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------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: Edward Melhuish <[log in to unmask]>
To: "A.J.MacFarlane" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: job ad database manager
Date sent: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 10:55:40 +0100

Please forward



Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues


REF: APS501
DATABASE MANAGER
(3-Year Fixed Term)

REPORTS TO: Director of the Institute

LOCATION: Bloomsbury, London WC1


Birkbeck is part of London University and specialises in part-time evening
education. It offers the opportunity of working with mature students in
research-led environments.

THE SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY

The Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues is
part of the School of Psychology. The School of Psychology is a research
active department with over 20 full-time teaching staff and a number of
full-time research fellows. The School has current strengths in Child and
Family studies, Brain and Cognitive Development, and Cognitive Sciences
and was awarded a 5 (out of a possible 5) in the last national research
assessment exercise. The School web address is http://www.psyc.bbk.ac.uk


THE INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF CHILDREN, FAMILIES AND SOCIAL ISSUES

The Institute for the Study of Children, Families, and Social Issues is
newly established to conduct basic and applied research on child and
family development and related topics. It currently houses the recently
established, 6-year, #16,000,000 National Evaluation of Sure Start, funded
by the Department for Education and Employment. It also serves as the
London base of a large-scale American study of the effects of early child
care on child development.

NATIONAL EVALUATION OF SURE START

Sure Start represents a unique approach to early intervention for children
0-4, their families, and communities. Rather than providing a specific
service, the Sure Start initiative represents an effort to change existing
services. This is to be achieved by reshaping, enhancing, adding value,
and by increasing co-ordination. The desired outcome of this effort is
the enhancement of child, family, and community functioning. To evaluate
the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of Sure Start in reaching these goals,
the National Evaluation of Sure Start is being undertaken by a team of
investigators from a number of universities and organizations, led from
the Institute for the Study of Children, Families, and Social Issues at
Birkbeck. The research team includes researchers in the fields of
psychology, social work, social policy, economics, public health,
education, statistics and the study of communities.

JOB SUMMARY

This post forms part of the team evaluating the impact of the Sure Start
programme. Data will be collected at both the individual and the area
level and at different timepoints. The data on individuals will be
provided with consent but storage and subsequent analyses must be within
the data protection act. The data storage and management will be the sole
responsibility of the post-holder. Data will be collected in a variety of
formats; a community database will be constructed from a variety of
archival sources whilst information for the implementation database will
be collected via an internet survey. It is expected that the largest part
of the databases those relating to individual children and their
families from up to 40,000 interviews will be collected using computer
assisted personal interviewing (CAPI).

The post-holder will report directly to the core senior statistician on
the project. In addition, they will be expected to work in close
collaboration with Dr Alastair Leyland, Research Scientist, MRC Social and
Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, who will oversee all
statistical analyses, Professor Edward Melhuish, Director of Impact
Evaluation and Professor Jay Belsky, Research Director of the Sure Start
Evaluation.

Duties of the Post-holder

The responsibilities of the post-holder will include:

7 Creating and managing a series of linked databases containing
information about individuals and their communities. 7 Extracting relevant
information from the database in appropriate formats as requested.
7 Supervising the entry of data into the database (including performing
checks for accuracy and consistency). The data may come from a variety of
sources including internet surveys and computer assisted personal
interviewing (CAPI). 7 Ensuring that any uses made of the data do not
contravene the data protection act. 7 Setting up a protocol to maintain
data integrity. 7 Any other duties as may be required from time to time

SKILLS, EXPERIENCE, AND QUALIFICATIONS

The following criteria will be used for the selection of candidates and
unless otherwise stated, the criteria are essential.

Experience

7 Experience of the creation, linkage and management of large databases
7 Experience of working with survey data


Technical Skills

7 Knowledge of Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) software and
data downloading 7 Ability to programme databases, preferably in Access,
SQL server 7 Knowledge of the data protection act and its implications
7 knowledge of SPSS

Personal Skills

7 Ability to work with a multidisciplinary research team
7 Ability to manage own workload
7 Ability to prioritise and meet deadlines, within in a time constrained
environment 7 Ability to exercise initiative and work independently 7 Good
interpersonal skills 7 A flexible approach to work 7 High regard for
confidentiality and security 7 Ability to communicate effectively


FURTHER PARTICULARS

APPOINTMENT: The period of appointment is to be for up to 3 years in the
first instance, with renewal possible.

SALARY: Salary range #19,486 to #24,193 pa in Grade II of the Academic
Related scales for Administrative, Library and Computer staff, plus #2,134
pa London Allowance subject to qualifications and experience.

PROBATION: The appointment will be subject to a 6-month probationary
period.

HOURS: Staff will not be required to work on average more than 40 hours
per week (inclusive of lunch breaks).

LEAVE ENTITLEMENT: 25 days per year, plus an additional 6 days when the
College is closed over Christmas and Easter. This is in addition to
public holidays.

SUPERANNUATION: The normal retirement age for administrative staff is 65.
The post is superannuable under the USS (Universities Superannuation
Scheme). This is a final salary scheme, and is often substantially more
beneficial to the employee than a "money-purchase" scheme.

START DATE: 30th October 2002 or as soon as possible thereafter



CLOSING DATE: 9th October 2002
 Completed application forms to be returned, quoting the reference number,
to Personnel Office, Birkbeck, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX INTERVIEWS:


Informal enquires may be made to: [log in to unmask]

Birkbeck website: http://www.bbk.ac.uk

Application forms are available from:

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/pers/afgeneral.pdf

The forms are Portable Document Format (PDF) files. To view and print
them the free Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 is required. It is available from
http://www.adobe.co.uk/products/acrobat/readstep.html




September 2002
______________________________________________________



Edward Melhuish
Executive Director
National Evaluation of Sure Start
Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Social Issues
7 Bedford Square
London
WC1B 3RA
Tel 020 7436 2740
Mobile 07855 309427
Fax 020 7436 2706
Email [log in to unmask]


__________________________________________________________________
Alison Macfarlane
St Bartholomew School of Nursing and Midwifery
20 Bartholomew Close
West Smithfield Tel 0207 040 5832
London EC1A 7QN Email [log in to unmask]
_________________________________________________________________