"Research Associate"

For informal queries, please email Sagar Jilka (Senior Research Fellow) at sagar.jilka@warwick.ac.uk.

You will join the Warwick Medical School Mental Health and Wellbeing Unit as a Research Associate to support research activity for two externally funded projects: the NIHR funded “Transforming Access to Care for Serious Mental Disorders in Slums - the TRANSFORM Project” and the MRC-funded “Implementing Early Mental & Physical Health Detection & Support: Promoting a Whole-School Approach to Health and Well-being” (ISOBAR). 

You will work with partners in Bangladesh, Canada, India and Nigeria.

The projects are led from Warwick Medical School (WMS) by PI Professor Swaran Singh, who also has overall management responsibility for both projects.

We will consider applications for employment on a part-time or other flexible working basis, even where a position is advertised as full-time, unless there are operational or other objective reasons why it is not possible to do so. 

About You  

You will have a research background in a health-related social science, health management, global health, applied health, implementation science or related field.

You will have responsibility for supporting and where applicable, leading research activities in consultation with the Principal Investigator (PI), Assistant Professor, Dr Sagar Jilka and the wider Warwick Project team.

You will have knowledge and experience in mixed methods research, ranging from qualitative, both data collection and analysis and demonstratable quantitative research skills. Experience working with people with lived experience of mental health problems and experience in patient and public involvement is advantageous. Previous experience of supporting grant applications is desirable. You will work collaboratively with partners in Bangladesh, Canada, India, Nigeria and the UK. Experience of working with universities and stakeholders in overseas countries would be advantageous. You will need to have effective interpersonal skills to communicate with teams involved in the projects

You will be line managed by the Assistant Professor (Dr Sagar Jilka) but will also operate with a considerable degree of autonomy and initiative.

For further information regarding the skills required for this role please see the personal specification section of the attached job description.

About the Department  

The Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing focuses on applied research into development and transitions across the life span, early interventions, prevention of illness and promotion of wellbeing. The centre consists of a unique combination of experts in psychiatry, public health, cardiovascular health, psychology, social sciences and community paediatrics, interested in a life course approach. Research activities include epidemiology, trials of complex interventions at individual, family and community levels, and understanding socio-cultural and environmental determinants of mental health and wellbeing. Academic teams staff are internationally renowned for their impact on improving mental health and wellbeing across the life span, and in both clinical groups and the general population.

ISOBAR will implement and evaluate an evidence-based programme to prevent and/or delay the onset or progression of mental (anxiety, depression, psychosis) and nutritional disorders (malnutrition and obesity) in adolescents aged 12-18 years in India & Nigeria. We will build on our previous work in these countries, to implement a whole-school intervention focused on physical and mental health and well-being. The intervention will be contextualised for each study site to promote awareness, identify youth in distress and prevent the emergence of serious mental and nutritional disorders in adult life. Some of the specific objectives include, raising health literacy amongst staff and students; screening and detecting emerging mental and physical health problems and promote appropriate help-seeking; collaborating with specialist services to prevent progression and accumulation of disability and creating a sustainable pathway that links local educational, health and social care systems for improved access to care for those requiring specialist care. We will develop a hub-and-spoke model of trained school counsellors to provide mental health literacy, physical and mental health screening and appropriate support in three schools at each site using a ‘stepped-wedge’ paradigm in a total of nine schools and measure outcomes at the level of the school and the individual. Our project aims to develop an effective, affordable and sustainable composite intervention which would advance local and regional preventative health policies for internalizing, externalizing and nutritional disorders in adolescents, thereby encouraging the adoption of evidence-based interventions.

TRANSFORM aims to improve access to care and outcomes of SMDs in slums, by developing an innovative collaborative care model involving traditional/faith healers, mental health professionals, primary care practitioners and community health workers (CHWs). This multidisciplinary research programme will be conducted across two slum communities, one each in Korail, Bangladesh and Ibadan, Nigeria (both ODA-eligible countries).

The team will conduct in-depth studies to understand local communities' awareness and understanding of SMDs and sit with traditional and faith healers to understand who seeks care, how care is given and how healers identify and could refer those with treatable SMDs to medical care.

Slum populations in low- and-middle-income countries (LMICs) have high rates of serious and enduring mental disorders (SMDs – psychotic disorders and severe mood disorders, often with co-occurring substance abuse) and very poor access to mental health care.

Sufferers and their families choose traditional and faith-based practices since these are more accessible, considered affordable, and are in tune with their cultural beliefs and traditions. Faith-based and traditional healing can play an important part in delivering care in LMICs, especially for common mental disorders like anxiety and depression, both in Africa and Asia, but those with SMDs require additional biomedical treatment and follow-up.

About the University  

Born in the 60s with a mindset of boldness, imagination and collaboration, the University of Warwick is a world-leading research-intensive university with the highest academic and research standards. We’re one of the world’s top universities, ranked 67th in the world and 10th in the UK*, with 92% of our research assessed to be ‘world leading or internationally excellent’**. 

You'll be joining a diverse, innovative and globally connected community committed to igniting real world progress. Here at Warwick, we offer you opportunities to follow your ambitions as long as you bring the energy and determination to succeed.

*QS World University Rankings 2024

** Research Excellence Framework 2021

To find out more about us visit our website.