Science Officer - Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health (ISCH)

Science Officer - Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health (ISCH)
COST (European Co-operation in Science and Technology) is an inter-governmental framework supporting networking of
European researchers. In order to accomplish its mission, the European Science Foundation (ESF) in Strasbourg through the COST Office in Brussels provides administrative and scientific management to COST, its Domain Committees and its Actions. This is achieved through a support grant provided to ESF by the European Commission.

ESF-COST Office seeks a Science Officer (SO) in the ISCH Domain for its office in Brussels. The Science Officer position will imply the implementation of proposal evaluation procedure, the support to Domain Committees, the management and monitoring of COST Actions. The SO will cover the Domain Social Sciences and Humanities (other than political science, history and sociology); experience in the field of Health would be appreciated. The position  offered foresees to promote interdisciplinary collaboration in science and technology across Europe and beyond.
The person should be available to start as soon as possible.

Position responsibilities:
• Organising and following the proposals’ evaluation and selection procedure for new COST Actions, the COST networking instrument;
• Implementing, managing and supporting approved Actions for the several Domains;
• Liaising with COST Domain Committee’ Chairs while providing them administrative and scientific support;
• Gathering relevant information to identify results and outcomes and promote impact of COST Actions, in collaboration with the COST Communication & Conferences Team
• Taking responsibility for the management of the relevant budgets;
• Ensuring quality control and best practice;
• Maintaining an up-to-date awareness of relevant scientific research and technology policy developments;
• Delivering and preparing quality papers and reports when requested;
• Contributing and taking part in the development of conferences, events and workshops;
• Representing the COST Office in external meetings in Brussels and abroad, when requested;
• Undertaking other duties as necessary under the responsibility of the Head of Science Operations;
• Respond to any demand requested by the COST Office Director.

Profile and competencies
Specific competencies
• Ph.D. is mandatory, with a minimum of 5 years of research experience;
• particular experience in Social Sciences and Humanities other than political science, history and sociology will be preferred; experience in the field of Health or Life Sciences appreciated;
• Proven experience with evaluation of research projects, project monitoring and general science management;
• Sound knowledge of European and national research landscape and research institutions as well as good understanding of European and international science policies;
• Excellent networking skills at international level;
• Experience in people management welcome;
• High standard of spoken and written English, knowledge of other European languages appreciated;
• Good working knowledge of IT systems including MS Office, databases and web sites.

Inter-personal competencies
• Strong inter-personal and communication skills within a multi-national context, including discretion, diplomacy and tolerance;
• Excellent organisational skills;
• Action-oriented, responsible and self-managed;
• Creative, problem-solving and willing to take initiatives with a continuous improvement minded;
• Capability to follow procedures and to represent COST in the scientific communities;
• Transparency in working combined with a team-orientated work ethic;
• Commitment and accountability to deliver on allocated administrative and scientific tasks and respond in a timely manner to deadlines.

ESF-COST Office offers:
• A full-time contract under the Belgian law with a duration linked to the FP7 COST Grant Agreement II (ending June 2014), with an initial probation period of 6 months;
• An international working environment located in Brussels (Avenue Louise 149, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium)
• Unless a national of the ‘EU and EEE’ candidates must be eligible to work in Belgium and must have a Work Permit.
To apply, please click the 'Apply Now' button to submit your application electronically; the application should be addressed to Barbara Bottiau, attaching your motivation letter with possible start date mentioned + CV and quoting Reference code: SO-ID.

Deadline for application: 12 August 2012, the interviews will be planned the week of 3 September 2012.
For general details see http://www.cost.eu