Appointment of a Research Fellow in Sociotechnical Evaluation in Healthcare

Appointment of a Research Fellow in Sociotechnical Evaluation in Healthcare

The schoolThe School of Applied Social Science is inter-disciplinary with over 75 staff and researchers, and approximately 1000 students based on the Falmer campus in Brighton. Teaching is also offered at the Hastings Campus.The School has grown rapidly in the last 10 years by developing innovative joint honours courses based on research-led curricula and has established itself as an increasingly internationally recognised centre for applied research in the social sciences. The School is now expanding its undergraduate provision to offer single honours degrees. It has also recently restructured into four divisions that cluster together our growing expertise in programmes of delivery in, Criminology, Psychology and Psychotherapy, Social Work and Social Policy, and Sociology and Politics.

DivisionsDivision of Criminology

The Criminology division offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in criminology and substance misuse interventions including:

BA (Hons) Criminology

BA (Hons) Criminology and Social Policy

BA (Hons) Criminology and Sociology

BA (Hons) Criminology and Substance Misuse Interventions

MA Criminology and Criminal Justice

We also contribute a half-degree to LLB Law with Criminology.

Division of Psychology and Psychotherapy

The Division offers a range of BPS accredited undergraduate degrees and BACP and UKCP accredited postgraduate professional training programmes including:

BSc (Hons) Applied Psychology (from 2015)

BA (Hons) Applied Psychology and Criminology

BA (Hons) Applied Psychology and Sociology

MA Community Psychology

Postgraduate Diploma in Humanistic Therapeutic Counselling Postgraduate Diploma in Psycho-dynamic Therapeutic Counselling MSc Psychotherapy

Division of Social Work and Social Policy

The Division offers undergraduate and postgraduate College of Social Work endorsed and Health and Care Professions Council approved social work training courses; undergraduate social policy and social science degrees and postgraduate and post registration professional development courses including:

BA (Hons) Applied Social Science (Hastings)

BA (Hons) Social Science

BSc (Hons) Social Work

BA (Hons) Sociology and Social Policy

MPA (Masters in Public Administration)

MSc in Social Work

MSc Advanced Social Work

PGDip Approved Mental Health Practice

PGDIp/PGCert Professional Social Work Practice

MSc Mental Health

Division of Sociology and Politics

The Division offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses including:

BA (Hons) Sociology

BA (Hons) Politics and Social Policy

BA (Hons) Politics and Sociology

MRes (Social Research)

We also contribute a half degree in sociology to a range of courses to theHastings Campus Joint Honours programme (see

Research

We deliver innovative education and research across a range of social sciences and professional areas and our research culture is represented by a major research centre and three research groups (see below). In 2004 the school moved into a new £13 million purpose-designed building, Mayfield House and is now co-located with several other research centres and with the Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Our work aims to develop and apply innovative theoretical and methodological inter-disciplinary analyses to contemporary policy and practice. Within the local and regional community the school is a significant resource for research, consultancy, and continuing professional development to public services including local government, health authorities and trusts, and social care organisations in the statutory, voluntary and independent sectors. We also have an established national and growing international reputation with an approximate annual research turnover of £300,000 and aim to grow this to £500,000 per annum. We have a thriving research student division within the Brighton Doctoral College. Our research is supported by a British Council sponsored link with Chi Nan National University in Taiwan, collaboration with universities in Sweden and Spain. We also provide a focus for the Community University Partnership Project which supports a wide range of community development activities and research

Research within the school is organised through the Social Science, Policy and Research Centre (SSPARC) which also secures commissions, often through successful competitive bidding, and is highly regarded for the relevance and quality of its research reports. The school is organised into research programmes, establishing three groupings through which research development is directed:

• Care, Health and Well-being
• Crime, Resistance and Security
• Culture, Identity and Society.

The centre has a number of staff leading on the strategic development of our research output, including Peter Squires, Professor of Criminology and Public Policy, Marian Barnes, Professor of Social Policy and Flis Henwood, Professor of Social Informatics. Dr Michael Cahill holds a Readership in Social Policy, Dr Mark Erickson and Mr Mark Bhatti hold a Reader ship in Sociology and Dr Lynda Measor a Readership in Applied Social Science. Peter Dickens holds a long term Visiting Professorship and there are a number of School Fellows who make a significant contribution to research culture. SSPARC has links with many other research bodies including the Trust for the Study of Adolescence. Recent funding sources for research in the school include the ESRC, the AHRC, the EPSRC, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Department of Health, the NHS, the European Union, the Social Exclusion Unit, and the Gulbenkian Foundation. The SSPARC runs regular seminars and conferences. The school also houses the University of Brighton Social Science Forum which runs regular in-house seminars and an annual public lecture as part of the Brighton Festival.

