Research Director

Position reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Employment status: Permanent, ongoing

Hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week) (0.8FTE negotiable)

Salary: $126,572 – $131,860 per annum, plus superannuation, annual leave loading and generous salary packaging options.

Location: HJA has office hubs in both Sydney and Melbourne that enable collaborative working and are available for staff use. Our staff outside of these two metropolitan locations work remotely. All HJA staff may be required to undertake travel.

The HJA team come together in person (usually in Sydney or Melbourne) from time to time for events, and to facilitate team learning and collaboration opportunities (3-4 times per year).

Closing: Close of business Monday 24 March, 2025

NB: First Round Interviews (online) will be scheduled for Friday 28 March and Monday 31 March

For further information: Contact Scott Holz on (02) 8526 0870 scott.holz@healthjustice.org.au or visit our website www.healthjustice.org.au.

To apply: Email hr@healthjustice.org.au with ‘HJA Research Director’ as the subject. Application should include a letter outlining your interest and experience against the essential and desirable criteria (3 pg max); and CV (3 pg max)

About Health Justice Australia

Health Justice Australia is a national charity established in 2016 and is a centre of excellence and knowledge hub for health justice partnership, supporting collaborations between services to achieve better health and justice outcomes for people. We aim to reshape health, community, legal and other service systems to better address intersecting health and legal needs.

Health Justice Australia supports the expansion and effectiveness of health justice partnerships through:

Knowledge and its translation: developing evidence and translating that evidence into knowledge
that is valued by practitioners, researchers, policy-makers and funders.

Building capability: supporting practitioners to work collaboratively, including through brokering,
mentoring and facilitating partnerships.

Driving systems change: connecting the experience of people coming through health justice partnerships, and their practitioners, with opportunities for lasting systems change through reforms to policy settings, service design and funding.

We are committed to an inclusive work environment. Advancing Health Justice Australia’s work to achieve our intended impact, we seek to work with people whose skills and behaviours are aligned to our values, culture and strategy. We value:

Curiosity – We value and welcome opportunities to learn. We actively listen and reflect, including
where there is uncertainty and ambiguity. We seek out expertise and experience that is different to
our own.

Courage – We are ambitious in our purpose and scope. We adapt and change through what we
learn. We acknowledge what is hard and where we can do better.

Integrity – We are authentic and genuine in how we engage. We are transparent in our decision
making. We are accountable for the resources we use and the purpose we put them to.

Respect – We work with, alongside and for others by building trusted, respectful relationships. We
are intentional about where we lead, where we collaborate and where we follow. We value the
wellbeing of our people and the people we work with and for.

About health justice partnerships

Health justice partnerships (HJPs) are collaborations to embed legal help into health, community and other services and teams. They have formed in response to a growing body of evidence that shows there are groups of people who are vulnerable to intersecting legal and health problems, commonly compounded by broader disadvantage, but who are unlikely to turn to legal services for solutions. And yet legal solutions can address social issues or determinants – such as housing, money issues, elder abuse, employment, and family safety and stability – that in turn impact upon health and wellbeing.

About this position

The Research Director leads Health Justice Australia’s work in exploring the value, implementation and impact of partnerships that bring legal help into services that support people’s health and wellbeing.

This is a key operational leadership role at Health Justice Australia, working closely with the CEO and other members of the Senior Team to deliver on our strategy to increase knowledge and understanding, and contribute to the evidence base of what works to better address legal need in the context of other complex issues which may hold people in disadvantage.

This position requires strong research leadership background and skills, with expertise developed from work in sectors such as legal assistance/access to justice, public health or community services.

The Research Director leads a small and dynamic research team and works in partnership with a range of other researchers and organisations.

The Research Director reports to the Chief Executive Officer, works collaboratively across the organisation and is a member of Health Justice Australia’s Senior Team.

Roles and responsibilities

Research leadership

• Provide leadership in the research into, and evaluation of, health justice partnership, within HJA and with partners
• Lead, participate in and support research partnerships to explore the implementation, value and outcomes of health justice partnership, including the multi-site evaluation of HJP project
• Facilitate the design, implementation and analysis of metrics about HJPs nationally
• Advise on the translation of research findings into HJP application, in collaboration with the Partnerships Director
• Communicate complex research findings to a range of audiences, including non-specialist
• Lead governance and/or advisory processes relating to HJA research and data strategies Stakeholder engagement
• Maintain existing and develop new relationships fostering interdisciplinary research that supports the expansion and effectiveness of health justice partnerships, such as health, law, social policy, collaboration, workforce capability and systems change
• Work closely with researchers in academic and independent research organisations; and evaluators and practitioners across health justice partnerships and related practices in legal and health settings
• Develop relationships and proposals for research initiatives and work collaboratively with team members and other partners to secure the funding