We are the University of Cumbria, for and from Cumbria and our localities, rooted in serving our communities, with people, place and partnership at our heart.
Now is a very exciting time to be joining us because we are delivering a new "Towards 2030" strategic plan focused on making the most of our three most valuable assets; People, Place and Partnerships, to become a catalyst for economic well-being for our region, nationally and internationally.
Applications are invited for a Senior Research Fellow to work across nationally-leading health and care research programmes funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), as part of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria - 2026 to 2031 - ARC . The fellows will support the ARC in joining national research networks to deliver impactful research and knowledge mobilisation activities with partners across the health and care system.
The post holder will be aligned to Addressing inequity in health and care systems with a focus on engaging rural and coastal communities across the ARC’s research programmes, and establish inclusive communities of practice, leading programmes of research across the North East and North Cumbria and nationally, in line with the strategic aims of the theme.
Our research priorities are to Identify, implement and evaluate opportunities to address inequity in health and care systems; Drive forward work to integrate health, care, and justice systems; Focus on structural determinants of health including employment, housing, and multiple system use; Examine the links between poor health and work, and evaluate public health policies that address these.
As well as working within the theme, the fellow will develop joint programmes of work across our five themes:
- Prevention including multiple long-term conditions.
- Addressing inequity in health and care systems
- Supporting children, women, and family health
- Workforce Inclusion and Innovation for Impact
- Care Improvement and Safety
You will be expected to have existing and well-established networks with a range of health, social care and community-based collaborators, including across other NIHR infrastructures. Fellows will develop their own specialist research leadership while working in a pro-active and collaborative way to deliver work addressing critical national and regional priorities. They will be adaptive and responsive to emerging system needs, benefitting from the outstanding mentoring and support environment to secure additional grant funding over the period of the role. The role holder will be required to spend 50% of their time working responsively with health and social care partners to design and deliver programmes of work.
This is a full time fixed term post available until September 2030.
The successful candidate will have a relevant doctoral degree and hold experience in quantitative and/or qualitative research within the applied health, public health and social care arena (eg: sociology; psychology; criminology; health statistics; health economics; data analytics, data science).
Applicants should have experience of obtaining external funding for research, which can include travel grants and studentships, and publishing in peer-reviewed journals.
Required skills and attributes include:
- development and delivery of research studies and analysis plans;
- qualitative and/or quantitative data collection and analysis;
- ability to disseminate research findings in a range of formats and to a range of audiences;
- working with research partners across multiple universities and health and care organisations and engaging with public and practice partners.
We seek applicants who follow through on commitments and drive projects forward, are enthusiastic to grow and develop as a researcher, and are motivated to secure a personal fellowship of external funding from an external, national panel, or via NIHR infrastructure or programme opportunities. Experience of co-design approaches and/or creative methods, methodological innovation relevant to applied research in health, public health and social care, knowledge mobilisation approaches, and/or delivering teaching or training are desirable.
As part of our commitment to grow our applied research community and promote a supportive research culture, the role holder will be required to spend at least 50% of their contracted time in person in the university or at relevant ARC events.
Informal Enquiries: Professor Joy Duxbury | Director of Research Institute of Health | joy.duxbury@cumbria.a.uk
We are seeking innovative, creative, high quality researchers, and scholars to foster a culture of exploration, discovery and intellectual challenge that generates international recognition, respect and engagement.
In return, the University offers an attractive benefits package including 35 days' annual leave plus bank holidays, support for professional development, support to achieve Higher Education Academy/Advance HE accreditation, mentor provision in the first year of employment and opportunity for career development.
For more information about the University of Cumbria, click here.