Research, Development & Innovation Project Leader (KTP Associate) in Blackburn

At the University of Hull, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world's talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in the University of Hull workplace. This includes people from global minority backgrounds; people who have a declared disability; LGBTQI+ people; and women particularly for our Grade 9 and 10 roles.

We value our talented employees, and whenever possible strive to help colleagues to grow and progress in their future careers. We recognise that our people are our biggest asset. We hope you’ll be as excited as we are by what lies ahead. Let’s continue our journey. With great on-site facilities and numerous awards in recognition of our achievements within the Professional Services World, we want to continue growing and nurturing our existing staff as we endeavour to take on our next challenges as a University.

An exciting opportunity to work with one of the leading providers of domiciliary care services in the locality on an ambitious and innovative 24-month project developing new ideas, methodologies, and technologies. Veracity Healthcare is a CQC-registered provider delivering Home Care and Supported Living services across the East Riding of Yorkshire and Supported Living Hull. The organisation specialises in delivering high-quality, person-centred care for adults with a wide range of complex needs, including physical disabilities, mental health conditions, learning disabilities, and neurological conditions. Services provided include personal care, medication administration, meal preparation, community access, social support, and 24/7 supported living for individuals who require more intensive care and supervision.

This KTP project will develop an affordable, scalable Responsible AI-powered incident reporting and investigation system that is sector-specific, aimed at enhancing patient safety. It will streamline care staff reporting, and improve regulatory compliance, driving timely, data-driven responses to strengthen service quality and operational efficiency in incident management.

This project is a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) - part of a national, Government-supported initiative, which provides graduates with fast-track career opportunities through work on challenging technical & IT projects. The KTP project will be fully championed with expertise from the University of Hull and Veracity Healthcare. You will be supported to continue your personal and professional development throughout the project, acquiring new transferable skills that will enhance your employability; a £4000 budget is available for this training. The project offers the potential to undertake a higher degree (although this is not a requirement of the post). For the right candidate there are excellent prospects for obtaining permanent employment with Veracity at the end of the KTP project.

We are looking for a candidate who has an honours degree (preferably at the 2:1 level or above) in Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Electronics, Mechatronics or similar. A Masters is welcome.

Key requirements:

• Strong knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and data analysis.
• Technical skills in software development, Large Language Models, software and mobile app development, data analysis.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and a detail-oriented mindset.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary environment.
• The Associate will be a target/data-driven, self-motivated, team player with good interpersonal skills, and proactive in solving problems. The demanding nature and range of work involved will require the candidate to be flexible, well-organised, and eager to learn new skills.

The Associate will proactively lead on the following aspects of the project:

• Manage software design, development, and deployment of the reporting platform to the required specifications.
• Identify, collect, characterise, collate, and analyse project-relevant data.
• Willingness to learn new concepts and engage with them proactively and constructively.
• Engage with Veracity Healthcare employees for technology development.
• Work with multiple departments and specialisms to facilitate knowledge transfer between the University of Hull and Veracity Healthcare.
• Prepare and present progress reports at Local Management Committee (LMC) meetings and other project-related meetings.
• Undertake generic and bespoke training aspects of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme, CPD.
• Design and test voice-to-text systems that are robust to different accents and noisy environments.
• Develop and integrate multimodal AI solutions, including handling of text, voice, and image data in incident reporting.
• Implement and evaluate Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for safe report generation and information retrieval.
• Work with carers to co-design chatbot-based smart forms and ensure usability in real care settings.
• Support development of dashboards and analytics for managers, including predictive insights (for example, falls risk).
• Ensure responsible AI principles are followed, including explainability, uncertainty handling, fairness, GDPR compliance, and safety evaluation.
• Contribute to preparing documentation and evidence for regulatory standards such as CQC and the NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit.

The candidate should be able to organise their own time effectively and independently to prescribed timescales and objectives. They should be able to express themselves both clearly and articulately in both verbal and written forms.

You will be primarily based at the company partner’s premises in East Yorkshire and follow their working hours and annual leave allocation. Previous KTP Associates are not eligible to apply for this role. Candidates are requested to upload a CV and covering letter.

To discuss this role informally, please contact Professor Dhaval Thakker at D.Thakker@hull.ac.uk or Dr Koorosh Aslansefat at k.aslansefat@hull.ac.uk.

The vacancy will close at 00:01am on 23 February 2026.