"Research Assistant (Job Number: 25001103)"

Research Assistant  (Job Number: 25001103)

Department of Psychology

Grade 6: - £31,236 - £37,694 per annum (Pro Rata)

Fixed Term - Part Time

Contract Duration: 6 months

Contracted Hours per Week: 31.5

Closing Date: 27-Aug-2025, 6:59:00 AM

Disclosure and Barring Service Requirement: Not Applicable.

The University

At Durham University we are proud of our people. A globally outstanding centre of educational excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other. We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things professionally and personally. 

Across the University we have a huge variety of roles and career opportunities, which together make us a large and successful community, which is a key hub of activity within our region and nationally. We would be thrilled if you would consider joining our thriving University. Further information about the University can be found here.

The Department

Founded in 1952, the Department of Psychology is consistently ranked as one of the very best in the UK with an outstanding reputation for excellence in teaching, research and student employability. The department is committed to creating and maintaining a research environment that spans the entire breadth of psychology. Currently the department’s research falls within three groupings: Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Science, and Quantitative Social Psychology.

The department is extremely well-equipped for research, including facilities for fMRI, TMS, tDCS, EEG/ERP, VR, eye movement tracking, and biophysiological recording. The department also has a motion capture lab for analysis of visuomotor action and experiments in immersive VR, a ‘bar’ lab for naturalistic studies in health psychology, and setups for psychophysics including an echo-attenuated chamber.

In 2022, the Department received its third Athena SWAN Silver Award recognising our commitment to advancing women's careers in STEM academia and reflecting the supportive and positive environment within the Department.

The successful candidate will join the Centre for Neurodiversity and Development, which includes researchers conducting a wide range of studies in the field of Neurodiversity.

The Role

A 6-month fixed-term Research Assistant (RA) position is available in the Department of Psychology at Durham University. The post will be split across 2 projects on neurodiversity. The first project is the Triple-A project (www.tripleadurham.co.uk ) which is being led PIs Professor Hanley and Professor Riby, and the post holder would work on this project for 3 days a week for 6 months (1^st October 2025 - 31^st March 2026). Triple-A is a programme of translation of research to impact in the area of neurodiversity and education. The post-holder would be involved in the evaluation of the Triple-A training programme for educators. This project is funded by the Durham University Research Impact Fund.  

The second project focuses on neurodiversity, mental health and the criminal justice system (PIs Professor Walker & Professor Riby), and the post-holder would work on this project for 1.5 days per week for 2 months (1^st October 2025 – 30 November 2025) and then 1 day per week for the remainder of the post (1^st December 2025 – 31^st March 2026). This project is all about capacity building in neurodiversity, mental health, and the criminal justice system, reviewing current resources and practices to feed into future work. Two core elements of this work are the completion of a local needs analysis focused on mental health support in the North East of England and liaising with Durham University Research Innovation Services on a gap analysis of mental health research in the institution. The project therefore involves working with a range of key stakeholders. This project is funded by the Durham University Seedcorn fund.

Together, these projects require the post holder to have an excellent understanding of neurodiversity, and a core theme of the work is the support of neurodivergent people within our society, whether that be within education or within the criminal justice system.

The Project Teams: The research assistant will join a vibrant research group in the field of neurodiversity (includes 15 PhD students, 2 research staff, and 10 academic staff). The grant for the Triple-A project is held by Professor Mary Hanley and Professor Debbie Riby. Professor Hanley will lead on providing the RA with supervision. The grant for the Seedcorn project is held by Professor Tammi Walker and Professor Debbie Riby. Professor Tammi Walker will provide the RA with day-to-day supervision. Crucially, both projects are team-based

Expectations: The successful applicant will be expected to carry out day-to-day responsibilities / running of the projects, including: submitting ethics applications, collecting evaluation data from teachers, schools and organisations that have used Triple-A, both using quantitative online methods and qualitative interview methods; data analysis; literature reviewing; liaising with Research Innovation Services to map current regional mental health support. They will need to interact with various stakeholder groups (e.g. researchers, educators, schools, neurodiverse community, parents, clinicians, voluntary sector workers) The work will be conducted using online methods (e.g. video conferencing), and face-to-face work in Durham University.  The successful applicant will be expected to actively engage with the activities of the Centre for Neurodiversity and Development. Standard RA responsibilities and specific requirements are listed in more detail below. We would expect the RA to be physically in Durham at least one day per week.

Responsibilities:

• To understand and convey information which needs careful explanation to the team or group of people through presentations, discussions and meetings which contribute to the production of research reports and publications.
• To write up results of research work, present information on research progress and outcomes to bodies supervising research in a clear and accurate manner.
• To analyse or undertake basic research by deciding how best to apply existing methodology according to overall context and objectives.
• To deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines by discussing with the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder and offering creative or innovative solutions.
• To liaise with research colleagues and make internal and external contacts to develop knowledge and understanding to form relationships for future research collaboration.
• To contribute to the planning of research projects.
•  
• To contribute to fostering a collegial and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.
• To engage in wider citizenship to support the department and wider discipline.
• To engage in continuing professional development by attending relevant training and development courses.   

This post is fixed term for 6 months due to the funding available, the funding is available from 1st October 2025 to 31st March 2026 for this fixed period only.

The post-holder is employed to work on research projects which will be led by other colleagues. Whilst this means that the post-holder will not be carrying out independent research in his/her own right, the expectation is that they will contribute to the advancement of the projects, through the development of their own research ideas/adaptation and development of research protocols.

Successful applicants will, ideally, be in post by 1st October 2025.