Research Fellow in global ageing, frailty, and resilience - Applied Health Research - 80208 - Grade

Position Details

Institute of Applied Health Research

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £31,406 to £40,927, with potential progression once in post to £43,434

Grade 7

Full Time - Fixed term until 31st March 2023

Closing date: 10th December 2021

Background

To create and contribute to the creation of knowledge on global ageing, frailty, and resilience by undertaking a specified range of research activities within an established programme

Summary of Role

• Conduct secondary analyses of data on ageing in Burkina Faso
• Support the completion of write up of workshops on ageing priorities in Rwanda, Pakistan, and Brazil
• Write manuscripts pertaining to these research outputs
• Identify and bring together people working at UoB with interests in ageing in low or middle income countries (LMICs) to identify new opportunities for improving lives of older people in these settings
• Support other grant and manuscript writing activities of the team

Main Duties/Responsibilities

There are two main activities that the post holder will immediately be involved in

1. To explore the longitudinal outcomes of aging in Burkina Faso?

In 2017, we ran a cross sectional study in rural Burkina Faso (one of the poorest communities in the world) to determine the prevalence of multimorbidity, frailty, disability, and good quality of life. In collaboration with colleagues at the University of Heidelberg and the health and demographic survey site, we repeated this survey 4 years later, to determine longitudinal outcomes in the original participants.

The longitudinal data have been collected and are being linked. The post-holder will join the team to support in conducting seminal analyses using these data.

2. In the first 6 months, to arrange a workshop bringing academics from across UoB, with an interest in ageing in LMICs together. The workshop will be for participants to showcase their work and explore opportunities for collaboration to deliver high quality research to improve the lives of older people in LMICs.

Further activities will evolve with the progression of the post, but will largely be around the analysis of data and writing and publishing manuscripts.

Other activities are

• to support the write up of workshops which have been conducted with stakeholders in 3 LMICs to ascertain their priorities and needs around ageing.
• to support writing grant applications in the field of aging in LMICs
• To contribute to other administrative duties of the academic team

The responsibilities may also include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Analyse and interpret data
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
• Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars etc
• Supervise students on research related work and provide guidance to PhD students where appropriate to the discipline
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods
• Undertake management/administration arising from research
• Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration
• Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader
• Collect research data; this may be through a variety of research methods, such as scientific experimentation, literature reviews, and research interviews *
• Present research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof, for example at seminars and as posters *
• Provide guidance, as required, to support staff and any students who may be assisting with the research *
• Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines*
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.

* These indicative responsibilities may also be included in a research role at grade 6.

Person Specification

Essential

• First and post-graduate degrees in medical sciences,
• High level quantitative analytical capability (experience with doing statistical analyses and handling large data sets)
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• A commitment to producing excellent and impactful research

Desired

• An interest in ageing
• Experience of challenges facing older people in LMICs
• Experience of organising and capturing results from workshops
• Qualitative analysis experience
• Ability to assess resource requirements and use resources effectively
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes
• Co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort

Informal enquires to Informal enquiries to Justine Davies j.davies.6@bham.ac.uk

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working