Research Associate - Mental Health Care and Dementia (FTC - 30 months)

The University of West London (UWL) is ranked the best modern university (non-specialist) in London in the Complete University Guide 2023.

The Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory

We are a flagship Institute at the University of West London (UWL), delivering interdisciplinary applied research and education. Our focus is on delivering the evidence to inform high quality, cutting edge, health and social care to benefit people living with dementia, older people, and their care partners and families.

At the heart of our mission is to ensure the most vulnerable populations of people living with dementia and older people have better experiences of health and social care and are supported in living well and living at home for longer. All our research and education programmes are guided by an inclusive approach.

We are an interdisciplinary team, with expertise in sociology, psychology, social policy, epidemiology, nursing, and philosophy, with our research drawing upon a wide range of methodologies.

Our research funding incorporates Department of Health and Social Care contracts (via NIHR), funding from national and international charities, and philanthropic support. We have established a reputation for the rapid translation of our research into impact, which is informing public discourse, shaping the policy agenda, and translated into practice improvements.

Our postgraduate education programmes offer interdisciplinary, research focused, evidence-based teaching and supervision. Our postgraduate courses are designed to cultivate leaders in ageing and dementia care and improve practice across health and social care settings.

The School of Medicine and Biosciences

The School of Medicine and Biosciences at UWL, is an interdisciplinary research-driven School, embedded within an area of West London with diverse populations and significant pockets of both deprivation and affluence.  We work in partnership with policy makers and practitioners to improve the health of our communities and reduce inequalities, developing and delivering hyperlocal health and social care initiatives, which have the potential to scale up locally and nationally. We deliver research-led undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses in Biosciences and Dementia Care. Our research themes: Ageing and dementia; Healthcare inequalities; Public Health; Gene-targeted cancer therapy; and Translational Medicine.

The Role

The post will have a key role in the delivery of an NIHR study that will focus on understand carer experiences when a person living with dementia is detained within a mental health ward, and staff rationales and responses to carers. This 30-month mixed methods study utilises a mixed methods design, integrating a national survey, interviews, ethnography, and experience-based co-design. The goal is to deliver co-designed evidence-based strategies to improve how mental health wards involve and support carers and improve patient outcomes.

The post-holder will work closely with the PI (and a second study post-doctoral RA) on all aspects of the study. In addition, the post holder will have career development opportunities, including contributing to the writing and development of study outputs, research funding applications and the delivery of postgraduate education programmes within GIAM.

The Person

Applications for this position are invited from candidates who have experience of working on qualitative research projects in mental health or dementia as well as excellent communication and organisational skills.  Experience data collection in the NHS and of ethnography would be advantageous.

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