Research Associate in the Department of Psychology

About the Role

We are looking for an enthusiastic qualitative researcher to join our MRC funded team investigating university student life. We are aiming to develop concepts to understand loneliness and belonging in university students.

Levels of loneliness appear to be on the rise among university students, leaving many puzzled. University students are surrounded by peers, often live with friends and have many opportunities to socialise. We are asking why students feel lonely to help institutions better support students.

We are collaborating with the Nurture-U programme, as part of a wider cross-institution consortium. Within this consortium we are looking to understand compassion on the university campus and explore the barriers and enablers to compassion.

We are an interdisciplinary team and you will be working with quantitative and qualitative researchers, including an anthropologist and historian.

Within this role you will be working with a team to analyse qualitative data from interviews about student social life. You will be supported, with close supervision from an anthropologist, to conduct ethnographically informed interviews with students to further understand their experience of life at university, with a view to understanding experiences of institutional compassion.

We particularly welcome applicants who have personal experience of mental health conditions, identify as neurodiverse or differently able, LGBTQ+ and/or from a minority ethnic background, as these different personal experiences and perspectives enrich our research community and the work we are able to do. We are deeply committed to embedding good equality and diversity practices into all our activities so that the university is an inclusive, welcoming, and inspiring place to work and study. We strive to be an open and supportive community, with a strong emphasis on working practices that promote diversity and inclusion, including an anti-racism working group.

This is a full time and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31.10.2025

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

• Honors degree in Psychology or a relevant social science (at least 2:1 or equivalent). PhD in Psychology, anthropology or a relevant social science discipline.
• Experience in qualitative research, including responsible management of data, effective running of interviews, robust and reliable analysis of qualitative data. You will be confident working from a critical realist perspective.
• A demonstrable interest in social determinants of youth mental health and loneliness and an appreciation of the wider context of university mental health.
• Experience with and demonstrable ability to engage people from all backgrounds, building strong and effective relationships with collaborators, stakeholders, and student partners, including individuals with mental health problems.
• Experience of managing research projects, with ability to collaborate effectively, participate as a member of a research team and work independently as necessary.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Honesty and integrity, especially regarding confidentiality, analytic transparency, and research ethics.
• Willingness to work flexibly to fit in with project requirements.

Desirable criteria

• Record of research output in high quality publications.
• Experience conducting ethnographic research.
• Experience of working in an interdisciplinary environment and understanding of the complexities this entails.

Closing date: 1^st August 2024

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