Research Fellows – Substance Use and Mental Health

• School of Psychology  / The National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research (NCYSUR)

• Join a university ranked in the world’s top 50

• Collaborate with highly awarded, world-class colleagues

• Belong to a vibrant research community where your work genuinely makes an impact

• Based at our St Lucia campus

About UQ

As part of the UQ community, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside the brightest minds, who have joined us from all over the world, and within an environment where interdisciplinary collaborations are encouraged.

At the core of our teaching remains our students, and their experience with us sets a foundation for success far beyond graduation. UQ has made a commitment to making education opportunities available for all Queenslanders, regardless of personal, financial, or geographical barriers.

As part of our commitment to excellence in research and professional practice in academic contexts, we are proud to provide our staff with access to world-class facilities and equipment, grant writing support, greater research funding opportunities, and other forms of staff support and development.

About This Opportunity 

The School of Psychology and the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research (NCYSUR) are inviting applications for two Research Fellows to join their dedicated teams to support clinical research into substance use and mental health issues.  

These are exciting opportunities to engage in research to further your expertise and growing research profile in substance use and comorbid mental health problems to achieve national recognition. You will have scope to develop your research proficiency by focusing on specific projects related to substance-related research, as well as an opportunity to manage service and engagement roles and activities.

These positions will be directly involved in the delivery of the following research projects funded by:

• NCYSUR through the Australian Government, Drug and Alcohol Program: Approved research projects include the co-design and piloting of drug checking intervention, a timely substance monitoring system, and contingency management program, and a data linkage study on suicide, alcohol and substance-related deaths.

• The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Meaningful Outcomes in Substance Use Treatment Centre of Research Excellence (2022-2027): This CRE aims to reduce the burden and cost of AOD problems in Australia by implementing routine outcome monitoring into the AOD sector to increase its capacity to deliver evidence based, efficient and cost-effective care. Current research projects include a discrete choice experiment, co-design workshops, cluster randomized controlled trials (RCTs), implementation science, data linkage, data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

These are research focused positions. Further information can be found by viewing UQ’s Criteria for Academic Performance .

These are full-time, fixed-term positions commencing between April - July 2024, through to June 2025, at Academic level B.

The full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range $108,201 - $128,201, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $126,595 - $149,996 annually. 

The greater benefits of joining the UQ community are broad: from being part of a Group of Eight university, to recognition of prior service with other Australian universities, up to 26 weeks of paid parental leave, 17.5% annual leave loading, flexible working arrangements including hybrid on site/WFH options and flexible start/finish times, and genuine career progression opportunities via the academic promotions process.

About You  

Essential criteria:

• Completion of a PhD in the substance use area.

• A growing profile in research in the field of substance use and comorbid mental health research.

• A developing reputation and track record of publications in reputed refereed journals and presenting at conferences.

• Evidence of successfully seeking, obtaining and managing external research funding.

• A growing record of supervision of Honours and Research Higher Degree students to successful completion.

• Experience in meaningful internal service roles in conjunction with active contributions to external activities.

Desirable criteria:

• A track-record in substance use and comorbid mental health research.

• Clinical training/experience in substance use treatment.

• A high level of statistical expertise.

• Experience in managing large research projects and/or coordinating clinical trials.

• Experience in preparing reports and monographs for government organisations.

• Experience in disseminating research findings through the media (including social media).

In addition, the following mandatory requirements apply:

• Work Rights: You must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of this appointment to apply. Visa sponsorship is not available for this appointment. 

• Mandatory Immunisations: It is a condition of employment for this role that you will be required to provide evidence of immunisation against certain vaccine preventable diseases.

Questions? 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Professor Leanne Hides at [email protected] .

For application queries, and to request the position description of these roles, please contact [email protected] stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line.

All applicants must upload the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Resume

• Cover letter addressing the ‘About You’ section above

Other Information 

At UQ we know that our greatest strengths come from our diverse mix of colleagues, this is reflected in our ongoing commitment to creating an environment focused on equity, diversity and inclusion .  We ensure that we are always attracting, retaining and promoting colleagues who are representative of the diversity in the broader community, whether that be gender identity , LGBTQIA+ , cultural and/or linguistic , Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples , or people with a disability . Accessibility requirements and/or adjustments can be directed to [email protected]  

If you are a current employee (including casual staff and HDR scholars) or hold an unpaid/affiliate appointment, please login to your staff Workday account and visit the internal careers board to apply for this opportunity. Please do NOT apply via the external job board.

Applications close Sunday 7 April 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (Job Reference Number: R-35700).