• Job type: Full time, 12 month contract 
• Location: Sydney (Camperdown) or Brisbane (Woolloongabba) - we have offices in both locations
• Reports to: Chief Executive 

The Policy Officer will support policy work and projects that enable the Academy to deliver an ambitious policy agenda over the coming months. Our policy work tackles topics including the future health of the nation, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and health, and the need for Australia to further embed research and translation in health.

About the role 

The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences is the impartial, authoritative, cross-sector voice of health and medical science in Australia. Our purpose is to advance health and medical research in Australia and its translation into benefits for all, by fostering leadership within our sector, providing expert advice to decision makers, and engaging patients and the public. At the heart of our work are our Fellows – an independent, interdisciplinary body of Australia’s leading researchers, elected by their peers for outstanding achievements and exceptional contributions to health and medical science in Australia.

Reporting directly to the CEO, the Policy Officer will support and coordinate aspects of the Academy’s high impact policy projects on key health and medical research issues. The Academy’s elected Fellows represent Australia’s best researchers and innovators in health and medical science – they contribute to a range of projects, programs and events. As Australia’s newest Learned Academy, AAHMS has grown in influence over the past few years. The Policy Officer will have the opportunity to shape the Academy’s policy work and our role in informing government policy. Policy work is delivered by the Policy Officer alongside the Academy’s Policy Manager and the CEO. Projects include consultation responses, roundtable meetings, workshops/symposia and longer-term projects led by expert working groups.

The Policy Officer will contribute to all phases of policy work, from conception and scoping; through to delivery, research and drafting; and onto dissemination and follow-up. They will have excellent interpersonal and organisation skills, with a demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities and projects to meet short and long term deadlines. They will have knowledge of the Australian health, research and innovation landscape, and will be familiar with policy issues currently facing the sector. They will ideally have experience of policy analysis on relevant issues, e.g. in a scientific, medical, health or higher education setting. The successful candidate must be comfortable working closely with senior academics and health professionals.

We have offices in both Sydney and Brisbane, meaning the successful candidate could work in either location. 

Main duties/responsibilities

• Coordinate aspects of the Academy’s policy projects, such as expert working groups, roundtable meetings, workshops/symposia and consultation responses. 
• Undertake research to identify the key issues and gather relevant evidence in relation to policy projects, using this to produce high quality analysis and to develop conclusions and recommendations.
• Draft evidence-based policy outputs, including policy reports, meeting reports, consultation responses, correspondence and briefings.
• Undertake scoping work on potential future projects.
• Maintain a good understanding of the health and medical research landscape in Australia and monitor key policy issues.
• Work with policy and communications colleagues to promote the Academy’s policy projects. 
• Identify and work with relevant Fellows, stakeholders and other experts in relation to Academy policy projects, and support the CEO, Executive, Council and Fellows to liaise with key stakeholders, e.g. by preparing briefings. 
• Support meetings of the Academy’s policy committees, including our Policy Advice Committee and project working groups.

More detail on these duties and responsibilities are available in the position description.

For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Catherine Luckin, CEO: [email protected] using the subject line: Policy Officer - Sydney / Brisbane enquiry via EthicalJobs.

We anticipate that interviews will take place in mid-January.

Please download the attached Position Description for more information on this role.