The Institute of Public Health and Wellbeing seeks to appoint a full-time Research Fellow to start December 2022, or soon thereafter. This fellowship is funded by Provide (an Essex-based Community Interest Company - https://www.provide.org.uk/) to support the Institute’s work in the areas of obesity, menopause research and/or the use of technology in care home settings.On successful completion of the post and probation period (3 years), the Fellow will be appointed to a permanent Lecturer (Grade 9) post in the School of Health and Social Care.
This is a unique opportunity for an ambitious researcher to contribute to the development of a new research line and to enable collaboration between IPHW/University of Essex and Provide as well as to build their pedagogical skills to successfully transition to a lectureship position.
We will provide the space and the support for the candidate to develop their academic career. The candidate will have access to quality research, mentorship across and within the two institutions, infrastructure and learning facilities, opportunities to collaborate internationally, and the support needed to achieve excellence in the field.
Both the University of Essex and Provide are committed to contributing to society through excellence in research which will lead to a better future for individuals, communities, and society.We are looking for a motivated new member of our community, inspired by our principles, ready to work with a community of researchers and practitioners and keen to establish collaborative learning that has practical and meaningful application, to ensure together we can achieve a better future for all.
About the Institute of Public Health and Wellbeing
The Institute of Public Health and Wellbeing (IPHW) is leading impactful research in public health and wellbeing for the University of Essex. The IPHW advances the University’s mission of excellence in education and research, for the benefit of individuals, communities, and society.
The IPHW is an international centre of excellence, bringing together research strengths across all three faculties, driving forward health- and wellbeing-focused research collaborations and developing strategic partnerships with regional, national, and international organisations. The establishment of the IPHW aligns the University research capability, expertise and strengths across a broad spectrum of research and innovations in public health and wellbeing, including a wide range of health related training programmes, clinics, facilities and services, leveraging the assets of our expertise and skills to enable us to scale our impact.
About the School of Health and Social Care (HSC)
The School of Health & Social Care has an excellent reputation for teaching and research in health and social care. Our academic members of staff include public health, health policy, services, and systems scholars, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychological therapists, nurses, social workers, oral health practitioners, psychologists, and sociologists. The School is run over two campuses: Southend and Colchester. Academic staff are supported by a team of administrative staff based at both Colchester and Southend campuses.
The School is at the forefront of preparing people to solve real-life issues in health and society, offering courses and research that both commissioners and employers believe in. People are at the heart of all we do. We work in partnership with people from all walks of life, who offer us their expertise and experience, making us a team of people who truly understand what is needed from health and social care professionals – now and in the future.
About Provide
Provide is a Community Interest Company (social enterprise). They deliver a broad range of health and social care services in the community and are committed to making sure that they are safe, responsive, and high quality. Provide works from a variety of community settings, such as community hospitals, community clinics, nursing homes, and primary care settings, as well as within people's homes, to provide more than 40 services to children, families, and adults. They provide services across Essex, and East Anglia. Provide has an income of approximately £67 million, and serves communities with a total population of more than 4.5 million people.
Provide has a long-standing partnership arrangement with the University of Essex, focusing on co-producing research with real-world impact. Provide is keen to be at the forefront of fresh and innovative thinking in the health and wellbeing arena and funding this research enables them to do this. The University has great credibility in this area and has pulled together a highly capable leadership team of academics and professionals to drive this forward, supporting necessary collaboration across academia and public health and wellbeing provision. As one of the largest local social enterprises in this area nationally, Provide are excited about their ongoing partnership and progressing new ideas and approaches.
About the Research Fellowship
We wish to appoint a highly motivated and enthusiastic Research Fellow, on a pathway to permanency, to undertake world class research and development work as well as open up and develop new research activities in the fields of either:
The ideal candidate will have a critical role in developing outstanding and international leading research in one of these fields, working with Provide.
The successful candidate will have a publications record appropriate for their experience and will be able to demonstrate evidence of potential to develop an internationally leading profile in the field. Applicants are required to have a PhD in a relevant discipline or should be close to the completion of a PhD (writing up or under examination).
The post is fixed term as a Research Fellow at salary grade 8 for three years in the first instance. It is fixed-term for a period of career development in order for the successful candidate to be in a position to be appointed to a permanent Lectureship (at grade 9) in the relevant substantive academic Department or School at the University of Essex at the end of the Fellowship.
During the period of the Fellowship the post holder will undertake research, teaching (to build skills and experience) and administrative duties. This is to ensure a good foundation in higher education practice for the Fellow to be able to take a permanent Lectureship that covers the full range of academic duties at a higher level.
The post holder will be placed on a probationary period of three years at the start of the Fellowship and this will include clear objectives relating to research, teaching and leadership/citizenship. This will then enable the post holder to apply for permanency through the University’s annual review process. If the Fellow has fulfilled all of the objectives in the probationary agreement and is successful in being granted permanency, they will then be appointed to a permanent Lectureship at salary grade 9.
*More information: Working at the University