Senior Lecturer/Reader in Mental Health

Role Description

The Department of Psychology is seeking to appoint an ambitious research-driven scientist at Senior Lecturer or Reader level with a high quality publication record and established grant capture commensurate with the level. Recruitment will be focused on individuals who can contribute centrally to our Mechanisms of Mental Health research theme, particularly those who can complement and extend the Department’s research strengths in this domain. Candidates are expected to demonstrate how they can achieve theoretically-driven research objectives relating to their area of mental health research, through planned funding proposals and outputs. The successful candidate should be a dedicated teacher in higher education and demonstrate how they can contribute to our undergraduate and/or postgraduate teaching in mental health, including our new Psychology of Mental Health MSc.

The Department of Psychology at York conducts internationally excellent research in a broad range of areas including the psychological and neuroscientific bases of memory, perception, attention, language, emotion and social relationships. Our research cuts across cultures, sociodemographics and lifespan, and includes individuals with developmental, neuropsychological and psychiatric disorders. Our mental health research benefits from this strong foundation, and is largely concerned with understanding basic mechanisms with a view to understanding how these insights can translate to real world applications. This focus contributes to a broader mission to build interdisciplinary collaborations between mental health researchers across the institution. The University has recently launched the Institute of Mental Health Research at York as a global centre of excellence. Research across the University explores the causes of the growing crisis in mental health, addresses the most important challenges in policy and practice, and helps build resilience in individuals and communities. The neuroscientific basis of mental health is also a core theme within the York Biomedical Research Institute, which benefits from Psychology’s state-of-the-art neuroimaging facilities.

The University of York has one of the UK’s leading psychology departments. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework nationwide assessment (REF 2021) we ranked 8th for overall performance, 2nd for the quality of research papers (with 95% being classified as world-leading or internationally excellent) and joint 1st for our environment which was rated as 100% 4*. In 2007 we received the first Athena SWAN Silver Award for a psychology department and in 2019 we received Gold. We are a large, vibrant department with a strong community atmosphere and a nurturing learning environment. The high quality of our teaching and support for students has been endorsed by the British Psychological Society and is reflected by outstanding ratings from students in the NSS. We are committed to ensuring that all members of staff achieve their full potential in a supportive, friendly, flexible and responsive work environment.

This post is advertised at two levels (Senior Lecturer, Reader). Candidates must specify the level they are applying for and provide justification for this in their cover letter.

Interview date: To be confirmed

Informal enquiries can be directed to Professor Lisa Henderson (Head of Department, lisa-marie.henderson@york.ac.uk)

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 also encourage applications from women for senior roles.

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

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