Research Fellow in Behavioural Science London, England
Job description
About us
UCL is one of the UK’s leading universities, a world-class multidisciplinary research and teaching institution, whose staff and former students have included 29 Nobel Prize winners. Founded in 1826, UCL was the first university in England to admit students regardless of race, religion or gender. It continues to thrive on the creativity and diversity of its community, which today comprises c.13,000 staff and c.40,000 students from 130 countries across the globe. UCL is ranked 8th in the world and 4th in Europe in the QS World University Rankings 2023. Situated at the heart of one of the world’s greatest cities, UCL’s historic central campus in Bloomsbury is within easy reach of several rail and underground stations and Heathrow airport.
The UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences is the largest and highest ranked psychology department in the UK. We undertake world-leading research and teaching across the areas of mind, behaviour and language.
The Centre for Behaviour Change (CBC) brings together academics from a wide range of disciplines and policy-makers, practitioners and others, creating a vibrant hub for developing ideas, methods, theories and evidence about behaviour change, and translating that expertise to achieve real-world impact, nationally and internationally.
We are a leading, world-renowned interdisciplinary Centre for expertise in behaviour change. Based on an understanding of behavior in context, we enable change through the interacting influences between people and the social, organisational and economic systems in which they exist.
Our research, consultancy and training seek to advance the science and application of behaviour change, generating practical solutions to complex problems using a systematic approach. We collaborate and partner with a wide variety of individuals, communities and organisations (including local and national governments, NGOs and industry).
About the role
An exciting opening exists for an experienced researcher to contribute to the behavioural science work-streams of the UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub, led by Professor Mark Miodownik (UCL), with co-investigators Susan Michie (UCL) and Fabiana Lorencatto (UCL).
The Project:
"The Comfort Loop: A Systems Approach For Sustainable Absorbent Hygiene Products" is an EPSRC-funded, 36-month project aimed at developing ways to eliminate waste from absorbent hygiene products (AHPs) and create new business opportunities. Combining a multidisciplinary team at the UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub (PWIH), the project will connect our research expertise in biopolymer synthesis, scalable manufacturing, new service models for products, polymer recyclability and biodegradability, life cycle analysis (LCA), material flow analysis (MFA), digital technologies and circular economy analysis, and behaviour change to develop circular systems for AHPs. We will analyse the current linear AHP economy and use design methodologies to create and test new interventions to design-out plastic waste. The UCL Plastic Waste Innovation Hub will create an interface between researchers and the public, to get them involved in plastic waste research, to appreciate the value of plastic to society, discuss the barriers to behaviour change, and to contribute to new ways to design-out plastic waste.
The Postholder:
We are seeking expertise in advanced research skills in areas such as quantitative surveys, qualitative methods and conducting systematic literature reviews and behavioural analyses. We are seeking candidates with an excellent understanding of behaviour change theories, frameworks and methods, with a proven ability to conduct research independently and a track record of publications in high impact peer-reviewed journals.
The post will require leadership for initiating, conducting and reporting the work in collaboration with multidisciplinary research teams and policy-makers. Experience in engaging with key non-academic stakeholders such as policy makers, health service providers, and patient groups is essential.
The post-holder will be primarily based at the Centre for Behaviour Change, within the Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, under the supervision of Dr Fabiana Lorencatto and Professor Susan Michie
The Role:
The post-holder will be responsible for helping to lead the conduct of the research within the behavioural science work package of the Comfort Loop programme of research.
This will primarily involve conducting mixed methods research (i.e. interviews, focus groups, surveys) to understand barriers and enablers to reducing the use of absorbent hygiene products with a range of stakeholders across different contexts (i.e. care homes, offices, households).
All data collection and analysis will be guided the application of behavioural science theories and frameworks.
The post-holder will then help lead the conduct of co-design workshops with stakeholders in each context to co-produce theory and evidence based recommendations for behaviour change interventions to address barriers and enablers to reducing the use of absorbent hygiene products and uptake of alternatives. The post-holder will share behaviour insights with other research team members across the PWIH research portfolio in regular group meetings, and ensure their research is informed by a good understanding of policy contexts and directions.
About you
- Degree (2:1 or higher) in a behavioural science (e.g. psychology, economics, anthropology, sociology, law, human geography)
- Experience of conducting at least two of the following: theory-based qualitative and/or quantitative research, experimental studies, and systematic reviews
- Good knowledge of behavioural science methods, techniques and theory and the ability to provide this to a wide range of topics
- Experience of applying behavioural science theories and frameworks to research on human behaviour
- Experience of successful multidisciplinary collaborative research, including with non-academic stakeholders
What we offer
- 41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
- Additional 5 days’ annual leave purchase scheme
- Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
- Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
- Relocation scheme for certain posts
- On-Site nursery
- On-site gym
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
- Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
- Discounted medical insurance
Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
As London’s Global University, 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 UCL’s workforce.
These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.Our faculty holds an Athena SWAN Bronze award, in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality. Available documents
