Communications Officer (temporary position)

The Nordic Africa Institute is looking for a Communications Officer (temporary position, 6 months) with a focus on design, text editing and publications coordination.
The Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) conducts social sciences research on contemporary Africa. We believe that research-based knowledge and analysis offer a solid base for informed decisions and contribute to the fulfilment of the global development goals.
Communication and Policy Dialogue is one of three core areas at NAI, and the six-person strong unit works to share the institute’s research and expertise with academic and policy-making audiences in Africa, the Nordics, and Europe, through events, publications, film, text, photo, web, social media and more.
During the first half of 2021 our Publications Coordinator will be on parental leave, and we are looking for a design- and text-oriented communicator to join us for six months.
While your main tasks will involve discussing publications with researchers, text-editing and designing, you will need to have experience of and interest in the wider research communications area, as the communications team jointly discusses and develops methods to efficiently share the institute’s knowledge.
We put heavy emphasis on making our knowledge accessible, usable, and of course highly relevant to our audiences, who are both academic and non-academic.
This job demands some understanding of how evidence-based knowledge is created, and an openness in the dialogue with research colleagues about how to best present and share that knowledge. You need to be able to act as a sounding board to research colleagues who write for non-academic audiences.
As a coordinator of the publications function, you will also handle contacts with publishing and printing partners, manage regular send-outs to libraries (primarily in Africa), as well as actively participate in the launching of the institute’s publications.
Your main tasks:
In dialogue with the Institute’s researchers, produce and disseminate policy notes and other publications; including discussing texts with authors, text editing, designing, uploading publications into various repositories, and marketing.
Together with communications colleagues, promote NAI’s research and publications in the institutes’ digital channels.
Support Events Administrator in organizing events to launch publications.
Manage the logistics of NAI’s publications, including the contacts with authors as well as printing and publishing partners.
Other communication tasks as may be required.

Your qualifications:
Required skills
Documented and extensive experience of designing publications in InDesign
Documented and extensive experience of editing complex text for the benefit of non-academic audiences.
Experience of working in a communications and/or publications function within a research and/or development setting.
Superior command of English

Merits
Fluency in Finnish and/or Swedish.
Experience of producing infographics from complex material.
Knowledge of political, social and economic issues in contemporary Africa.

Education:
Academic degree in subject relevant to the position.

The employment
The period of employment is from mid-December 2020 until end of June 2021.
The place of work is the NAI office in Uppsala, Sweden, combined with home-based work. For this position, a valid work permit for Sweden is a prerequisite.
Questions?
Contact Head of Communications Victoria Engstrand-Neacsu, HR generalist Dan Åkhagen, or union representatives Johan Sävström (ST) or Henrik Alfredsson (Saco). Telephone : +46 18 471 52 00.
How to apply
Send your motivation letter and your CV to nai-applications@nai.uu.se latest Sunday 01 November 2020.