A bit about the School of Health & Society…
Our School of Health & Society is one of the largest providers of nursing, midwifery and allied health professional education programmes in the UK, known for our track record of collaborating with a wide range of industry partners across health and social care to produce highly skilled graduates with real work experience. We are at an interesting time in the Higher Education sector, there is significant change in terms of oversight, student expectations and changing demographics and we are trying to do things differently so that we stay ahead of these changes.
Our connection to industry is stronger than ever, particularly in terms of our real-world research. The University of Salford is the leading UK university in research on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). FASD is caused by alcohol consumption in pregnancy, and is characterised by difficulties with motor coordination, speech and language, academic achievement, memory, attention, impulse control, hyperactivity, emotion regulation, adaptive functioning and social communication. The team at the University of Salford have designed ‘SPECIFIC’: an intervention for parents and carers of children newly diagnosed with FASD, using funding from the Medical Research Council. We now seek an experienced post doctoral research fellow to develop the next phase of this exciting research programme: a feasibility trial of SPECIFIC, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (Research for Patient Benefit) scheme, in partnership with the leading charity and the National FASD Clinic.
In this project, under the supervision of the Joint Principal Investigators (Prof Penny Cook and Prof Raja Mukherjee) and co-Investigators (Dr Clare Allely and Dr Alan Price), you will carry out the feasibility study to gather sufficient information to design a robust randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the SPECIFIC parenting programme, demonstrate whether it is feasible to deliver the RCT and establish whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant an application to fund a definitive study. You will be expected to develop the application for funding for the definitive study.
The post will be based in the Allied and Public Health Directorate of the University of Salford. The contract is 0.8FTE, fixed term for 33 months.
So what will the role involve?
To carry out the feasibility study to gather sufficient information to design a robust randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the SPECIFIC parenting programme, including recruitment of participants and managing their flow through the trial.
To collect and analyse rigorous scientific evidence on feasibility outcomes, including both quantitative and qualitative data.
To write up the project findings, and develop a grant application for the next stage in testing SPECIFIC.
To engage with and co-create the research with key stakeholders, including ‘experts by experience’.
To play your part in establishing the University of Salford as a global leader in FASD research.
Please contact Professor Penny Cook (p.a.cook@salford.ac.uk) for an informal discussion.
Interviews will take place on Monday 12 September.