Job Vacancy: ELSI Services Officer (Graz)

BBMRI-ERIC is hiring an ELSI Services Officer to report to our headquarters in Graz, Austria.

Download the vacancy note here or read on for details!

Job Title ELSI Services Officer
Job Location Austria
Duration 2 years with the possibility of extension – full-time – 40h/week
Application Deadline 20 March 2020

Who we are
BBMRI-ERIC is a European research infrastructure for biobanking. We bring together all the main players from the biobanking field – researchers, biobankers, industry, and patients – to boost biomedical research. To that end, we offer quality management services, support with ethical, legal and societal issues (ELSI), and a number of online tools and software solutions. Ultimately, our mission is to make new treatments possible.

BBMRI-ERIC offers a unique working environment – as a service provider to the biomedical sciences, as an international organization at the European level, as a partner involved in many European and international projects, as an organizer of Europe’s largest biobanking conference, and as a friendly, diverse office in the heart of a charming Central European city.

Through our ELSI service, we support the biobanking community by providing services and tools that promote regulatory compliance and best practice, as well as by influencing European policy. We work in partnership with a network of ethical and legal experts from academia and practice across Europe, coming from our Member and Observer Countries. Our ELSI experts are at the core of any service we provide and any activities we undertake.

Key Responsibilities
We seek an ELSI Services Officer in order to provide ethical, legal and/or societal guidance for the biobanking community. The expert will dedicate part of his/her time to the ELSI Services, especially the ELSI Helpdesk and Knowledge Base. He/she will contribute to working groups and/or task forces to develop practical services and tools or guidance to biobankers and occasionally to other life science research infrastructures in Europe. Moreover, he/she will contribute to activities and tasks that may be both part of BBMRI-ERIC’s core services as well as selected EU-funded projects (e.g. CY-Biobank) and provide first level guidance to researcher’s ELSI questions. For complex, transnational questions, the ELSI Services Officer can rely on the expertise of our experts’ network in the member countries. Please note that this is a service, not a research position!

Tasks will include:
• coordinating the network of ELSI Helpdesks & experts of BBMRI
• providing ethics guidance and trainings (webinars)
• responding to first-level ELSI Helpdesk questions and coordinating the review board for second-level questions
• translating research findings into tangible information for scientists and biobankers (e.g. Knowledge Base, How-To guides)

Requirements
We are looking for a candidate with the following attributes:
• A solid background in ethical, legal and societal aspects, ideally in the context of biomedical research, especially biobanks and transnational data transfer
• A Master’s degree or higher in law, science and technology studies, or bioethics.
• Understanding of ethical reviews, and ethical self-assessments in the context of research projects and/or data protection impact assessments (DPIAs)
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to liaise with colleagues and stakeholders in an international environment as well as to work in a team
• Fluency in English (as English is the working language of BBMRI‐ERIC)
• Self-motivation

What we offer
According to European/international standards for similar role, responsibilities and requirements of this function: 65,000.00€ as minimum annual gross salary for a position of 40 hours a week; final salary dependent on terms of qualification and experience.
In addition, you will benefit from:
• standard benefits in Austria,
• additional supplementary private health insurance
• private pension plan
• flexible working hours
• a comfortable office in the heart of Graz’s biomedical community
• international projects and plenty of networking opportunities

Terms and Conditions
The ELSI Services Officer will be reporting directly to BBMRI‐ERIC’s headquarters in Graz, Austria. The employment follows Austrian employment law. A relocation to Graz is negotiable.
The jobholder will be asked from time to time to work outside normal working hours and occasionally to undertake national and/or international travel.

Application Procedure
Applicants must submit the following:

• A Curriculum Vitae [CV] with photo;
• A letter of motivation;
• Supporting documents (for example, certified copies of degrees, references, etc.)

to carmen.cristea@bbmri-eric.eu by 20 March 2020. Anticipated start of work: 1 May 2020.

In case of any questions on the content, please contact michaela.th.mayrhofer@bbmri-eric.eu or call +43 664 88 72 18 74.