Telethon Institute For Child Health Research | Theme Heads – Strong Beginnings, Infectious Diseases, Chronic Diseases, Precision Health

Theme Heads – Strong Beginnings, Infectious Diseases, Chronic Diseases, Precision Health Nedlands, Australia
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Posted: 11/21/2024 - Application Deadline: 1/11/2025
As one of Australia's biggest and most respected child health research institutes, we are seeking four science leaders to help drive our new strategic plan, which aims to solve the biggest challenges facing children and families.
Research Reimagined 2025-2035 is an ambitious and bold plan revolving around three core pillars – focus, impact, thrive – and emphasises discovery-led science while pursuing research outcomes that have the most impact. Our vision is simple – happy, healthy kids.
Through an agile, values-driven approach, the strategy requires experts committed to collaboration and inspired by innovation. The successful candidates must have highly developed skills to co-design research projects with communities and partners and build a challenge-ready ecosystem, focused on priority-driven science outcomes and sustainable research pathways.
As a member of the Science Leadership Committee, Theme Heads are responsible for the management of people within their respective theme, providing authentic direction and leadership to implement Institute-wide initiatives. This encompasses developing and executing Theme Strategies, the Research Model, and research challenges to achieve the Institute's overarching strategic goals.
Theme Heads are senior leadership positions dedicated to advancing research strategy and excellence within a designated Theme and across the Institute. We are currently seeking interest from true Research leaders in the following research themes, to assist The Kids in meeting the highest research and ethical standards and ensuring research translates into improved health outcomes for children and families. Theme Heads will inspire our research professionals to reach their full potential. With strong operational and administrative support, the Theme Head leads the Theme's Research Teams, promoting effective collaboration and guiding progress toward Theme objectives. Theme Heads are also responsible for fostering cross-team collaboration and supporting career development for staff and students at The Kids.
We seek leaders for the following research themes:
Strong Beginnings: Focuses on understanding and improving early childhood health and development to set the foundation for lifelong well-being. By addressing factors from pregnancy through early years, this theme aims to optimise health outcomes from the very start. Infectious Diseases: Aims to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases, with a strong focus on developing effective vaccines and improving immunity across populations. This theme addresses both emerging and persistent infections that impact children's health worldwide. Chronic Diseases: Dedicated to preventing and managing chronic conditions in children, such as respiratory disease, diabetes, and cancer. This theme focuses on research to reduce the long-term impact of these conditions on quality of life and healthcare systems. Precision Health: Utilises personalised approaches to healthcare, aiming to tailor prevention and treatment strategies based on genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. This theme strives to make healthcare more targeted and effective for each child's unique needs. These leaders will work alongside the existing leadership of the Wellbeing and Mental Health theme as well as the overarching theme of First Nations Health and Equity.
Some of the key responsibilities include:
Lead the Theme in developing and delivering the Theme strategy, ensuring high-quality, high-impact research. Identify strategic research priorities and critical skills required to deliver the Theme strategy. Represent SLC through membership on relevant internal groups and committees. Provide visible leadership, support, and contribution to the Institute-wide strategic direction. Devise and deliver strategies to support research excellence. Be a role model for effective and positive leadership which is ethical, inclusive, results-driven, and future-oriented. This is a part-time role available on a flexible basis, with an expectation of two days per week depending on the candidate's preference and availability in line with research commitments.
About You Successful candidates will have most or all of:
A higher degree by research in a relevant discipline (e.g. health, biomedical or social sciences). Demonstrated experience in research leadership, including setting strategic directions, managing research teams, maintaining organisational culture, and promoting the organisation externally. Demonstrated high-level research productivity in an area relevant to child health. Strategic understanding of the Australian health and health research sectors. Experience in the not-for-profit sector, specifically experience in health research organisations or university research. Capacity to initiate and lead organisational change. Excellent communication skills—specifically, an ability to articulate the Institute's vision and values and communicate these with impact and conviction. Demonstrated financial management skills and commercial understanding. Demonstrable passion and vision for child health/wellbeing research. Demonstrated ability in establishing and maintaining productive relationships with a broad range of collaborators and strategic stakeholders. Excellent diplomacy, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills. We are driving inclusion and diversity as part of the way we work and embrace the diverse career and life experiences of our staff. If you meet a number of the requirements (and not all), we encourage you to submit your application. We also encourage you to address any career disruptions (if applicable) you may have had in your cover letter. About Us The Kids Research Institute Australia is one of the country's largest and most successful medical research institutes. Our team of more than 1,200 researchers, students, professional service staff, and volunteers is driven by our vision – happy, healthy kids.
As leaders in child health research, we foster a collaborative culture that emphasises excellence, integrity, growth, and cooperative problem solving. Based within the Perth Children's Hospital in Perth, Western Australia, and with offices in Adelaide and Broome, our dynamic environment offers a unique blend of research, innovation, and community engagement to address significant health challenges affecting children in Australia and globally.
Our aim is to create a workplace where people are respected and encouraged to fulfil their potential. We encourage a workforce that is innovative, eager to acquire knowledge and enhance skills; we embrace all employee differences, foster a culture that supports diversity and inclusion, and are committed to providing reasonable accommodations where required.
Some of our staff benefits include: Additional annual leave over Christmas and Easter. Save on tax and increase your take-home pay by salary packaging up to $15,899 of Living Expenses and up to $2,650 on Entertainment Benefits each FBT year. World leader in child health research. Early and Mid-Career Researcher Mentoring Program. Various initiatives providing strategic support to researchers, including funding support. Extensive health and wellbeing program with weekly events. Flexible work options and hybrid working. Modern offices and end of trip facilities, including sit to stand desks. Access to Corporate Health Insurance. Staff purchasing discounts including travel, IT Hardware, and stationery. How to apply If you think that this is the right role and an exciting new challenge for you, please click on 'Apply Now' to navigate to our Career Site to view the Job Description and submit your application.
Your cover letter (no more than 2 pages) should specifically address your skills and experience outlined in the "About You" section above, and indicate which Theme or Themes you are applying for. Applications will only be accepted through our career portal. If you are experiencing technical difficulties with our online portal, please direct your query to
If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, please direct your inquiries to
Closing Date: 10/01/2025 - We reserve the right to hire prior to the closing date.
The Kids Research Institute Australia is committed to being champions of gender equity, diversity, and inclusivity. We actively encourage applications from people of all ages, nationalities, abilities, and cultures, including: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with diverse genders, sexes and sexualities, and people living with disability. As such we are a proud Bronze award recipient of the first Australian Athena Swan Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) pilot program.
We acknowledge that when working in environments which contribute to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people, it is imperative that Aboriginal people are at the forefront of this work. We have launched the Aboriginal Employment and Career Development Strategy to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, and researchers employed in the Institute who provide guidance and support in our work in Aboriginal health.
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