Postdoctoral Research Associate, Youth-Nex

The University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development's Center to Promote Effective Youth Development (Youth-Nex ) is seeking highly qualified applicants for a one-year Postdoctoral Research Associate position, with the possibility of extension up to three years based on an annual basis dependent upon satisfactory performance and the availability of funding. This position is part of the Preventive Interventions Team: Collaborative Research on Engagement and Wellbeing (PIT-CREW), which conducts research related to promoting effective youth development, intervention, and programming, including preventing behavioral and mental health problems in schools.

The candidate will be asked to support implementation of projects in conjunction with the National Center for Rural School Mental Health ( NCRSMH )¸which is a multi-year year grant funded by the Institute of Education Sciences focused on building partnerships between researchers, clinicians, and rural schools to conduct research that improves mental and behavioral health outcomes for rural young people. Faculty affiliated with the NCRSMH currently lead projects related to mental health screening, needs assessment, intervention adaptation, training, and implementation of school mental health prevention and early intervention services . Partner schools for this project are located in Virginia.

Mentorship will be provided by senior colleagues Drs. Catherine Bradshaw , Amanda Nguyen , and Mike Lyons . This particular position is funded by the UVA Precision Health Grand Challenge Initiative , with a focus on improving outcomes and reducing disparities for communities and populations related to youth mental health, consistent with the UVA 2030 Plan ’s focus on precision health for populations. Candidates will receive mentorship and training in precision health, including youth mental health screening, advanced statistical methods to analyzing screening data, decision support to implement mental health interventions, longitudinal data analysis, integrative data analysis, and related grant writing.

Responsibilities:

• Analyzing data collected through the implementation of the Coping Power Rural Program , E-IMPACTS Project , Double Check online program, the mental health screening of students, and related evidence-based programs within the National Center for Rural School Mental Health.

• Support coaching of teachers in the implementation of the evidence-based programs, collection of data, and assessment of program impact.   

• Run advanced quantitative analyses using software such as Stata, R, Mplus, HLM, and/or SPSS.

• Generate research questions for analysis utilizing quantitative data collected from prior trials of prevention programs and frameworks like PBIS, Double Check, Coping Power, MTSS-B, and the E-IMPACTS/ECHO model.

• Lead and co-author papers for submission to peer-reviewed journals.

• Communicate research findings at key conferences (e.g., Society for Prevention Research, Society for Research in Child Development, American Association for Public Health, Society for Research on Adolescence, etc.).

• Contribute to submission of federal and private grant proposals including to funders (e.g., current and prior funders include Institute of Education Sciences, National Institutes of Health, William T. Grant Foundation, etc.).

• Support the implementation of current trials, which may include research activities related to obtaining, modifying, and continuing institutional review board approval (IRB), developing and refining mental health screeners and survey measures, communicating with local district and school partners, supporting data collection including classroom observational and online survey data.

• Contribute to the intellectual environment of the broader PIT-CREW team and Precision Health Initiative by keeping current on recent scientific studies and relevant advanced quantitative methods, and regularly attending and presenting findings at lab meetings.

• Providing near-peer-mentorship to PhD students and other early-career-scholars on the research team.

• Support the team with data cleaning, project management, and grant submission tasks as needed.

• Other tasks including various writing and content creation (e.g., research briefs to partners), tool development, technical assistance, and presentations.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities include:

• Content expertise in some of the following areas: mental health, screening, rural and/or urban K-12 school settings, school climate, multi-tiered systems of support, positive behavior support, social emotional learning, implementation science, school-based intervention, teacher professional development and coaching, and implementation/coaching supports. 

• Methods expertise in one or more of the following areas: Survey data analysis; research-practice partnerships; conducting applied research in school settings; implementation of cluster and student randomized controlled trials.

• Administrative expertise: Proficient with Box, Google Suite, Microsoft Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams), Zoom, Qualtrics or similar survey data collection tools, and ability to learn new software quickly and introduce new useful applications and platforms to the team.

Minimum Requirements
Education: Doctoral degree

Preferred Qualifications

Education: An earned Ph.D. in a research-oriented field, such as Clinical/School Psychology, Education, Psychology, Public Health, Research/Statistics/Evaluation, or a related field is required by the start date of the position.

Experience: The ideal candidate is an early-career researcher with prior experience working with large datasets and cutting-edge statistical methods, and some knowledge or interest in mental health screeners schools implement to identify students in need of mental health services and evidence-based programs.

Physical Demands
This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job occasionally requires local and regional travel to attend in-person meetings with research team members, and walking some distance to attend meetings, and programs.

Anticipated Hiring Range: $55,000 to $60,000 (commensurate with qualifications). For more information on the benefits available to postdoctoral associates at UVA, visit postdoc.virginia.edu and https://hr.virginia.edu/benefits .

Application Instructions: Apply Now. Internal applicants must apply through their UVA Workday profile, search Find Jobs and then R0056498. Complete an application online and include the following documents:

• Cover letter (addressed to Catherine Bradshaw)

• CV/resume

• Two publications/writing samples

• Statement of research interests

• Contact information for three references who can comment on your scholarly accomplishments and promise.

Submit all materials into the resume submission field, multiple documents can be submitted into this one field, alternatively you can merge your materials together and submit as one. Internal applicants must apply through their UVA Workday profile. Applications that are missing materials will not receive full consideration.

For questions about the position, please contact Youth-Nex , and for questions about the application process, please contact Margaret Weeks .

Research Associates are appointed annually, and continuation is dependent upon satisfactory performance and the availability of funding. Review of applications will begin 10 days after posting and will remain open until filled.

The University of Virginia, i ncluding the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physician’s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff.  We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person's perspectives and lived experiences.  We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.