Research Fellow in Developmental Psychology

About us

Dr Jo Saul leads the ISLaND Lab in the Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL. Her research is funded by a Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship from the Royal Society entitled ‘Elucidating mechanisms of language growth in minimally verbal autistic individuals’. She investigates individual differences in language development and how language impairment impacts mental health, learning and wellbeing.

About the role

This is a 18 months post-doctoral position (1.0 FTE) in which to examine predictive relationships between children’s early social, motor and sensory characteristics and their language and communication trajectories. ISLaND Lab has already established a large cohort of diverse school-aged minimally verbal children. The post holder will plan, execute and analyse the third and fourth data collection waves of this ongoing project. The role will include organizing engagement and dissemination activities, and piloting methods to develop, test and refine novel communication intervention approaches for this population.

The appointment is funded From October 2025 to March 2027. Salary is offered at £43,374 - £44,480 (UCL Grade 7) per annum, including London Allowance. Appointment at Grade 7 is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD; if this is not the case, initial appointment will be at Grade 6B (salary £38,607 - £41,255 per annum) with payment at Grade 7 being backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD Thesis.

This appointment is subject to UCL Terms and Conditions of Service for Research and Professional Services Staff. Please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/conditions-service-research-teaching-and-professional-services-staff for more information.

About you

The post holder should have a Ph.D. (or in submission of a Ph.D.) in Developmental Psychology or related disciplines and have experience of working with children or adults with complex communication or behavioural needs as well as open science practices and advanced statistical analysis using R and the experience of collecting and analysing behavioural data. They should have the ability to work collaboratively and as part of a team. The experience of having publication of relevant research in high quality peer reviewed journals would be most desirable.

An acceptable DBS check is required to carry out this role.

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer great benefits. Please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/rewards-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. Our department holds an Athena SWAN Silver award, in recognition of our commitment and demonstrable impact in advancing gender equality. You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/

Customer advert reference: B02-08674

Advert information