Executive Director of EUROMOD

Posted to IASSIST on: 2013-10-02

Employer: Institute for Social & Economic Research, University of Essex

Employer URL: https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/euromod

Description

This is a new, senior post aiming to strengthen the management and leadership of EUROMOD as the project enters a new and exciting phase of development and expansion. It will involve:

• Project management and providing organisational leadership to ensure that core goals are delivered effectively, and
• Working in collaboration with the EUROMOD Director to shape EUROMOD’s future direction organisationally, financially, scientifically and in terms of the policy impact that it achieves.

EUROMOD is the tax-benefit microsimulation model for European Union covering all 27 member states, and based on household microdata from the Eurostat’s European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). It is designed for consistent and comparable cross-country analysis of the effects of tax-benefit policies, and policy reforms, on national budgets, the distribution of household incomes and work incentives. It can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of current policies, to explore the implications of change to policies or economic conditions, or to design new policies with particular goals. Results may be evaluated for individual countries on their own or in comparison with each other, for the EU as a whole or any sub-group of countries. EUROMOD is unique in two respects: covering many countries and being generally accessible to all not-for-profit researchers. It is often said to be the most-used microsimulation model in the world.

EUROMOD is a research tool built and maintained with the highest of academic standards for carrying out quantitative analysis on policy-relevant topics. Bridging academic enquiry and the analytical needs of policy-makers, it has the potential to bring the two communities closer together, especially as analysis using EUROMOD becomes increasingly recognised and respected in each of them. It is now extensively used and appreciated by policy directorates of the European Commission and other international organisations as well as some national governments. DG-EMPL, which currently provides financial support for EUROMOD’s development, has recently expressed a desire to “embed” EUROMOD in its activities in the longer-term.This is an opportunity to take a leading role in shaping the future of a major international social science infrastructure project that has huge potential to make an impact on policy-making in Europe over the long term.

EUROMOD is maintained, updated and developed by ISER researchers in collaboration with national teams in each EU member state. The model requires updating each year, in terms of the tax-benefit policies that are modelled, input micro-data and documentation. Each revision is tested before being released to external users. There is also an ongoing programme of improvements and extension in scope and comparability. This work is currently funded by DG-EMPL of the European Commission. Other grants fund our own research using EUROMOD and some specific developments and extensions to the model, including spin-off models for non-EU countries. For more information see https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/euromod

The ISER EUROMOD team currently consists of the EUROMOD Director, nine researchers (economists and sociologists) and a coordination assistant, as well as drawing on inputs from ISER communications, IT and administrative staff. They all work on multiple tasks and projects but need to coordinate and cooperate as a team on a regular basis. The researchers each take responsibility for the updating and development of a few countries as well as cross-cutting technical work ensuring comparability across countries, applications of the model and their own research, both using EUROMOD and independent of it. The current organisational structure is based on a monthly project meeting which tracks progress and considers issues affecting the project as a whole. An annual meeting with the national teams (about 80 people) is organised in a different member state each year.

This new post does not involve formal teaching or the requirement to publish academic research. Instead the person appointed will be responsible for the efficient and effective running of the EUROMOD research infrastructure, leaving the EUROMOD Director more time to concentrate on leading research activities.

Duties will include:

1. Responsibility for the project management of EUROMOD maintenance, updating, development and dissemination to users. In more detail, this includes
   1. Implementation of the annual work programme, involving agreement of sub-contracts with 30+ national teams and technical experts
   2. Efficient/effective delivery of project deliverables to the desired standard
   3. Managing relationships with external EUROMOD users, including their access to EU-SILC data via arrangements with Eurostat; coordination of the annual release and dissemination of the model as well as oversight of promotion and organising of training.
2. Responsibility for coordinating the dissemination and communication of EUROMOD and related projects including web content, newsletter, brochures, events etc. [in conjunction with ISER communications and IT staff].
3. Oversight of budgets and expenditure on staff and non-staff resources [in conjunction with ISER administrative staff].
4. Development of systems for monitoring the use of EUROMOD and impact of EUROMOD research.
5. A key role in devising, bidding for, negotiating and managing new projects.
6. Deputising for the Director of EUROMOD e.g. in presenting the project to policy-maker and other stake-holder audiences.
7. Making a major contribution to developing a vision for EUROMOD’s longer-term future at the interface between academic research and policy-making, and seeing it through the necessary forthcoming transitions.

 The post-holder will participate, like all ISER staff members, in various institute-level activities appropriate to their seniority.

Terms of Appointment: For a full description of the terms of appointment for this post please visit: http://www.essex.ac.uk/personnel/CondServ/default.htm

Qualifications /Training

Essential

• Educational qualifications to at least first degree standard.
• Significant experience of managing a complex long-term project with multiple goals and stakeholders within a research or public policy environment.
• Experience of reporting progress against objectives both verbally and in writing
• Experience/knowledge of social science research
• Experience of financial management and of managing budgets
• A capacity to appreciate the main aspects of EUROMOD’s (a) analytical capabilities and (b) technical maintenance and development requirements, in order to be able to manage activities related to these effectively and to be able to present the project to external audiences.
• A pro-active and flexible approach to managing a complex, unique and fast-developing project.
• A portfolio of project management skills, both formal and more broadly defined.
• An ability to make high-level presentations to stakeholders
• An understanding of relevant social science research processes and the analytical needs of fiscal and social policy-makers.
• Excellent verbal, visual and written communication skills for a wide range of contexts.X Practiced diplomatic and networking skills
• A very high standard of written and spoken English
• Willingness to travel within the EU on a frequent basis

Desirable

• A relevant higher degree, MBA or equivalent.
• Experience/knowledge of quantitative social science research including the use of large-scale micro-data
• Experience/knowledge of statistical software/programming
• An interest in policy and processes in the European Union and/or an understanding of the pathways to impact agenda.

Archived on: 2013-10-18