Research Fellow

CO-ACTION Programme Grant:  Personalised social and self-management support for better living with multiple long-term conditions in the community.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Research Fellow to work on a NIHR ARC Wessex adopted and NIHR PGfAR funded programme grant: Personalised social and self-management support for better living with multiple long-term conditions in the community within our Long-Term Conditions theme.  In this programme of work, we will enhance health and well-being of people living with multiple long-term conditions (MLTC-M) by adopting a bio-psychosocial approach focussed on supporting social and self-management. We will design, evaluate, and implement a personalised multisectoral intervention called CO-ACTION employing a variety of mix methods and approaches. The work will focus on commonly experienced problems associated with MLTC-M, moving away from a narrow condition specific focus.

Candidates should have a PhD or very near to completion, in a Social or Health Science related discipline and demonstrate relevant some experience in applied health research projects and successful completion of research activities and projects. The successful candidate will be a researcher with knowledge and experience of relevant long-term conditions, reviews, quantitative and qualitative research and with experience of successful ethical approval processes, and recruitment and conducting research with implementation and commissioning groups. Candidates will need to demonstrate an ability to organise their own workload, plan research activities to a high standard and to deadlines and have excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Knowledge and understanding of personalised assessment, mixed methods research experience and trial or implementation of initiatives in clinical practice would be an advantage.

ARC Wessex is an organisation funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) with a remit to support applied health and care research that responds to, and meets, the needs of local populations and local health and care systems. The NIHR ARC Wessex is one of 15 ARCs across England, part of a £135 million investment by the NIHR to improve the health and care of patients and the public within and beyond the Wessex region. 

ARC Wessex conducts applied health research with the aims to improve outcomes for patients and public; improve quality, delivery and efficiency of health and care services; increase the sustainability of health and care systems locally and nationally, through collaborative partnership. It has four thematic programmes of work: Ageing and Dementia, Healthy Communities, Long Term Conditions and Workforce & Health systems. We have a close relationship with our stakeholders within the region, which include a wide range of NHS organisations, local universities, charities, local authorities and others.

The post is available on a 1 FTE basis for the first 12 months and 0.5 FTE basis thereafter for a further 42 months and will be based at School of Health Sciences, Highfield Campus, working with other research fellows in the programme. The successful candidate may be given the opportunity to join the NIHR Academy and access further training and networking activities. The employing organisation is the University of Southampton which offers a competitive salary, pension scheme and other benefits. 

For an informal discussion about the post, please contact Dr Dorit Kunkel (dh197@soton.ac.uk). 

Advert information