About the British Science Festival

The British Science Festival is Europe’s longest standing science festival, travelling to a different place in the United Kingdom each year. We bring an inspiring programme of free events to the public over five days, bursting with exciting opportunities to get involved in. Our talks, workshops and drop-in events span a diverse range of subjects that encompass science in the broadest sense, promising something for everyone.

The British Science Festival 2022 is to take place in Leicester from 13 – 17 September 2022, hosted by De Montfort University. Working in partnership with the University and other organisations in the region, the Festival will celebrate the world-leading research taking place at De Montfort University and more broadly across Leicester. It will shine a spotlight on areas such as energy, transport, healthcare and digital innovation, by celebrating the people, stories and ideas behind the science. Will you be a part of it?

About the role

Job Title:   Building Manager (British Science Festival)

Duration:   13-17 September 2022, plus training days on both   Thursday 8 and Friday 9 September. 

Core Hours:   Hours will be assigned between the core hours of   09:00-22:00 and will be confirmed on appointment.

Location:   Leicester

Rate:  £10.90 per hour

The British Science Association is recruiting Building Managers to work during the British Science Festival 2022. The Festival will be held in Leicester city centre and at Leicester De Montfort University campus from 13-17 September 2022, hosted by De Montfort University. This role is based at the De Montfort University, but some events may require support in Leicester city centre. 

Building Managers act as the main point of contact between the Festival Assistants, the members of the public, and the BSA Operations Team.  You will be responsible for a small team of Festival Assistants and ensuring that all necessary tasks are completed in order to secure a smooth running order of the Festival events in the building/venue you are allocated.  

You will be expected to deal with any issues that may arise within your venue during the Festival and work with other Building Managers across the campus to react to changing situations and delegate emerging tasks. You will also assist with evacuation and access to your venue, tasks for which training will be provided.

This is an opportunity to develop your experience in event and temporary staff management as well as developing leadership skills and gaining further insight into how a large event works behind the scenes.

Job Description

Main duties

• Acting as a point of contact and representative for Festival Assistants, members of the public and guest speakers
• Using initiative to solve problems as they arise with assistance from the BSA Operations Team and other Building Managers as required
• Liaising with the BSA Operations Team to escalate problems and complete tasks as required to ensure the smooth running of the Festival
• Managing Festival Assistants within your venue and ensuring that they complete all necessary tasks, including responsibility for assistant’s schedules
• Assisting Festival Assistants in ensuring events within your venue run smoothly
• Assisting with evacuation and access, in addition to fire-marshalling, as required by your venue (training provided)
• Ensure people adhere to COVID-19 regulations set by the British Science Festival

About You

Person Specification 

Essential

• Confidence in leading a team and delegating tasks
• An ability to stay calm under pressure, showing initiative and solving problems
• Experience, tact and skill working with the public
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• An ability to work flexibly
• Comfortable with responsibility

Desirable

• Knowledge of Leicester
• Experience of volunteering at or attending previous science festivals
• Experience of managing temporary staff or volunteers
• Experience of event management
• Student at De Montfort University
• Based in Leicester

How to Apply

If you are interested in applying, please download and fill in our short application form. Once completed upload it onto the BSA recruitment portal via the following link: 

https://recruit.smb.co.uk/vacancy.aspx?id=P7W2yanjMSDuQUbJ

The closing date for applications is 23:59 on Monday 20 June 2022.

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted after this date to arrange a time for a short interview before a final decision is made.  

As part of the British Science Association’s commitment to being a Disability Confident employer, all disabled* applicants who meet the ‘essential criteria’ for this vacancy will be offered an interview under our guaranteed interview scheme. 

If you wish to apply under the guaranteed interview scheme, you will be asked to indicate this when you submit your application by selecting ‘yes’ in the relevant box when asked during the application process. Applicants do not need to state any further information or declare their disability at the application stage.

Whether you are applying under the scheme or not, if you are successful in being shortlisted, we will ask candidates with disabilities or long-term health conditions to let us know if they need any adjustments during the recruitment process. If you have further questions or would like this information in a different format, please contact: [email protected]  

Our vision and mission

Let’s break down barriers… 

The science sector has many structural and system-wide barriers that it’s time to remove. In particular, we’re working with business leaders, policy makers, scientists, community leaders, teachers, and many others to say goodbye to the old stereotypes of who a scientist ‘should be’. With their help, we’re bringing more voices into the conversation, to help more people see science (in all its forms) as a relevant part of their lives.

…So good ideas can thrive 

The UK is bursting with potential. We’re unlocking it. And we won’t stop until people and communities who’ve typically been overlooked by science can confidently play their part.  

We’re striving for a future where everyone is represented and has their voice heard on the issues that matter to them. So, science goes beyond being a lesson at school and becomes a way of thinking and making decisions – about looking after your health, protecting the planet and choosing and using new technology.  

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

For the BSA’s vision to come to fruition, we need to make science part of everyone's culture, including those who are currently least engaged.  We need to be able to engage with people in groups that are poorly represented in science, and that’s why equality, diversity & inclusion (EDI) needs to be central to our activities.  

The BSA has established three objectives for our work with EDI:

• Develop our staff and internal systems to ensure the BSA reflects the society we want to see, and develops inclusive culture and policies;
• Change our programmes to increase their relevance to audiences who are traditionally under-represented in science engagement activities, and empower people to run science engagement activities for their networks and communities;
• Influence other organisations and individuals in the science engagement to sector to develop and improve their EDI practices in capability and audience development to reach new audiences.

We recognise that in many settings, at the BSA and beyond, EDI can be seen as an add-on or ‘fix’ to the regular work. Our aim is for EDI to be the heart of everything we do. 

Vacancies at the BSA

Here are the current vacancies at the BSA:

• Ambassador - British Science Festival 
• Building Manager - British Science Festival 
• Event Assistant - British Science Festival 
• AV/IT Assistant - British Science Festival 

Terms & conditions 

The Building Managers will be working at the British Science Festival in Leicester between 13-17 September 2022 and will be required to attend an overnight training course in the week prior to the Festival, where they will receive full training in evacuation and access as required by their venue, as well as an introduction to all the venues on campus.

Please note that the responsibilities of this role are provisional and are subject to change in alignment with COVID-19 regulations. 

The position is offered at a salary of £10.90 per hour. You will be allocated no less than 6 hours per day. Your core hours will be scheduled between 09:00-22:00 in De Montfort University campus, for four or five days (including up to a one-hour unpaid lunch/dinner break per day, depending on hours worked). If successful, your hours will be fully outlined in your offer letter.

The training days on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 September will be paid at the above rate and the BSA will provide overnight accommodation in Leicester if required and reimburse reasonable travel costs incurred in attending the training day.

The BSA will not be covering travel, accommodation, or subsistence costs for the duration of the Festival, but can provide information about accommodation, if required.

A copy of our Privacy Notice is available on the vacancies page of our website. 
*The Disability Confident scheme’s definition of disability is in line with the Equalities Act 2010: “a physical or mental condition which has a long-term and substantial effect on your daily life”.  Further information about our Disability Confident commitments can be found on the Disability Confident page of our website.