Research Assistant/Associate

Employer: Newcastle University - School of Pharmacy

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne

Salary: £33,002 to £40,049 per annum. See advert text for details.

Hours: Part Time

Contract Type: Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On: 18th August 2025

Closes: 7th September 2025

Job Ref: 28477

We are a world class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

Salary: Research Assistant: £33,002 - £33,951 per annum. Research Associate: £35,608 - £40,049 per annum.

The Role: The project, titled "Deprescribing Safety in Primary Care: developing a Community Pharmacy Safety Net and Feasibility Study," aims to establish patient and professional networks to support the development of a future feasibility study. This study will evaluate the role of a community pharmacy deprescribing safety net within primary care in the UK. The project will involve establishing an expert advisory group and a patient and PPIE group, conducting interviews, and developing communication channels between general practices and community pharmacies.

Your role will focus on developing a community pharmacy safety net intervention and designing a subsequent feasibility study to address problematic polypharmacy in the UK. With the increasing use of medicines, it has become progressively vital to ensure patients are continuously on the most appropriate medicine to avoid problematic polypharmacy. Deprescribing has been identified as a way to ensure this, but developing a method to ensure deprescribing safety is needed. You will work under the supervision of Dr Daniel Okeowo and other senior researchers to conduct qualitative research with patients and healthcare professionals, develop Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) networks and contribute to the planning and dissemination of the project.

You will join a vibrant interdisciplinary team of researchers within the Newcastle NIHR Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC) based in the School of Pharmacy at Newcastle University. This post is 3 days per week (0.6 FTE) and fixed-term for a period of 12 months.

For informal enquiries contact: Dr Daniel Okeowo (daniel.okeowo@ncl.ac.uk). For informal enquiries about the Newcastle PSRC contact: psrc@newcastle.ac.uk.

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/. Find out more about our Research Institutes here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/institutes/. For more information about the School of Pharmacy, please visit: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/pharmacy/.

Qualifications: Good honours degree (or equivalent) with some subject knowledge in the relevant area (Research Assistant). A PhD in the research area required (Research Associate).