Research Fellow

Fixed term for 24 months

Full time – 37 hours per week

Closing date: 05/07/2026 at 23:30

This is an opportunity to play a central role in delivering Sheffield’s Place Expansion programme, following a major investment by Sport England to strengthen the city’s approach to physical activity, health and wellbeing.

Working through the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine (NCSEM) Sheffield Partnership, you will lead applied research activity that supports the integration of physical activity into health and care pathways. This will include identifying priority conditions or population groups, reviewing existing referral and support provision, planning and delivering co-production workshops with professionals and people with lived experience, and developing practical pathway models and recommendations.

You will also support the design and delivery of the Move Well impact evaluation, helping to generate evidence on reach, outcomes, implementation and system integration. You will analyse findings from pathway development and evaluation activity, producing reports, academic outputs, practice-facing resources and recommendations that can inform delivery, commissioning, adoption and future research or consultancy opportunities.

You will work closely with the NCSEM Director, Move Well Operating Partner, health and care partners, community organisations, researchers, delivery partners and University colleagues. You will need to manage relationships across a complex partnership environment, communicate findings clearly, and ensure that evidence and learning are translated into practical outputs that support real-world decision-making.

This is an applied research role in a live place-based programme. You will need to combine academic rigour with practical judgement, working collaboratively across organisational boundaries while maintaining focus on delivery, evidence quality and impact.

The role will suit an applied researcher with expertise aligned to physical activity, health and wellbeing, including areas such as clinical exercise, exercise medicine, exercise physiology, rehabilitation, sport and exercise science, public health, implementation science or health services research. You will have experience of applied research methods, co-production, evaluation and knowledge translation, and the confidence to work with partners to address complex health challenges through physical activity.