Research Associate

Overview

Location: Newcastle, GB

Contract Type: Fixed Term

Working Pattern: Full Time

Posted Date: 12 Aug 2025

Salary: £35,608 to £46,049 per annum

Closing Date: 2 September 2025

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution. We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme. In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

The Role

We are seeking a talented research associate with a strong background in realist review and realist evaluation to explore the utilisation of dental hygienist/therapist/nurse clinical skills in NHS primary dental care in England. The research is funded through a NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research grant. You will work as part of a collegiate and ambitious research team. You will have opportunities to travel to dental practices and explore different models of care to understand what works, for whom, and in what circumstances (as well as barriers and challenges). You will undertake data collection from the practice team, patients and commissioners. The findings of this work will inform a discrete choice experiment to determine incentives to utilise skill mix reforms; and economic modelling to consider cost effectiveness, improved access to NHS dental services and reduction of dental inequalities.

The Project

In 2022, NHS dental reforms were introduced to improve access to NHS dentistry. The reforms included the removal of administrative barriers to allow dental hygienists and dental therapists to see patients directly (i.e. to conduct a ‘check-up’, a model of care called ‘direct access’), and rewarding dentists more fairly for providing more complex care. Research previously funded by NIHR has demonstrated efficiency and effectiveness at ‘role substitution’ in dentistry, a term used to describe the potential for hygienists and therapists to work in front-line dental service provision. The study aim is to examine and understand how role substitution works, to create a blueprint for practices to adopt this model of care; and to evaluate for cost effectiveness and improved access to NHS dental services.

The research is composed of 3 work packages (WP). WP1 is a realist review and evaluation to explore and evaluate practices that have implemented skill mix reforms to explain why, how and for whom role substitution works before testing theories in working practices. WP2 is a discrete choice experiment (DCE) with attributes informed from realist analysis in WP1, to determine incentives to utilise skill mix reforms. WP3 is economic modelling to consider cost effectiveness, improved access to NHS dental services and reduction of dental inequalities.

This post is full time for a fixed term from 1st October 2025 until 31st September 2027 (24 months).

For informal enquiries contact: Dr Susan Bissett (s.m.bissett@newcastle.ac.uk)

Find out more about our Research Institutes Here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/institutes/

Key Accountabilities

• Although working under the general guidance of an academic or Principal Investigator, the postholder will contribute ideas, including enhancements to the technical or methodological aspects of their studies, thus providing substantial \’added value\’
• Develop and carry out the specified project using appropriate techniques and equipment as outlined in the personal requirements
• Determine appropriate methodologies for research, with advice and support where required
• Contribute to grant applications submitted by others and in time develop own research objectives and proposals for funding
• Begin to write, with appropriate support, proposals for individual research funding or, where funders do not permit this, contribute to the writing of collective bids
• Assess research findings for the need/scope for further investigations
• Contribute to the writing up of their research for publication and dissemination, either through seminar and conference presentations or through publications
• Present research findings, either at conferences or through publications in reputable outlets appropriate to the discipline
• May be involved in the supervision, with guidance, of final year undergraduate research projects and in providing support to postgraduate research students or Research Assistants
• Will need to work with the support staff and, on occasions, with undergraduate and postgraduate students, and interact intellectually with other academic members of the Institute
• May contribute to events celebrating the public engagement of science/social sciences/humanities
• Develop an awareness of University structures, policies and procedures and relevant issues in the higher education, research, social and political environment
• To work collaboratively with the research team, external partners, stakeholders, and the public to support the development and delivery of the research project
• To assist in the coordination, management and follow-up of public advisory group and steering group meetings, events and workshops
• To contribute to the co-development and formulation of data collection tools and procedures and initial programme theory statements as Context-Mechanism-Outcome
• To undertake data collection via literature reviews, realist interviews/focus groups, observations of practice, questionnaire and collection of extant data and information; analysis and review
• To contribute to reporting, dissemination and knowledge mobilisation via reports, briefings, academic papers, presentations, blogs, meetings and events

The Person

Knowledge, Skills And Experience

• Ability to work well as part of a team and rapidly acquire new skills
• Detailed subject knowledge (PI to describe subject knowledge required) in the area of research
• Likelihood of advanced skills directly related to the research projects
• High level of analytical and problem-solving capability
• Ability to communicate complex information with clarity and to encourage the commitment of others
• Experience of research with clear transferable skills and some experience or awareness of the research environment
• Presentations at conferences and/or high-quality publications
• Experience of utilising realist evaluation methodologies to evaluate complex interventions
• Experience of using a range of qualitative and quantitative data collection/research methods and data analysis packages
• Experience of undertaking literature reviews
• Possession of excellent organisational, communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience of working collaboratively with research teams, external partners, stakeholders, and the public (i.e. public and patient involvement) to support the co-development and co-delivery of the research project.
• Organisation and time management skills to plan and organise activities and events alongside leading the development and delivery of complex projects
• Ability to provide input into the development of service /work area policy, etc., including the identification and completion of funding applications

Desirable

• Record of academic peer reviewed publications in leading conferences and/or journals
• Experience of explaining and presenting findings to academic and non-academic audiences
• Knowledge of health economics

Attributes and Behaviour

• Excellent communication
• Good time management
• Excellent attention to detail
• Responsive to emails and other communication
• Capable of working autonomously and in a team
• Enthusiastic, well-motivated and hard working

Qualifications

Educated to PhD level with experience of realist review and realist evaluation methodology

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