and benefiting humanity. We’ll also be taking a leading role in devising rules that ensure no harm is done by the tech developed in this field. We want to guarantee Human Augmentation technology is deployed both safely and ethically. The Bath Institute for the Augmented Human has been founded to accelerate technological developments and help the UK prepare for the growing impact of direct human-to-machine interactions.

Our focus 

The Bath Institute for the Augmented Human will establish pathways to impact with minimum barriers, achieving impact across multiple sectors. Responsible research addressing societal, legal, and ethical considerations will be at the core of the institute. The Institute is founded on the following Mission, Vision, and Values:

Mission – To leverage technology for the advancement of human health, wellbeing, and performance.

Vision – To establish a world-leading multidisciplinary training and innovation ecosystem that revolutionises the way that humans interface, interact, improve and evolve with technology.

Values – 

1. Trusted – The leading voice in the development and deployment of human augmentation.
2. Inclusive – Enabling a diverse, interdisciplinary, collaborative, and inclusive community.
3. Impactful – Embedding co-creation to deliver impact through innovation.

What we can offer you:

• a very generous employer contributory pension scheme
• generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work life balance
• we are a family-friendly University and with an increasingly agile workforce, are open to flexible working arrangements
• an excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce
• a wide range of personal and professional development opportunities
• a number of support options available for new and existing staff to help with the cost of some immigration expenses which you may be eligible for: Relocation allowance, Visa Reimbursement, Interest-Free Loan.

We aim to be an inclusive university, where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equality and intersectionality receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students, so we encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and communities, particularly from under-represented groups, and value the positive impact that will have on our teams. 

We are very proud to be an autism friendly university and are an accredited Disability Confident Leader; committed to building disability confidence and supporting disabled staff.

Find out from our staff what makes the University of Bath a great place to work. Follow us @UniofBath and @UniofBathJobs on Twitter for more information.

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Further details:

• Job Description & Person Specification

• Terms and Conditions of Employment

We are constantly seeking to reduce the unconscious bias that enters any assessment process, with the goal of creating an inclusive and equal assessment process. To support this, personal details will be removed from application forms at the initial shortlisting stage.

Please click here to apply.