Twenty four (full time equivalent) research active staff were returned in a submission to UoA 40 in the 2008 RAE. Over 90% of work was considered to be internationally recognised with a staff grade point average (GPA) of 2.25 achieved. Research income over the assessment period totalled just over £2million from a range of international, national and regional funding sources.

Partnerships and links

The school has close associations with local and regional agencies through teaching and research. Staff research links complement international student exchanges in sociology, criminology, social policy, social work and community psychology and staff regularly deliver papers at international conferences. The school works closely with a number of other schools across the university, including delivering the LLB Law with Criminology in partnership with Brighton Business School. We are also committed to a local and regional role in community development and regeneration and, as a result, are expanding our work at the Hastings Campus.

Staff Development

The university’s staff development policy encourages staff to develop their academic, technical and professional expertise. The school currently awards two one-semester sabbaticals each year for scholarly research, and shorter periods of teaching relief to support specific research outputs. It also supports staff to enhance their teaching and learning expertise and professional practice. All teaching staff are encouraged to continuously review and improve their teaching methods. A wide range of development opportunities, which are continuously reviewed to meet new demands, are available to all staff including, computing short courses, management training, learning and teaching qualifications and research supervision. Academic staff are encouraged to attend conferences where appropriate and all staff are able to apply for a tuition fee waiver in order to attend part-time courses at the universities of Brighton and Sussex and City College Brighton and Hove.

Location

The school is based at the Falmer campus of the university, approximately five miles from the centre of Brighton and Hove linked to frequent train and bus services. Falmer is a site of outstanding natural beauty on the edge of the South Downs.

Job SharingThe University of Brighton welcomes job sharers. Job sharing is a way of working where two people share one full-time job, dividing the work, responsibilities, pay, holidays and other benefits between them proportionate to the hours each works, thereby increasing access to a wide range of jobs on a part-time basis.

Potential job sharers do not have to apply with a partner. However, if a post is to be operated as a job share there must be at least two suitable applicants whowish to share the job.

A job share appointment will only be made if it has been demonstrated that bothshortlisted applicants can do the job to the required standards and within aworking pattern of hours that is agreeable to all parties. If one applicant is unsuitable, neither can be appointed unless an alternative potential job sharerhasbeen shortlisted.

When applying as a job sharer please indicate this on your application form. Please also indicate on the additional information tab whether you are applying with a job share partner and the name of that person. It would also be useful if you could indicate whether you would be interested in the post on a full-time basis if no suitable partner can be found. If you have indicated that you would be willing to take up the position on a full-time basis then the normal recruitment procedure will be followed.

If you are interested in appointment on a job share basis, please contact Human Resources for a copy of the university's policy, procedure and guidelines for job sharing. Alternatively staff in Human Resources will be happy to answer any queries you may have.

The JobThe Research Fellow will work on Project ‘EmERGE’ (Evaluating mHealth Technology in HIV to Improve Empowerment and Healthcare Utilisation: Research and Innovation to Generate Evidence for Personalised Care). EmERGE is a large 12 partner, 5 country, EU Horizon 2020-funded project that aims to develop and evaluate an mHealth platform to enable self-management of HIV in patients with stable disease. The overall project is led by Professor Martin Fisher of the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). The Research Fellow will work, specifically, on Work Package 2 (WP2) of the project: ‘Sociotechnical Evaluation and Co-design’ which is led by Professor Flis Henwood, School of Applied Social Science (SASS), University of Brighton (UoB). Day-to-day supervision of the Research Fellow will be provided by Dr Mary Darking, also in SASS at UoB.

The aims of WP2 are to:

1. identify, and share learning about, the social and organisational factors that facilitate and/or inhibit the development and implementation of the new platform and desired outcomes across different sites;
2. design and implement a context (site)-sensitive co-design process to fully involve patients and clinicians in the development of the new platform in all study sites;
3. improve the usability and acceptability of the new platform amongst key users (clinicians and patients) through user engagement in the co-design process;
4. enhance probability for improved patient outcomes through increased usability and acceptance of the new platform amongst key users.

Working closely with partners, specifically the European Aids Treatment Group (EATG), the Research Fellow will be responsible for undertaking fieldwork in 5 study sites in Brighton, Barcelona, Lisbon, Antwerp and Zagreb. Key tasks include:

1. designing the co-design process for each site;
2. organising and running the co-design workshops;
3. analysing data from workshops and preparing formative feedback to platform development teams;
4. undertaking interviews and focus groups with patients and clinicians using the new platform in the implementation phase;
5. contributing to the development of policy and practice guidelines on co-design for improved usability, acceptability and patient outcomes in mHealth developments.

AtResearch Fellow level (AC2), staff are expected to be involved in the developing, planning and managing of research projects in consultation with a Principal Investigator, developing a publication record and learning to generatefunding and supervise less experienced researchers. The role will normally require a level of research knowledge, skill and experience equivalent to PhD. Research Fellows may also be expected to contribute to the teaching and/or consultancy activities in order to ensure continuous development of knowledge in the subject area.

