Playful Learning at York Administrator

Department

Biology

Salary

£32,080 to £36,636 per year (pro-rata for part-time working)

Grade

Grade 5

Contract status

Fixed term

Hours of work

Part-time

Based at

University of York campus (with some remote working options available)

Interview date

To be confirmed

Posted Date

16/12/2025

Apply by

11/01/2026

Job Reference

14638

Documents

• Job Description (14638).pdf (PDF, 351.96kb)

Role Description

Department

The Playful Learning at York (PLaY) Group is a new group bringing together staff and students across faculties at York, coming together to accelerate research impact, student engagement, curriculum innovation, and cross-sector collaboration.

At York, playful learning and educational games are already being created across departments, but evaluating and leveraging impact for research and education is challenging for individuals and teams working in isolation. For resources that may have commercial reach, Intellectual Property (IP) can be unclear. Without design, production or distribution support, many great tools with potential for high impact never leave the research project or student classroom. The PLaY Group will bring together people interested in using or creating playful methods to offer guidance and support on development and IP, access research and industry funding, and act as a broker for distributing York-created educational games. In brief, the PLaY Group will turn creative potential into practical impact and income.

Role

The successful candidate for this role will support the PLaY Leaders to create a hub for accelerating impact and commercialisation of existing games and resources, with an online platform for sales, enquiries and information. This role will work flexibly across faculties to deliver 0.2 FTE of support over the year. Exact hours and timing may vary from week to week depending on PLaY needs, and candidates should be prepared to manage resources and time independently. This is an exciting opportunity for the right person to be involved in shaping an innovative and playful initiative for the University.

The Successful Candidate Will

• Manage the PLaY Group storefront and postage and packing for purchases.
• Respond to day to day queries regarding the PLaY Group, to provide PLaY advice, signpost to commercialisation routes and frameworks, and connect members of the group with each other.
• Liaise with the PLaY Leaders to coordinate and evaluate events and activities, maintain communications, and liaise with internal and external collaborators.
• Act as an ambassador and advocate for the PLaY Group and the playful ethos at in person and online events.
• Maintain a social media presence for the PLaY Group to promote its activities.
• Help to deliver PLaY Group initiatives and events with administrative support appropriate to the detailed role description.

Skills, Experience & Qualification Needed

• Champion of playful learning approaches.
• Experience of working with communities of interest and practice across research and education.
• Experience of facilitating workshops and learning activities.
• Inclusive and collaborative.
• Effective communicator.
• Level 3 qualification or equivalent.
• Ability to take responsibility for delivering defined work initiatives.
• Ability to gather, analyse, interpret and report data and information.
• Ability to use digital technologies relevant to the role.

Interview date: To be confirmed

For informal enquiries:

please contact Ella Howes (Yorkshire Policy Collaboration, [email protected]), Pen Holland (Biology, [email protected]) or Laura Mitchell (School of Business and Society, [email protected]).

The University strives to be diverse and inclusive – a place where we can ALL be ourselves.

We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background, who are underrepresented at the University.

We offer family friendly, flexible working arrangements, with forums and inclusive facilities to support our staff. #EqualityatYork