The purpose of the role is to provide high quality policy research and Committee support.
Reports to: Policy Director
Directorate: The policy team is responsible for forming AOP policy and, working with others within and outside the organisation, ensuring that the AOP is fully involved in the eye health agenda in the UK and Europe for the benefit of its members.
Duties and key responsibilities
Policy development and response
- Undertake primary and secondary research under the direction of the Policy Director;
- Produce research reports and briefing papers;
- Establish the policy presence on the AOP’s new website (launching Autumn 2015), establishing the use of community forums for policy discussions and supporting Council and Policy Committee members in using them;
- Manage internal consultation, including through the website community forums;
- Build up and maintain policy expertise, in due course proposing what policy work should be done in response to member concerns or other triggers;
- Working with equivalent colleagues in the Optical Confederation member organisations, and ensuring appropriate member engagement, coordinate responses to consultations from a range of governmental and other bodies. (Sometimes AOP will lead the preparation of such responses and at other times it will comment on and contribute to drafts prepared by others);
- Develop and implement a strategy for AOP involvement in Joint Optical Committee for the European Union (JOCEU) and the European Council of Optometry and Optics (ECOO);
- Ensure that the AOP’s World and European strategies reflect AOP policies and are integrated into them;
- Manage the budget associated with policy development and consultations.
Committee support and administration
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Provide support to the AOP Council and Policy Committee, including:
- drafting agendas;
- drafting papers and commissioning papers from others;
- taking notes and writing minutes;
- ensuring that all the above are produced and sent in a timely fashion;
- booking rooms, sending invitations and ensuring that refreshments are arranged;
- briefing the Chair and others as appropriate;
- following up agreed actions to ensure they are carried out;
- Provide similar support to other Committees and short-life working groups as and when required.
Supporting the AOP’s wider work
- Working with colleagues in the Communications Department, ensure that opportunities are taken to communicate the results of research work to members and more widely;
- Provide briefings to the Communications team to support policy-related work with the media;
- Work with colleagues to develop website content and take other internal and external communication opportunities, including active contribution to the AOP’s community forums;
- From time to time be available to staff AOP stands at conferences and other events.
General responsibilities
- Be proactive in keeping up to date with developments affecting your work and maintain and improve personal competence through continuous professional development;
- Operate within organisational policies, codes of conduct and practice and work collaboratively with staff across the association;
- Contribute to team meetings and organisational priorities, strategic goals and performance targets;
- Be flexible and carry out other associated duties as may arise, develop or be assigned within the broad remit of the post.
Person Specification
Experience:
- Proven experience of working in a policy development role;
- Working within a healthcare or regulated sector;
- Working proactively within a committee based governance structure on policy development;
- Developing policy materials or information and resources for a range of audiences;
- Working with a range of stakeholders, partnership working or strategic networking, including outside own organisation;
- Developing and maintaining effective systems for collecting, collating and reporting information.
Skills and abilities:
- Prioritising and project management skills, including the ability to manage several projects at once;
- Writing skills; production of policies and reports and the ability to write succinct, accessible documents on complex areas;
- Clear communications skills, face-to-face, on the phone and email;
- Familiarity with using social media tools such as community forums in work settings;
- Able to understand complex material and translate into policy;
- IT skills at a level that supports writing, email internet and databases;
- Ability to meet deadlines and work effectively under pressure, often balancing conflicting priorities;
- Self motivated with ability to work alone but can also work cooperatively and flexibly as part of a team;
- Social Policy research, analytical and problem solving skills;
- Thinking strategically and translating this into practical plans and outcomes.
Knowledge:
- A working understanding of policy terminology;
- Knowledge of the regulatory and legislation process in health;
- Knowledge of appropriate research methods, including survey design, search strategies and literature reviews.
Education/training:
- Educated to degree level or equivalent in a relevant area oran additional proven experience in a directly related post.
Personal attributes and other requirements:
- Ability to travel, work away for short periods and weekends as necessary (especially during party conference season);
- Able to work some evenings.