Research Assistant

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Research Assistant

Cardiff University School of Psychology is seeking to appoint an enthusiastic Research Assistant to join a multisite team investigating the shaping of mental health and the mechanisms leading to (un)successful transitions for care-experienced young people. This post is to support a longitudinal study of cognitive, social, and service-level predictors of the mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced young people, funded by the MRC. The Assistant will join a multi-disciplinary team, spanning University College London, and the Universities of Cardiff, Sussex, Oxford and Bristol. The programme is also supported by non-academic partners – Adoption UK and Coram Voices, alongside three care-experienced advisory panels. This post is primarily Cardiff-based, but the role will involve some travel and overnight stays. The Assistant will provide day-to-day support for the running of the project, including working closely with the wider research team. Supporting recruitment, conducting interviews and assessments, data management and record keeping will all be key tasks. Supported by the wider team, the role will require regular liaising with participating local authorities, recruitment of participants (care-experienced young people and caregivers) and conducting assessments (on which training will be provided). Assessments will primarily lead to the use of qualitative analysis but may also require some use of inferential statistics.
For informal enquiries please contact Professor Katherine Shelton via: [email protected]

The post is full-time and is fixed-term from February/March 2022 until September 2025.  The post is expected to start by 1st March 2022.

Salary: £27,924 - £32,344 per annum (Grade 5).  It is not expected to appoint above the first point of the scale £27,924 per annum.

Date advert posted: Monday, 29 November 2021 

Closing date: Monday, 3 January 2022

This post has previously been advertised to employees of Cardiff University only.  We now invite external applications.

Please be aware that Cardiff University reserves the right to close this vacancy early should sufficient applications be received.

Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds who have the ambition to create a University which seeks to fulfil our social, cultural and economic obligation to Cardiff, Wales, and the world.  In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.

“Cardiff University is a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions we will evaluate applicants on the quality of their research, not publication metrics or the identity of the journal in which the research is published. More information is available at: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/research/our-research-environment/integrity-and-ethics/responsible-research-assessment”

Job Description

Main function

• The postholder will support a series of mixed methods longitudinal studies on the mental health and wellbeing of care experienced young people. 
• You will provide day-to-day support for the running of the project, including working closely with the wider research team. Supporting recruitment, conducting interviews and assessments, data management and record keeping will all be key tasks.
• You will work closely with other team members located at Oxford University, University College London, University of Sussex and with a postdoctoral research associate at Cardiff University.

• The postholder will be expected to work closely with the study investigators and research team to support day-to-day study delivery.
• Supported by the wider team, the role will require regular liaising with participating local authorities, recruitment of participants (care-experienced young people, caregivers and social-care staff), and conducting assessments (on which training will be provided). The successful candidate will primarily conduct qualitative interviews and the resulting qualitative analyses but will also be expected to complete quantitative assessments (on which training will be provided). 
• Together with other members of the team, the postholder will be responsible for ensuring the project adheres to data management protocols, including setting up and maintaining datasets (including for later archiving), maintaining participant contact logs, and other record keeping, and administrative support required for the project.
• To carry out any other duties commensurate with the grade and purpose of the post.

Person Specification

Essential criteria

Qualifications and Education
1.    A degree (BA/BSc) in psychology or relevant discipline

Knowledge, Skills and Experience
2.    Relevant experience in a related area to the project
3.    Demonstrated knowledge of subject matter to effectively contribute to the research programme
4.    Ability to organise and prioritise own workload to meet deadlines
5.    Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, including for working with children, teenagers, and service providers
6.    Proficiency in the use of data analysis software (e.g. NVivo; SPSS), including setting up of files.
7.    Highly organised and proactive, with ability to manage multiple competing demands of a complex study and keen attention to detail.
8.    Excellent IT skills. 

Communication and Team Working
9.    Ability to work independently and be an effective team member
10.    Self-confidence when communicating with a wide range of stakeholders

Desirable criteria

1.    Masters level qualification.
2.    A valid UK driver’s license for travel to meetings and assessments.
3.    Experience supporting the running of longitudinal studies (or equivalent complex data management).

Additional Information

Care-experienced young people, including those who remain in care and those who are adopted, have far higher rates of mental health difficulties compared to their peers. Many of these young people have experienced abuse and/or neglect, and some continue to experience ongoing instability in the care system, including changes in placements/caregivers. Despite decades of evidence of the scale of challenges experienced by this group across their life, there remains very limited evidence for understanding the key mechanisms that link early complex trauma to their mental health and wellbeing. Such evidence is essential to informing mental health and wellbeing focused intervention and prevention targets, to ensure we are providing these young people with high quality evidence-informed support. We know that with the right support care-experienced young people can thrive, and this project seeks to understand how we can be providing more effective support to this group. 

Funded by the MRC in a major investment in adolescent mental health research, we are conducting a large scale 4-year programme investigating risk and resilience in care-experienced young people aged 10-18yrs. The successful candidate will join a collaborative multi-disciplinary team, spanning UCL and Universities of Sussex, Oxford, Cardiff and Bristol. The programme is also supported by non-academic partners – Adoption UK and Coram Voices, alongside three care-experienced advisory panels. The project is being co-led by Dr Rachel Hiller (UCL) and Dr Lisa Holmes (University of Sussex).

The role will include working closely with postdoctoral research associates and research assistants on the programme, conducting qualitative interviews and analysis and some quantitative assessments, data management, record keeping and other administrative aspects of the project, and supporting the organisation of knowledge exchange activities. The research assistant will work particularly closely with study investigators based at Oxford University. The candidate will be primarily based at Cardiff, although the role will involve travel and some overnight stays for local authority meetings, research team meetings, and assessments (pending Covid-19 restrictions and considerations). 

Evidencing Criteria - It is School of Psychology’s policy to use the person specification as a key tool for short-listing. Candidates should evidence that they meet ALL of the essential criteria as well as, where relevant, the desirable. As part of the application process you will be asked to provide this evidence via a supporting statement. Please ensure when submitting this document/attaching it to your application profile you name it with the vacancy reference number.
If candidates do not provide written evidence of meeting all the essential criteria then their application will not be progressed.

Job Category

Academic - Research