Graduate Research Assistant or Postdoctoral Research Associate

College of Medicine & Health

This NIHR funded full-time post is available immediately until April 2024.

The post

The College of Medicine and Health wishes to recruit a Graduate Research Assistant/Postdoctoral Research Associate to participate in supporting and researching Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) within the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula (PenARC).

The successful applicant will work in a highly collaborative environment, working closely with other members of the PPIE team, with researchers in the ARC network, and community members. Communities include patients, carers, family members, regional, local and interest communities, and health and social care professionals.

The successful candidate will need to use a variety of approaches depending on local circumstances and existing PPI activities. S/he will be responsible for assisting in the wide and accessible dissemination of research outputs to local communities of service users and carers. The post holder will also support research on involvement, to further theory-building, involvement knowledge and understanding of how involvement of members of the public can best be facilitated, and what impact it has on research and those involved.

The post will include

• Working proactively with stakeholders to help ensure meaningful PPIE in all PenARC activities and delivering the PenARC PPIE strategy https://arc-swp.nihr.ac.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PenARC-Public-Engagement-Strategy-2019-24-002.pdf . Day-to-day working activities include:
• Liaising with researchers, setting up meetings with patients and members of the public, facilitating meeting discussions, reporting back to attendees after the meetings and dealing with the relevant administrative tasks.
• Supporting members of the public in an ethical way, including children and care home residents when relevant, to be involved in PenARC research activities.

Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification for the full details of this role at both levels by clicking on the attachment above.

About you

At Graduate Research Assistant level (Grade E) the successful applicant will be able to engage members of the public in research, communicate complex research information to a range of audiences orally, in writing and electronically, in a public-friendly and accessible way.

Additional skills at Postdoctoral Research Associate level (Grade E) are preparing proposals and applications to external bodies.

The successful applicant at Graduate Research Assistant level (Grade E) will have a degree in a relevant subject and practical experience of working with people in a caring capacity. Postdoctoral Research Associate level (Grade E) will either possess a relevant PhD (or be nearing completion) or possess an equivalent qualification/experience in a related field of study and be able to demonstrate sufficient knowledge in the discipline and of research methods and techniques to work within established research programmes.

The University of Exeter is a Russell Group university in the top 200 of universities worldwide. We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, and have achieved a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2017. We have over 22,000 students and 4600 staff from 180 different countries and have been rated the WhatUni2017 International Student Choice. Our research focuses on some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today, with 98% of our research rated as being of international quality in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. We encourage proactive engagement with industry, business and community partners to enhance the impact of research and education and improve the employability of our students.

The College is proud to have a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment and impact to providing equality of opportunity and advancing the representation of women in STEM/M subjects.  Our Inspiring Stories tell you more about how we support our staff, including through a mentoring programme to help our staff learn from the professional and life experience of colleagues and explore opportunities and actions for career progression. 

What we can offer you

• Freedom (and the support) to pursue your intellectual interests and to work creatively across disciplines to produce internationally exciting research;
• Support teams that understand the University wide research and teaching goals and partner with our academics accordingly
• An Innovation, Impact and Business directorate that works closely with our academics providing specialist support for external engagement and development
• Our Exeter Academic initiative supporting high performing academics to achieve their potential and develop their career

• A beautiful campus set in the heart of stunning Devon.

For further information please contact Dr Kristin Liabo ([email protected] ).

The closing date for completed applications is 4th July 2022.  Interviews are expected to take place on 19th July 2022.

We welcome applications from candidates interested in working part-time hours or job-sharing arrangements.

Please note; this role may be subject to additional background screening.