Post Doctoral Research Associate in Health Inequalities - Durham University

The University

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The Department

The Institute for Medical Humanities and Department of Sociology at Durham University seek to appoint a talented researcher and scholar to the role of Postdoctoral Research Associate to work on The Practice Site, part of the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities (DRP-MH). We welcome applications from those with research interests in the broad field of the Social Sciences and we are particularly eager to hear from applicants with expertise in health inequalities in areas of socioeconomic deprivation and marginalisation, substance use and addiction, and/or the medicalisation of distress.

This post is part of an exciting expansion of medical humanities at Durham funded by the Wellcome Trust. The Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities (DRP-MH) at Durham University aims to empower health and wellbeing researchers from different sectors and disciplines to co-develop new and experimental approaches to tackling health challenges, including those arising at the intersections of mental health and health inequalities. The Platform will create space for experimentation and intellectual risk-taking, support networks globally, and revolutionize the research capacity of the field of Medical Humanities. It will enable large-scale collaborations with community, creative, health and voluntary sector organisations, and involve over 200,000 global academics and lived experience researchers through international partnerships with leading Universities in the USA, Sweden, the Netherlands, South Africa and China. Platform researchers come from a wide range of disciplines including Literary Studies, Psychology, Philosophy, History, Sport and Exercise Science, Education and Sociology. The DRP-MH supports the Institute’s vision to improve human health through research on hidden experience.

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Social Sciences with a particular emphasis on experiences of health and illness in marginalised and/or socioeconomically deprived communities The post holder will be responsible for designing and conducting research as part of The Practice, one of three collaborative Sites hosted by the Platform.  The Practice is a partnership with St Anthony’s Health Centre, a GP practice based in Walker, Newcastle Upon Tyne.  The Practice will develop new insights into intractable questions around health inequalities, mental health, and the treatment of complex multimorbidities. The postholder will work closely with Site leads Dr. Jesse Proudfoot and Dr. Jonathan Coates (a GP at St. Anthony’s Health Centre and In-Practice Fellow at the IMH) to design and conduct new research at The Practice, facilitate new projects from other Platform team members for the site, and support collaborations with other researchers and stakeholders. Practice site activities may include but are not limited to regular participation in Site meetings, workshops and other events; collaboration in methodological innovation with interdisciplinary and cross-sector partners through a range of modalities; the design and delivery of pilot and proof-of-concept studies; and taking shared responsibility for sustaining a flourishing research culture in the Site and Platform more broadly. The post holder will also be expected and supported to collaborate with other Sites and Researchers across the Platform. Regular participation (in-person as well as virtual) at Site, Lab and Platform activities, as agreed with the Line Manager is essential.

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Health Inequalities

Applicants must demonstrate research excellence in a discipline of the social sciences with the ability to fully engage in the services, citizenship and values of the University.  The University provides a working, research and teaching environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate these key principles as part of the assessment process.