Postdoctoral Research Assistant - Qualitative

University of Oxford - Centre for Human Genetics

Location: Oxford

Salary: £39,424 to £47,779

Hours: Full Time

Contract Type: Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On: 5th November 2025

Closes: 25th November 2025

Job Ref: 182618

Location: Building for Genomic Medicine, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN

We are seeking a talented and motivated Postdoctoral Research Assistant to contribute to two research projects:

• Caring relationalities, responsiveness and responsibilities in the post-genomic era (funded by the ESRC).
• Living in limbo: Life with an undiagnosed rare condition (funded by the NIHR-MRC and part of Rare Disease Research UK).

Your expertise will lie in qualitative research. This post involves innovative large-scale qualitative analysis and co-production approaches.

Over 3.5 million UK residents live with a rare condition, and routine healthcare is increasingly able to identify underlying genetic mechanisms. Whilst new technologies promise improved diagnoses and treatments, less attention has been directed towards the needs of, and support for, those affected by the process and outcomes of genomic testing. We are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Assistant to join two exciting and linked qualitative research projects that aim to build a robust evidence base on the support needs and significant, but often under-recognised care work, many individuals and families undertake.

You will be responsible for managing your own academic research and administrative duties between the two linked studies as well as taking the lead in the large-scale qualitative secondary analysis of interview data from multiple sources. In this role you will be expected to contribute to the preparation of the research papers as well as represent the group at external meetings either alone or with others from the group.

It is essential you hold a PhD/DPhil (or close to completion) in a relevant discipline such as anthropology, bioethics, health sciences or sociology and have strong communicative and people skills as you will be interviewing patients and families that are affected. As you will be working across two linked studies you will need to have an excellent set of organisational skills including planning for workshops, coordinating logistics and working to multiple deadlines.

Applications for this vacancy should be made online and you will need to upload a supporting statement and CV. Your supporting statement must explain how you meet each of the selection criteria for the post using examples of your skills and experience. Please restrict your documentation to your CV and supporting statement only. Any other documents will be requested at a later date.

This position is offered full time on a fixed term contract until 31 May 2027 funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, Medical Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council.

Only applications received before 12 midday on 25 November 2025 will be considered. Please quote 182618 on all correspondence.