"Research Fellow"

University College London ranked 2nd in overall Research Power in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (Oxford 1st, Cambridge 3rd). It maintained its top position in the UK for research power in the ‘medicine, health and life sciences’ panel, including psychology, psychiatry and neurosciences. Within UCL, we are based at the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences (PALS), which has ranked 2nd worldwide for Psychology in the latest Times Higher Education rankings by subject.

This position provides an exciting opportunity to join FAMILY, a Horizon Europe funded project, aiming to identify genetic and environmental risk factors for the development of mental illness. The post holder will be affiliated with a dynamic research group (http://www.jeanbaptistepingault.com/people/) with many opportunities for international collaborations and career development. Our research group focuses on mapping causal pathways to mental illness using advanced genetically informed designs.

This post is available from November 2025 for 18 months in the first instance. The salary scale will be £45,103 - £46,261 per annum (Including London Allowance).

The appointment at Grade 7 as a Research Fellow is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD; if this is not the case, initial appointment will be at Grade 6B (salary £39,148- £41,833 per annum), with payment at Grade 7 being backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD Thesis.

This appointment is subject to UCL Terms and Conditions of Service for Research and Professional Services Staff. Please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/conditions-service-research-teaching-and-professional-services-staff for more information.

The successful candidate will be required to have a PhD in a relevant area, eg. psychiatric genetics, statistical genetics, genomics, genetic epidemiology, and bioinformatics as well as in-depth knowledge of genomics and relevant software. The candidate will be required to demonstrate relevant research and publications in the area.

For information about the application process, please contact: Pals.hr@ucl.ac.uk

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:

• 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
• Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• Immigration loan
• Relocation scheme for certain posts
• On-Site nursery
• On-site gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
• Discounted medical insurance Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/rewards-and-benefits to find out more

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.

Our department holds an Athena SWAN Silver award, in recognition of our commitment and demonstrable impact in advancing gender equality.

You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/