Research Assistant

The Role

A 6-month fixed-term Research Assistant (RA) position is available 2.5 days per week in the Department of Psychology at Durham University. The successful candidate will join the research project "Better Research Together - Building Sustainable Research-Community Partnerships in Neurodiversity" led by Dr Mary Hanley, Dr Keren MacLennan, Dr Ben Alderson-Day and Prof Debbie Riby and funded by a Research England grant. The project focuses on expanding participatory research in neurodiversity through the Centre for Neurodiversity and Development. Participatory research methods are becoming an ever-more important part of the work of the Centre, and this project is about expanding our ability to engage with participatory research methods. A critical element of the project is engagement with the neurodiverse community to expand our participatory panel of experts by experience, and to co-produce research training and safeguarding materials to guide the work of the panel.

The Project Team:

The research assistant will join a vibrant research group in the field of neurodiversity (inc 5 PhD students, a postdoc, academic staff). The grant is held by a team, including Dr Mary Hanley (PI), Dr Keren MacLennan, Dr Ben Alderson-Day and Prof Debbie Riby. Dr Hanley will lead on providing the RA with supervision.

Expectations:

The successful applicant will be expected to carry out day-to-day responsibilities running of the project, including: submitting ethics applications, recruiting experts by experience to be a part of the participatory panel, organising and leading a series of consultations where research training materials and safeguarding resources are co-produced; producing training videos and safeguarding resources. They will need to interact with various stakeholder groups (e.g. researchers, neurodiverse community, parents, clinicians, voluntary sector workers) The work will be conducted using online methods (e.g. video conferencing), and face-to-face work in Durham University. The successful applicant will be expected to actively engage with the activities of the Centre for Neurodiversity and Development. Standard RA responsibilities and specific requirements are listed in more detail below.

This post is fixed term for 6 months and this is set by the level of funding provided for this post by the sponsor, Research England.