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Position Details

School of Psychology

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £33,348 to £43,155 with potential progression once in post to £45,737

Grade 7

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to 31st August 2027

Closing date: 2nd July 2023

UK and Global travel may be required as part of this role

Interviews to be held week commencing 10th July 2023

Background

ASP-belong is a Horizon Europe-funded 4-year research project involving 11 interdisciplinary, cross-sector organisations across 6 European countries.

In our fast-changing society, poor mental health and social isolation are increasing among young people, exacerbated by the pandemic. Belonging – feeling connected to and accepted by others through supportive interpersonal relationships – is key to boosting mental health and overcoming loneliness. There is a lack of evidence-based interventions addressing belonging, particularly in schools, which remains a central space for adolescent socialisation. Digital technologies, while disrupting the social landscape, offer enormous potential for adolescent health management. ASP-belong will develop Augmented Social Play (ASP), a pioneering digital mental health intervention format whose feasibility has been established through proof-of-concept prototype. ASP uses smartphones to deliver real-world group experiences that combine immersive storytelling, augmented reality, collaborative face-to-face gameplay and evidence based psychotherapeutic methodologies to boost individuals’ mental health while fostering a greater sense of belonging within the group.

Collaborating across academia, industry, education, health and the arts, and working with young people, we will co-develop ASP #1, a full-scale, multi-session intervention. We will implement this intervention in schools in Portugal, Czechia, and the UK, using strategies informed by policy review, and evaluate its efficacy, cost-effectiveness and implementation in order to present an evidence base to stakeholders including policy-makers, practitioners and media, stimulating wide uptake. We will further evolve ASP by collaborating with vulnerable adolescents to ensure we meet the widest spectrum of needs; by prototyping additional ASP interventions aimed at different populations and threats to mental health; and by creating comprehensive ethical guidelines. Our long-term goal is wide-scale adoption of ASP, making multiple smartphone-delivered group mental health interventions freely accessible to diverse populations and settings.

Kate Woodcock is leading the ASP-belong consortium at the University of Birmingham. She is bringing to the project her experience of understanding the needs of disadvantaged young people, and complex psychotherapeutic intervention development. The ASP-belong consortium includes non-academic partners Adam Barnard (writer and creative director), Vítor Coelho ( Educational Psychologist at ATV, Portugal ), Make Real (software developer), Gloria Mittmann ( Psychologist , games designer), the Unicorn Theatre (young people’s theatre), bringing between them creative arts and technology experience across industry and charitable sectors. It also includes academic partners Simone Kriglstein and Alžběta Šašinková at Masaryk University , Czechia, bringing experience in human centred technology design and implementation of educational interventions; João Dias at University of Algarve , bringing experience in artificial intelligence; Vicky Bird , Beth Stuart and Yan Feng at Queen Mary University of London , UK, bringing experience in trial design and outcomes analysis; Giovanni Rubeis , Beate Schrank and Marija Mitic at Karl Landsteiner University , Austria, bringing experience in medical ethics, healthcare policy and psychotherapeutic practice; Laura Taylor at University College Dublin, Ireland, bringing experience in the development of dissemination strategies that bring about behaviour change; and Ottar Ness at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology , bringing experience of collaborative research and psychotherapeutic practice.

Disadvantage in the broadest sense, including the multitude of interacting factors that can lead to intersectional disadvantages, will be a strong focus in the project. We strongly encourage applicants who have an interest in, professional and/or lived experiences of such disadvantage.

Role Summary

Work in close collaboration with the Scientific Coordinator Dr Kate Woodcock and with members of a wider international, interdisciplinary consortium to lead the full life cycle of a package of research involving qualitative, creative, collaborative methods to describe the mental health and belonging needs of the most vulnerable adolescents in society. In collaboration with members of these populations and other stakeholders, inform the design of new psychotherapeutic interventions. And evaluate these in a manner commensurate with the stage of development.

Main Duties

• Lead all aspects of the research involved in the work package, including co-production of data collection, data collection, analysis, and writing up findings as written reports, including scientific publications
• Lead the development and maintenance of close collaborative working relationships with adolescent groups subject to a wide range of disadvantages, and with other relevant stakeholders
• Work across disciplines and sectors in an open-minded and creative way that capitalises on the diversity of skills and experiences that exist in an inherently interdisciplinary project
• Lead applications for ethical and other necessary approvals as the work demands
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods in collaborative intervention design, development and evaluation
• Disseminate and communicate research findings in a manner designed to maximise impact
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Supervise and provide guidance to students and more junior staff on research related work
• Contribute to research-related administration and School of Psychology research-related activities
• Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader
• Identify and contribute to the effective solution of problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines
• Promote equality and value diversity by acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.

Person Specification

• First degree in an area relevant to arts-informed, tech-facilitated psychotherapeutic intervention development and a doctoral degree (or near to completion) relevant to this research area
• Experience of and facility with qualitative data collection and analysis, including the use of creative methods and/or work with vulnerable populations with additional communication needs
• Experience and interest in working across disciplines and/or sectors
• Interest in mental health, particularly in vulnerable and disadvantaged young people
• Demonstrable ability to lead research activities through the whole life cycle, from design all the way through to successful outputs, including scientific publication
• Ability to assess resource requirements in a research project, and to ensure resources are used effectively
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly to diverse audiences
• High level analytical capability
• Fluency in relevant models, techniques or methods, proficiency in learning about others and ability to contribute to developing new ones (including quantitative and qualitative methods)
• Ability to co-ordinate own work with others to avoid conflict or duplication of effort
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly
• Willingness and ability to travel for research activities (within the UK, in EU partner countries, and more broadly for dissemination)

DBS required

Pre-employment

The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.

Please contact Kate Woodcock at [email protected] for informal discussion of the role

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working .