Research Fellow - PARITY (Prehabilitation for Cancer Surgery: Quality and Inequality) Study

Applications are invited for the post of Grade 8 Research Fellow for the PARITY (Prehabilitation for Cancer Surgery: Quality and Inequality) study. This is an NIHR-funded study [NIHR134282] that will run until the end of March 2025. 

Prehabilitation can be described as ‘the practice of enhancing a patient’s functional capacity before surgery, with the aim of improving postoperative outcomes.’ A wide variety of prehabilitation programmes are available, often involving dietary, exercise, and psychological interventions. However, because these interventions require engagement, time and access to facilities, they may not be acceptable or accessible to all. The PARITY study aims to make a major contribution towards addressing these problems of variation and inequality in prehabilitation before cancer surgery. This will involve working with patients, carers and healthcare professionals to find ways to describe, measure and assess the quality of services. We will map these criteria on a national scale and identify and share best practice examples of how services are developed, funded, and delivered, as well as ways to address health inequalities.

Reporting to the chief investigator, Cliff Shelton (Senior Clinical Lecturer in Anaesthesia), the appointee to this exciting post will play a key role in the study, chiefly by undertaking study coordination, participant recruitment, data collection (including fieldwork for case studies), data analysis, project governance and writing up the research findings for publication. You will primarily be located at Lancaster Medical School, though travel (mostly within the UK) for fieldwork and dissemination will be required. You will work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team of co-investigators comprising Lisa Ashmore (Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences), Chris Gaffney (Senior Lecturer in Integrative Physiology), Andrew Smith (Professor of Anaesthesia), Andrea Partridge (Patient Representative) and Jo Rycroft Malone (Professor of Implementation Research). On a day-to-day basis they will work closely with a Grade 7 Senior Research Associate (full time), a Grade 8 Research Fellow (0.2FTE) and a Project Administrator. 

The Lancaster University Faculty of Health and Medicine provides a working environment that strongly supports the individual needs of each employee, promoting a healthy work-life balance and providing family-friendly and flexible working policies. The Faculty holds an Athena SWAN Charter Silver Award, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in higher education. We are willing to discuss flexible working arrangements, including working week and days/hours worked and flexible start and finish times. 

The post is 0.8FTE. This is a fixed term post for the duration of the project, which finishes at the end of March 2025.

For an informal discussion about the post, please contact the chief investigator, Cliff Shelton, Senior Lecturer in Anaesthesia: c.shelton@lancaster.ac.uk.  

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