Planning, leading and conducting scientific experiments and analysing results.
Occupational Profile
This occupation is found in a wide range of industries including Pharmaceutical, Clinical Trials, Personal Care, Analytical, Manufacturing, Water/Environmental, Energy, Agricultural, Food Science, FMCG, Petro-Chemical, Nuclear, Aerospace, Oil, Gas, Materials, Renewable, Bio medical, NHS, Diagnostics and MOD/Defense. The broad purpose of the occupation is someone who is primarily involved in planning, leading and conducting experiments and analysing results, either with a definite end use, for example to develop new products, processes or commercial applications, or to broaden scientific understanding in general. They provide scientific and technical leadership, giving a clear sense of purpose and driving strategic intent. They can expect to lead on business critical projects – managing the design and implementation of such projects both internally and externally, disseminating findings to internal and external stake-holders and making strategic recommendations based upon the findings of the project. They take into account new scientific methods and breakthroughs, identifying longer-term opportunities and risks. They will be able to effectively collaborate with both industry and academia, working in multidisciplinary teams, to apply results of research and develop new techniques, products or practices. They are responsible for developing ethical, innovative research practices and programmes with the ability to deliver results. They are a role model, with responsibility for those in senior positions and significant organisational budgets. In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with a wide range of individuals and teams. This is due to the varied work and leadership roles that the individual undertakes through their work. This means that these varied interactions require them to communicate across businesses and industries and lead on ensuring scientific information is communicated in efficient ways, examples of these varied interactions are;
Internal – Direct Reports/teams, Project Teams, Line Managers, Senior Managers, Company Boards, Global Heads of Departments, Teams in other International Regions, Manufacturing Sites, Legal Teams, Sales and Marketing teams, Data Management, Securities Teams, Quality Control and Design Teams
Externals – Compliance, Legislation (court/legal) , Regulatory Bodies, Professional Bodies, Universities and Educational Bodies, Customers, External Partners, NGOs, Contract Research Organisations, Sector forums, Patient groups, Media, Technical Specialists, Suppliers andSector skills councils,
The working environment may also be varied and change from day to day due to the diverse nature of the projects and work that the individual may be working on, but can include;
Lab Based, Manufacturing Plants, Field based – External sites(out side), office based, home based, Customer sites, Conferences and education facilities. An employee in this occupation will be responsible for autonomously managing their own work programs and time while maintaining their own CPD and continuing to develop and update the knowledge and skills of others (coach develop/lead). They are responsible for direct line management of research teams or leading peer groups and collections of scientists in programs/experimentation’s to achieve required goals. They report to senior level management/heads of functions while also being accountable for reporting to board members within the company, clients and research councils. They will be responsible for budgetary control of their projects and advising on wider company impacts of research around production costs and profitability of research results.
They will be responsible for managing different streams of work and leading on/designing and carrying out trails of process and procedures and Translation of science to action. Alongside also designing , developing, implementing and evaluating these business changes.
The volumes and breath of this may vary due to the size of the organisation. With smaller companies also requiring their research scientists to be responsible for acquiring business through communication with customers and leading in this area.
Summary of Standard
https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/research-scientist/
Full Standard
