Salary: £35,608 to £46,049 per annum (pro rata)
Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
Closing Date: 11 September 2025
The Role
This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and highly motivated Post-Doctoral Research Associate in population health sciences or a related discipline, with strong public engagement skills, to contribute to a NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR) funded project on health and sustainiability associated local government sponsorship activities.
You will join an interdisciplinary team, including local government partners, focused on improving lives through world-class research in human and planetary health. The project that you will be working on is part of the NIHR SPHR Healthy places, healthy planet research programme. The programme aims to generate robust evidence to support policy, practice and community activities aimed at improving population health, health and environmental equity, and environmental sustainability.You will be based in the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University, supervised by Dr Frances Hillier-Brown, Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition, and you will report into a core project team co-led by Dr Hillier-Brown and Emma Gibson, Public Health programme lead at Gateshead Council.
Your role will entail conducting interviews and focus groups with Local Authority Officers; conducting surveys and focus groups with public participants; public engagement and involvement co-development activities with a diverse set of public partners with lived-experience; the organisation of stakeholder workshops; and systematic searches of existing information on local government sponsorship arrangements and activities. The role will also involve disseminating research findings to academic and public audiences via papers, conference presentations and public engagement events.
The project consists of a number of work packages and you will have opportunities to collaborate closely with academics and practice partners from NIHR SPHR member institutions and NIHR Health Determinants Research Centres (HDRCs). You will benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration and development opportunities both within the project team and the wider NIHR SPHR.
This part-time (0.8FTE) post is fixed term until 31 January 2027.
For informal enquiries please contact Dr Frances Hillier-Brown at
Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here
Find out more about the Population Health Sciences Institutes here
Find out more about the NIHR SPHR here
As part of our commitment to career development for research colleagues, the University has developed 3 levels of research role profiles. These profiles set out firstly the generic competences and responsibilities expected of role holders at each level and secondly the general qualifications and experiences needed for entry at a particular level
Key Accountabilities
- Lead on collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in line with methodologies set out within specific project work packages
- Undertake systematic and scoping information searches and synthesise relevant published, grey and policy literature and information throughout the project
- Contribute to public and patient involvement/engagement (PPIE) activities within the project
- Attend and contribute to regular meetings and workshops/events appropriate to the project
- Assist with necessary ethical approval, R&D and research registry registrations for the project
- Observe the confidentiality of participant information at all times, in accordance with the Data Protection Act and to ensure that all study documentation is kept in a clearly trackable system and is stored confidentially
- Liaise with the broader project team, including local authority stakeholders to ensure effective delivery of project work packages
- Carry out research within agreed timelines, meeting project milestones and to an appropriate standard
- Produce interim progress reports and a final report to NIHR SPHR, and other outputs on the project
- Prepare papers for publication, and disseminate findings at conferences, meetings, workshops and events as required
- Identify and undertake a programme of professional development, including further training in research methods and other transferable skills
The Person
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Knowledge of general public health context and practices
- Knowledge and experience of working in or with local government
- Substantial, relevant experience in public health research, and its translation into effective policy and practice
- Experience of qualitative research with participants from a wide range of backgrounds and on sensitive topics
- Experience of public and patient involvement/engagement (PPIE) activities and organisation
- Strong project management and organisational skills
- Ability to carry out research within agreed timelines, meeting project milestones and producing research to an appropriate standard
- IT literate across a wide range of applications, preferably with specialist skills in areas of direct relevance to the role
- Evidence of potential to write for peer reviewed publications
- Evidence of presenting research findings at conferences
Desirable
- Experience of Local Authority research governance procedures
Attributes and Behaviour
- Ability to work flexibly and independently and as part of a multidisciplinary research team
- Able to build effective relationships with a range of different stakeholders at different levels and work as part of a team
- Have the ability to multi-task and manage multiple project work packages
- Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to meet deadlines and to manage priorities
- Ability to maintain confidentiality
- Able to travel within the northeast of England and occasionally elsewhere in the UK
Qualifications
- A PhD related to public health using qualitative or mixed-methods research methods or A PhD related to public health with equivalent quantitative or mixed-methods research experience
Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.
We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.
At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.
In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.
Requisition ID: 28457
:quality(80))
:quality(80))
:quality(80))