We welcome applications from candidates interested in working part-time hours or job-sharing arrangements. The Faculty wishes to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Associate or Postdoctoral Research Fellow to participate in a Digital Health project led by Dr Samantha van Beurden, focused on improving D:REACH-HF, a digital home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme for people with heart failure. A key aspect of this role is the cultural adaptation of the programme to better meet the needs of the South Asian community in the UK, who are disproportionately affected by heart failure but remain underrepresented in both research and current rehabilitation services.
The project will enhance usability for older patients, caregivers, and health professionals, with a strong emphasis on inclusivity and cultural relevance. This LEAP Digital Health hub funded post is available from the 1st of February 2025 to 31st of January 2026. The successful applicant will play a key role in enhancing the D:REACH-HF digital cardiac rehabilitation platform, focusing on improving usability, cultural inclusivity, and accessibility for South Asian communities. They will collaborate with patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and developers to refine the platform through co-design workshops, iterative development, and qualitative research optimising usability, ensuring it is ready for future clinical evaluation.
The post will include:
1. Establishing and maintaining connections with South Asian communities to enable recruitment for stakeholder engagement and research activities.
2. Preparing and facilitating co-design workshops to gather insights from diverse stakeholders, including patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.
3. Preparing applications for regulatory approvals.
4. Conducting and analysing think-aloud interviews to evaluate usability, cultural relevance, and acceptability, and analysing the data using the Person-Based Approach.
5. Collaborating with developers and the wider research team to implement findings into platform improvements, ensuring a user-friendly and inclusive design.
The successful applicant will be able to present information on research progress and outcomes, communicate complex information, orally, in writing and electronically; develop research objectives, projects and proposals for application to external bodies; identify sources of research funding and contribute to the process of securing funds and make presentations at conferences and other events.
Applicants will possess a relevant PhD or equivalent qualification/experience in a related field of study. For a Fellow appointment, the successful applicant will be a nationally recognised authority in Digital Health or Complex Interventions and possess sufficient specialist knowledge in the discipline to develop research programmes and methodologies. The successful applicant will also be able to work collaboratively, supervise the work of others and act as team leader as required.
Applicants will be able to work independently and communicate and collaborate effectively with other members of the REACH-HF team, commercial partner (Health and Care Innovations), and charities building connections between health research and South Asian communities, to support the cultural adaptation and refinement of D:REACH-HF.
Applicants must have knowledge of:
1. Existing research on the development of complex behaviour change interventions and in the wider discipline of health services research and of associated research methods and techniques.
2. Experience in qualitative interviewing and analysis skills (Person-Based Approach preferred but not essential).
3. Evidence of prior related research activity, including development of regulatory body/ethical applications and published research.
Please ensure you read the Job Descriptions and Person Specifications for full details of these roles.
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.
The University of Exeter
We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 200 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 and QS World University Ranking 2024). We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, achieving a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2023, underpinned by Gold ratings for Student Experience and Student Outcomes.
We offer some fantastic benefits including:
1. 41 days leave per year
2. Options for flexible working
3. Numerous discounts at leading retailers
4. Onsite gyms on all of our campuses and a cycle to work scheme
5. Sector leading policies around maternity, adoption and shared parental leave (up to 26 weeks full pay), paternity leave (up to 6 weeks full pay) and a Fertility Treatment Policy
6. Stunning campus environments in Exeter and Cornwall, in the beautiful South West of England.
#J-18808-Ljbffr