The role will involve the following range of activities:

• develop research objectives and proposals for their own or joint research, initially with the assistance of a mentor if required;
• conduct individual and collaborative research projects;
• continually update knowledge and understanding in the field; and translate knowledge of advances in the subject area into research activity;
• contribute to writing up research work for publication or dissemination of research findings including presenting at conferences and/or other appropriate events;

• contribute to the supervision and mentoring of research students and make some contribution to the teaching, tutoring and learning programmes in the school;
• prepare proposals and applications to external bodies, e.g. for funding and accreditation purposes;
• liaise with colleagues and students;
• build internal contacts and participate in internal networks to exchange information and form relationships for future collaboration;
• join external networks to share information and identify potential sources of funds;
• agree and largely self-manage research and administrative activities, ensuring own research is undertaken according to governance, ethical and quality assurance guidelines;
• collaborate with academic colleagues on areas of shared research interest;
• work with colleagues on joint proposals as required; and attend and contribute to relevant meetings;
• use new research techniques and methods, develop new ones and extend the research portfolio;
• identify areas of research and generate ideas associated with research;
• analyse and interpret research data and draw conclusions on the outcomes; and contribute to collaborative decision-making in areas of research;
• plan and manage own research activity and use of resources in collaboration with others and help to plan and implement third stream commercial and consultancy activities.

Knowledge and Qualifications

It is expectedthat the criteria below regarding knowledge and qualifications will be met by the successful candidate.

•A good (1 or 2:1) degree in the social or health sciences.

•A PhD in Medical Sociology, Information Systems and/or Science and Technology Studies or related areas.

•Experience of qualitative methods, ideally in health research and of participative evaluation methodologies.

• Experience of working in multidisciplinary teams, with academic and non-academic partners.

•Understanding of equality of opportunity and diversity issues as applied to research teams and research participants.

•Competent information management and IT skills, including when handling sensitive data.

Hours of workThis post is full-time. The nature of research posts is such that staff are expected to work such hours asare reasonably necessary in order to fulfil their duties and responsibilities. It would therefore be inappropriate to define the total hours to be worked in any week. A reasonable norm for full-time staff, however, having regard to the contractual position ofother senior staff in the institution, would be thirty-seven, although this should notbe regarded as a minimum or maximum. Contribution to teaching and learning programmes in the school should not exceed six hours in any week.

The salarySalaries are paid monthly in arrears through the BACS System directly into the bank or building society account of each member of staff.

Salary payments for staff that work less than 52 weeks per year are spread evenly over twelve months of the year so that they continue to receive payment during the times they are not contracted to work. This means that, when they leave the employment of the university, they may have received either an over or underpayment for that year, according to the date of leaving in relation to the anniversary of the start date. In such cases, the adjustment would be made in the final salary payment, as a deduction or lump sum payment, as applicable.

Duration of the jobThe appointment is fixed term for 54 months as external funding from the EU is limited.

Professional development

The Research Office (RO) organises a wide range of workshops covering all aspects of researcher development including research degree supervision, research methodology, writing successful bids for funding, intellectual property and negotiations and contracts. The RO also offers a co-ordinated central service to advise and assist university research staff applying for grants from UK Research Councils, the European Commission, the NHS and similar external bodies including advice and guidance on application procedures, regulations, staffing, costing and protection of intellectual property. Staff in the Registry, Business Services, Finance, Human Resources, Strategic Planning and Marketing & Communications have joined forces to provide this research support service. The RO's website on the university's intranet offers a wide range of helpful information on all aspects of research. See

Courses are also run within the university for staff new to teaching. Staff new to teaching in higher education, who have not undertaken an equivalent course of study and training, are expected take one of these courses in their first or second year in post. The courses provide opportunities to explore a range of practical approaches to supporting students’ learning, and to reflect upon the process of developing as a teacher. The successful applicant will be provided with further information about these courses at the time of appointment.

In addition to these courses for staff new to the teaching role, the Centre for Learning and Teaching offers a wide range of other teaching-related courses, events and consultancy. Further information is available from the CLT’s website:

HolidaysThe annual leave entitlement is 35 working days pro rata for proportional full-time staff. This is in addition to the statutory holidays applicable in England, local discretionary holidays and days when the university is closed in the interests of efficiency.

Terms & conditionsIn determining terms and conditions of employment, the university has regard to recommendations made through the appropriate national negotiating framework. These terms and conditions of service can be varied by local agreements reached through the university’s local negotiating framework which comprises a Joint Negotiating Committee supported by two Common Interest Groups. These groups bring together representatives of the university and its recognised trade unions, which are:

•UCU – University and College Union

•UNISON

Strategic planDetails of our Strategic Plan can be found at: