Healthy Urban Places - North: Postdoctoral Research Associate in Participatory Research and Community Engagement Grade 7

We have an exciting opportunity to join a multi-disciplinary national team working on the Healthy Urban Places North (HUP- North) UKRI Population Health Improvement Research Cluster Network. Our vision is to provide a step change in understanding how best to harness the power of local urban places as tools to improve population health and reduce inequalities. We are creating a transdisciplinary research programme that will elucidate how and why local environments influence population health, and directly influencing the implementation of place-based changes in two case study sites: Bradford and Liverpool. We are looking for someone who shares our exciting vision to join us in creating a ground-breaking research programme that will shape the lives of future generations.

You will be based within the Health Inequalities Policy Research Group ¿ HIPR. Our vision is to improve health and reduce inequalities through the study of the determinants of health and wellbeing and the policies that impact them.

You will work collaboratively as part of a wider team to lead on community-based participatory research and engagement on healthy urban places in Liverpool, with specific responsibility for:

• Supporting HUP-North to establish a community research collaborative in Liverpool, with support from the Co-production and Peer Research Network (CoPPeR) at Bradford Institute of Health Research (BIHR).

• Co-developing and implementing participatory research with diverse communities in Liverpool.

The Collaborative will bring together researchers and stakeholders with a diverse group of 16 local people in 4 areas of Liverpool as co-peer researchers. You will work closely with these co-peer researchers to develop a programme of embedded community research to identify and measure what makes a healthy place for diverse communities over time.

You should have Postgraduate degree (MD or PhD) or equivalent research experience in applied public health research/ applied health research/ geography, sociology, or an allied social science or health-related subject. You should have demonstrable skills in qualitative data analysis, including familiarity with, or knowledge of, engaging research methods (e.g. participatory video, photovoice, development of neighbourhood portraits, interviews, community surveys, mapping). Ideally you will have an understanding, of health inequalities theory/research, environment, ethnicity and health or community development issues, and experience of working with diverse ethnic and social groups and marginalised / minoritised communities. Experience of writing research outputs, such as journal articles and reports, and good co-ordination and project management skills are required.  The post is fixed term until 31 March 2028.

The University has the right to close the vacancy early if it is deemed that there have been enough applications received