Research Fellow (Impact Facilitator)

The Post

The Research Fellow (IMPACT Facilitator) will support the delivery of a number of change projects delivered across the UK known as ‘Facilitator’ projects. They will be part of the UK Centre for implementing evidence in adult social care - Improving Adult Social Care Together (IMPACT) working closely with Professor Karen Watchman and Dr Kathryn Mackay, co-leads (job share) of the Facilitator delivery model. UK Facilitator projects take a ‘bottom-up’ approach to supporting the implementation of knowledge of social care. This new Research Fellow (IMPACT Facilitator) role will work alongside Delivery Leads to provide remote support to local projects. They will regularly liaise with IMPACT staff responsible for gathering local evidence and evaluation, embedding of project outcomes and with the central IMPACT team located at the University of Birmingham.

IMPACT has been funded by the ESRC and the Health Foundation to improve social care outcomes by implementing evidence-based practice in the sector across all four UK nations. You will be joining IMPACT during its implementation phase and will join a diverse and creative staff group within Scotland and across the UK. IMPACT draws on knowledge gained from different types of research, the lived experience of people using services and their carers, and the practice knowledge of social care staff. Its aims are to enable practical improvements on the ground, and make a crucial contribution to longer-term cultural change, by:

• Supporting more widespread use of evidence in adult social care, leading to better care practices, systems and outcomes for people who use services, their families and communities
• Building capacity and skills in the adult social care workforce to work with evidence of different kinds to innovate, improve care and deliver better outcomes
• Facilitating sustainable and productive relationships between the full range of adult social care stakeholders to co-create positive change/innovations and improve outcomes for people using adult social care and their families
• Improving understanding of the factors which help and hinder the implementation of evidence in practice, and using this to overcome longstanding barriers to positive change

Description of Duties

• Lead or contribute to IMPACT evidence reviews in relation to policy/practice issues specific to adult social care. As an example, current and recent Facilitator topics can be viewed at https://impact.bham.ac.uk/our-projects/facilitators/
• Monitor new research and evidence-based publications in adult social care on a regular basis and establish ways to routinely update Facilitators and their host organisations
• Support evaluation colleagues with collation of accurate and timely evaluation and monitoring for Facilitator projects across the UK in line with IMPACT protocols
• Support and monitor contact with external stakeholders across Facilitator projects
• Attend fortnightly Facilitator team meetings (online)

Essential Criteria

Qualifications

• PhD in a relevant discipline (or extensive research and knowledge exchange experience to a demonstrated equivalent level)

Knowledge, skills and experience

• Demonstrable interest and/or expertise in applied research in adult social care
• Awareness of the current research evidence base in one or more fields relevant to adult social care
• High level of analytical capability
• Experience of knowledge exchange and impact work, and of taking research findings into real world application

For further information, including a full description of duties, essential criteria and details on how to apply, please see Vacancy details | University of Stirling