Research Fellow

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Grade 7

Full Time FTC up to 32 months

Closing date 23 November 2021

Developing and evaluating a health behaviour change intervention for exercise based rehabilitation of people with multimordibity: The PERFORM study

We require a post-doctoral research fellow to work with Prof Colin Greaves, Professor of Psychology Applied to Health (https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/sport-exercise/staff/profile.aspx?ReferenceId=146199&Name=professor-colin-greaves ) and colleagues in the Universities of Birmingham, Glasgow, Leicester to help deliver a NIHR-funded research project in the field of health behaviour intervention /behavioural medicine. The aim is to develop, and process-evaluate, a self-care support and exercise-based physical rehabilitation programme for people with multimorbidity (two or more chronic illnesses).

To achieve this aim, the successful applicant will work with a wide range of NHS healthcare professionals and researchers involved in cardiac rehabilitation, pulmonary rehabilitation and other types of exercise-based rehabilitation, as well as groups of patients and caregivers. We will build on prior evidence and the experience of our collaborators to co-design a new multimorbidity rehabilitation programme that cuts across existing service boundaries. This will have exercise-based rehabilitation at its core, but will also address other critical aspects of chronic disease self-management including medication management, management of stress and anxiety and disease-specific self-care behaviours. Co-design with patients and caregivers as well as service providers is an essential component that will run throughout the project.

The School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences is a world-leading institution for research and teaching in Sport and Exercise Science (https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/sport-exercise/index.aspx ), located within one of the UK’s top universities. Our performance in the Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF 2014) was outstanding with 90 percent of research classified as world leading or internationally excellent. Key areas in our Exercise for Health research theme include: Healthy ageing, nutrition, disability, prevention and management of chronic illness and theoretically driven development of interventions for behaviour change.

The following skills and experience will be required for the post:

• A relevant PhD (e.g. Health Psychology, Behavioural Science)
• Track record in the development and process-evaluation of behavioural interventions
• Experience of Participant and Patient Involvement (PPI) in research
• High level analytical capability, including experience with qualitative data collection and analysis
• Great communication skills, including a strong track record of publication /writing up of research findings, as well as the ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Experience with qualitative data analysis.
• Fluency in relevant theoretical models, behaviour change techniques and ability to contribute to developing new ones
• Experience in the design and implementation of feasibility studies and process evaluation (including intervention fidelity assessment) is desirable
• Experience of working with clinical populations of older adults is also desirable
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader project management processes.

This is a full-time post for 32 months (2 years and 8 months). The start date will be 1st March 2022. Please contact Colin Greaves if you have any queries, or would like an informal discussion ([email protected] ; +44(0) 121 414 8061 or +44 (0)798 989 5165 (mobile)). 

To download the full job description and details of this position and submit an electronic application online please click on the Apply Online button below or visit our careers website; https://bham.taleo.net/careersection/external/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en&portal=101430233 , please quote Job Ref 98252 in all enquiries.