Postdoctoral Researcher in Implementation Science

University of Hull

Location:	Kingston upon Hull
Salary:	£39,906 per annum
Hours:	Full Time
Contract Type:	Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On:	25th February 2026
Closes:	13th March 2026
Job Ref:	JR101994

Closing Date: Friday 13 March 0:01am

Hours: Full Time

Contract Type: Fixed Term, 36 months contract

Job description

This post provides an excellent opportunity to develop Implementation Science expertise through applying and developing implementation theory and methods in two health service studies:

1. The North of England Wellbeing Diet and ActivitY After Early Breast Cancer (NEWDAY-ABC) hybrid intervention-implementation trial (funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research) will focus on helping overweight women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to achieve weight loss and maintain a healthy weight following treatment. NEWDAY-ABC is a hybrid intervention-implementation trial that will be carried out at four sites across Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The parallel process evaluation will assess fidelity of implementation of the co-designed intervention and explore mechanisms of impact and contextual factors associated with variation in outcome. Normalisation Process Theory will be used to structure inquiry into the perspectives and actions of health care professionals and managers to provide insight into the organisational barriers and enablers of sustainable implementation.
2. The Real-world Evaluation of Salivary Cortisone Test (Re-SCAIT) study (funded by NIHR Health & Care Services Delivery Research (HSDR) https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR174395) will evaluate the implementation and uptake of the waking salivary cortisone test for Adrenal Insufficiency in adults and children in the NHS, to inform widespread NHS adoption. The study will be carried out at four sites in London, Leeds, Leicester and Cornwall. Informed by an implementation strategy typology and a focused use of implementation frameworks, co-design workshops will enable development of a flexible and tailored implementation strategy in adult and paediatric services. The implementation strategy will be informed by concurrent qualitative research with four minoritised communities and will subsequently be tested in the study’s interrupted time series evaluation in four endocrine services (including a parallel process evaluation).

The post-holder will work in an excellent environment, with a lively, innovative and enthusiastic group, committed to undertaking research of the highest quality and building research capacity for the future. We value diversity and we are committed to recruiting and supporting staff and students from all sectors of society. Hull York Medical School holds a Gold Athena SWAN award. We are committed to developing staff and actively encourage and support staff to take development opportunities.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities of the post

The successful applicant will play a major role in delivering the NEWDAY-ABC process evaluation (60%) and Re-SCAIT work packages (40%), contributing as appropriate in each study to obtaining research governance and ethical approvals, conducting and analysing qualitative semi-structured interviews with study participants, health professionals & managers, non-participant observation and analysis of intervention delivery, and experience-based co-design workshops for implementation strategy development and tailoring/optimisation. Achieving the duties of the post will require active collaboration with the studies’ public involvement members and study leads/partners at the University of Hull, University of Sheffield, and study sites.

To discuss this role informally, please contact: Prof. Mark Pearson, Professor of Implementation Science (e-mail: mark.pearson@hyms.ac.uk).

In your covering letter, please refer directly to the criteria given in the person specification below. Applications will be assessed by the selection panel according to these criteria.

Please find the full job description here.