I-REACCH Evaluation Research Associate

Vacancy terms: Full-time, fixed term contract to 30 April 2026

Advert closes midnight on: 12 May 2024

About the role

Are you passionate about improving research culture across the Higher Education sector? The Wellcome Trust has funded a team of researchers to find new ways to innovate, influence policy, and make a difference to staff and student participation in how we work together and empathise with each other.

You will pro-actively help to shape the future direction of research culture at the University of Leicester. Our shared aim is to be inclusive, promote equity and extend diversity. Five workstreams are going to test new ideas and ways of enhancing the progression of people who often feel excluded from a university career structure.

Funded by the Wellcome Trust as part of its Institutional Funding for Research Culture scheme, you will be joining a dedicated team to deliver the I-REACCH (Inclusive Research Culture Achieved through Culture Change) project. As Evaluation Research Associate for I-REACCH, you will bring your research skills to support the formative and summative mixed-methods evaluation of I-REACCH innovations and will support the delivery of a new and exciting piece of work for Leicester University.

This work stream aims to engage with research leaders to conduct formative and summative evaluation sessions for all I-REACCH interventions, and contribute to the formation of appropriate novel evaluation mechanisms and outputs that demonstrate I-REACCH’s innovation and impact. In this role you will lead the evaluation of the I-REACCH interventions with diverse and multiple stakeholders, mobilising a range of mixed methods with both qualitative and quantitative metrics and approaches.

About the I-REACCH programme

I-REACCH is a range of complementary pilot projects, focused on under-represented groups, which will combine data collection/analysis, bespoke intervention development, engagement and evaluation through five objectives (O).

O1. Trial active inclusive recruitment practices for increased diversity

O2. Develop bespoke inclusive tools for career progression

O3. Boost citizenship engagement and advocacy to enhance an inclusive culture

O4: Engage with research leaders to create empathic models of inclusive leadership for sustained change.

O5: Robustly evaluate each of the pilot projects

About you

With a PhD and relevant research experience, you will play a vital role in the co-delivery of the I-REACCH work package 5, which focuses on designing, conducting and analysing formative and summative evaluation sessions for I-REACCH prototype interventions and conduct research on UX evaluation across diverse contexts and stakeholders, exploring risks and sustainability of enhanced technology acceptance. The daily tasks will involve you liaising with colleagues to design and execute robust and high-quality evaluations to measure multiple UX and performance metrics, reviewing literature and undertaking appropriate mixed-methods data collection sessions. You will need to be highly pro-active and energized to develop your research skills to deliver our vision for a more inclusive research culture.

We want this post to add value to your career and offer a meaningful enhancement to your skills and experience through active mentorship, upskilling and career development.

Additional information

We welcome informal enquiries and would be pleased to share more information about the post, so please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Genovefa Kefalidou (gk169@leicester.ac.uk) should you have any queries.

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