Unity Health Toronto, brings together St. Michael’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Health Centre and Providence Healthcare under a shared mission—to advance excellence in health care through world-class education, research and innovation. Research at Unity Health Toronto is comprised of over 260 researchers, 250 learners and 900 staff members with a variety of research programs from basic science and translational research to clinical, population health, policy, and health services research. Our full affiliation with the University of Toronto, Canada's largest research entity, underscores our commitment to excellence.

The Research Training Centre (RTC) is a key part of the Research Institute at Unity Health Toronto and its mission is to empower tomorrow’s research leaders to achieve excellence in their research and future careers at Unity Health Toronto and beyond. Each year, the RTC supports over 250 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and over 100 undergraduate research summer students, providing research and career development opportunities through advocacy, workshops, learning events, mentorship, and funding.

Reporting to the Senior Director, Strategy, Innovation & Partnerships and the Scientific Director of the RTC, the RTC Specialist’s role is to be the primary point of contact for all research trainees, manage the day-to-day operations of the RTC and lead work on annual objectives as set by the RTC Director and RTC Advisory Committees. The RTC Specialist is responsible for the successful delivery of training opportunities including seminars, workshops and symposia, aimed at skills development and professional growth of our trainees. The RTC Specialist also manages in-house scholarships and travel awards, as well as a range of external trainee funding opportunities including Tri-Agency competitions, The Specialist works closely with the St Michael’s Hospital Research Student association to promote all aspects of research training.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead the planning and delivery of a range of trainee events (seminars, workshops, symposia) across the Research Institute.
• Coordinate and administer internal funding opportunities including scholarships and travel awards as well as specific priority external funding opportunities (e.g. Tricouncil competitions for graduate students)
• Coordinate and administer the Keenan Research Summer Student Program, an annual summer student program that runs from May to Sept
• Coordinate and plan RTC Advisory Committee meetings
• Maintain and manage the RTC website with information regarding programs offered, upcoming events, scholarships and travel awards within UHT Research as well as external funding opportunities from grant funding agencies or universities, student seminars.
• Communicate events, funding opportunities and resources to trainees, principal investigators and research community members via weekly newsletter
• Maintain and manage the RTC registry of graduate students/postdoctoral researchers and support trainees with onboarding and orientation
• Represent the RTC externally through GTA RTC network (research institutes based at other Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network hospitals), local universities, etc.
• Provide ongoing support to the St. Michael’s Research Student Association (SRSA) executive (which changes annually).
• In consultation with the RTC Director, develop annual RTC budget and oversee expenditures and revenues. Prepare regular reports on budget for annual reporting, reporting during institutional external reviews, and for strategic planning purposes.
• Oversee and manage the work of occasional RTC undergraduate Co-Op students that are recruited to support RTC activities, including the summer student program delivery
• In collaboration with the RTC Director, the Advisory Committee and with trainee input, identify initiatives to further develop and grow the RTC

Qualifications

• A minimum of three (3) to five (5) years’ experience leading training programs and/or initiatives within a research environment
• Master’s degree in Science, Applied Science or related field
• Prior experience as a research trainee strong preferred
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to engage with diverse stakeholders
• Experience working with trainees in a research setting strongly preferred
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with demonstrated experience communicating with diverse stakeholders (trainees, research scientists, leadership/executive etc.);
• Experience and expertise in event planning, coordinating and implementation
• Experience planning, coordinating and facilitating meetings (in-person, virtual and hybrid)
• Sound judgment, diplomacy, analytical and critical thinking skills
• Demonstrated ability to coach and mentor others
• Experience with budgeting and financial reporting is an asset
• Strong project management and organization skills

Unity Health Toronto is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive organization. We strive to provide a recruitment process that is barrier-free and in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and the Ontario Human Rights Code. We understand that you may require an accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process. When you are contacted, please inform the Talent Acquisition Specialist and we will work with you to meet your accommodation needs. We want to emphasize that all accommodation requests are handled with the utmost confidentiality, respecting your privacy and dignity.

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