Job Description
Job title:
Department/School:
Grade:
Location:
Research Associate
School of Management
7
Claverton Down Campus
Job purpose
The School of Management seeks to recruit a Research Associate for a project funded by
Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. This is an exciting opportunity for applying
analytical methods and techniques to a range of real-life problems with the aim of
achieving tangible impacts. The research associate will share her/his time between the
main campus of the University of Bath and Yeovil District Hospital in Yeovil, Somerset.
The role of the Research Associate will be:
1. To provide clinical teams and healthcare managers in the collaborating hospital with
high quality analytical and systems modelling expertise for a variety of different
areas of hospital operations.
2. To help identify improvements to care processes and resource allocation through
process mapping and systems modelling and simulation.
3. To collect, analyse and feedback to clinicians and management patient and system
outcome data.
4. To disseminate project findings locally, nationally and internationally with oral
presentation, formal reporting and peer-review publication.
Reports to:
Principal Investigator (PI)
Staff management responsibility
None, although some supervision of doctoral, postgraduate or undergraduate students
may be required.
Main duties and responsibilities
Responsible to the PI for (as appropriate to discipline):
1
Engage with hospital staff (both clinical and managerial) to quickly develop an
understanding of a particular problem.
2
Collect and analyse appropriate data using both qualitative (interview, facilitated
workshop, document analysis etc.) and quantitative (extraction and statistical
analysis of routinely collected data etc.) methods.
3
Work with the PI to design analytical solutions including determining input
parameters, model type and structure, and model output.
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Main duties and responsibilities
4
Project management: e.g. timetabling and meeting project milestones; participating in
regular discussions with collaborative partners; preparing and running project
meetings.
5
Liaise with key stakeholders/project partners and conduct semi-structured interviews
with healthcare professionals, on-site observation etc.
6
Disseminate project results as appropriate e.g. by presentations at local meetings,
national and/or international conferences etc.
7
Facilitate and participate in group meetings and prepare and deliver presentations to
project team, internal and external stakeholders or funders.
8
Assist with the supervision of graduate students and undergraduate project students.
9
10
Continually update knowledge and understanding in field or specialism to inform
research activity.
Write up results of research and contributing to publishing of results in high-quality
peer-reviewed academic literature.
Special conditions
Compliance with all relevant Codes of Practice and regulations for the University and
relevant discipline.
Given the collaborative nature of this project, some meetings and other project activities
may have to be scheduled outside normal working hours.
There is a requirement for the post holder to spend a regular amount of time on site at the
collaborating hospital. The exact amount will be determined by specific project
requirements and in agreement with the principal investigator and will probably vary
slightly from week to week. A typical working week will most likely consist of two or three
days at the hospital with the remaining days at the university.
Career and Professional Development Activities
From time to time you may be asked to assist in the facilitation of CPD activities. This will
form part of your substantive role and you will not receive additional payment for these
activities.
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Person Specification
Criteria
Essential Desirable
Qualifications
A Master’s degree with a strong quantitative component such as
Operational Research, Statistics, Management Science etc.
A PhD degree with a strong quantitative component
Experience/Knowledge
Knowledge and experience of working in healthcare
organisations and with healthcare professionals
Postdoctoral experience
Demonstrates significant depth and breadth of specialist
knowledge of subject matter to contribute to the study
Demonstrates awareness of latest developments in the field of
research and in research design
Demonstrates potential to publish in high quality, peer reviewed
journals
Skills
Ability to organise and prioritise own workload
Ability to write research reports and to effectively disseminate
outcomes
Excellent oral, interpersonal and written communication skills
Experience or willingness to quickly develop ability to
communicate effectively with health care professionals
Proficiency in IT skills
Attributes
Innovation and developing creative solutions
Enthusiasm and self-motivation
Organisation – able to plan and deliver work to meet required
deadlines
Tenacity – working to achieve own and team objectives and to
overcome obstacles
Ability to be an effective team worker
Professional manner
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