Position Details
School of Social Policy and Society
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £35,880 to £45,163 with potential progression once in post to £47,874. As this vacancy has limited funding the maximum salary that can be offered is Grade7, salary £37,999.
Part Time (18.75 hours per week)
Fixed Term contract up to February 2028
Closing date: 9th March 2025
Interviews to take place on the 18th March and a presentation will be required.
Background
This post will be based in the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded Birmingham, RAND and Cambridge Rapid Evaluation (BRACE) Centre hosted by Health Services Management Centre, School for Social Policy and Society at the University of Birmingham. BRACE is seeking to appoint a versatile and dynamic Research Fellow to design, deliver, and advise on quantitative and qualitative elements of studies investigating service improvement and organisation relative to current health policy in the UK.
BRACE works closely with patients, NHS staff and decision makers to support studies into healthcare delivery. Central to the BRACE team approach is conducting high-quality, theoretically sound and methodologically rigorous evaluations that have real practical implications for the roll-out of new services within the NHS.
Role Summary
With a background in mixed-methods health services research, the post-holder will contribute to the Centre’s ongoing development and management, along with the design and delivery of the rapid evaluations. Working with colleagues across the collaborating organisations, they will play an integral role across a portfolio of rapid evaluations. In doing so they will design and undertake mixed-methods evaluations, work in collaboration with local teams leading these innovations, analyse findings, and plan and deliver high impact dissemination activities to embed these findings into NHS practice.
We invite applications from ambitious candidates with a strong track record in applied mixed-methods research, it is advantageous if you have some experience of working with a range of collaborators and research participants, excellent analytical and communication skills, and be able to work at pace across a wide variety of topics and activities.
Main Duties
* To contribute to the development, submission and presentation of proposals across a portfolio of rapid evaluations, with a particular focus on mixed-methods (qualitative and/or quantitative) proposals.
* To contribute to rapid evaluations by working alongside and in collaboration with a range of employed and associate colleagues, and in partnership with BRACE partner organisations.
* Support topic stakeholder engagement and patient and public involvement activities using a variety of different approaches i.e. on-line, in person workshops, social media, newsletters and blogs.
* Provide advice to colleagues on relevant theories and methodologies to support high quality and innovative research.
* To undertake rapid project scoping, data analysis and interpretation, and the production of project outputs. Analyse data using appropriate methods, using established software packages where appropriate, especially when interpreting data from large data sets.
* Contribute to high quality project reports and other outputs and participate in knowledge dissemination and impact activities that share learning from individual projects and across the centre’s portfolio of work.
* Contribute to the publication of findings in international high quality peer reviewed journals and national/international conferences.
* To contribute to the creation and nurturing of local and national networks relevant to BRACE and to use these to identify forthcoming opportunities for research collaboration, teaching, and research activity.
* To identify opportunities for seminars and conferences and arrange programmes to meet these opportunities.
* Undertake management/administration arising from research.
* Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration.
* Promote equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
Person Specification
* First degree or equivalent professional qualification; a PhD (or close to completion) in a relevant topic area (desirable).
* Experience of undertaking evaluation and applied research in health and care and in the dissemination of research findings and learning.
* Fluency in relevant health service evaluation concepts, theories and methods, and ability to contribute to developing new ones.
* Mixed-methods and quantitative research skills, ideally with experience of using routine data for applied research and evaluation purposes or advanced qualitative data analysis.
* Ability to demonstrate understanding of methodologies for evaluation and applied research and how to implement these in practice.
* Good interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with managers and staff within health settings, and with service users, family members and the general public.
* Excellent presentation skills and a collaborative and flexible approach to work.
* Excellent IT skills, with working knowledge of standard Microsoft Office software and using custom systems and databases.
Informal enquiries regarding this post may be made to Dr Manbinder Sidhu (Co-Director of BRACE) m.s.sidhu@bham.ac.uk; or Cathy Dakin (Centre Manager for BRACE) C.S.Dakin@bham.ac.uk
We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.
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