RSS Core Methodologist

Salary: £46,735 to £49,559  per annum, pro rata

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.

Closing Date: 18 June 2025

The Role

Established in October 2023, the Research Support Service Hub | NIHR provides expert guidance and input to applied health, public health and social care researchers on the design and delivery of research and the development of research funding applications.

The NIHR funds eight NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) Hubs across England; the NIHR RSS delivered by Newcastle University and Partners is one of these eight hubs. In addition, the RSS has Specialist Centres with expertise in public health and social care research. Together, the Hubs and Specialist Centres form a national RSS, working with researchers and innovators to provide guidance and input to develop applied health and care research proposals for submission to NIHR and other national funding bodies. Building research capacity is also an important function of the NIHR RSS. The NIHR RSS delivered by Newcastle University and Partners has a national remit and is hosted in the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University.

We are looking for two experienced Methodologists to join the NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) delivered by Newcastle University and Partners, hosted within the Population Health Sciences Institute at Newcastle University. The successful applicants will be part of the Research Support Service’s research design team, which provides research design guidance and input for both established and aspiring researchers wishing to carry out health and care research.  Researchers will be from a range of organisations, including NHS organisations, local authorities, small and medium sized enterprises, higher education institutions and the voluntary sector, and will have varied research experience. 

RSS Core Methodologists are the first point of support for researchers requesting guidance and input on the design of their research.  They are responsible for supporting the researcher to design their research study, including signposting them to appropriate methodology teams as required. The successful applicants will meet researchers via MS teams or face to face, on a one to one or small group basis, to find out about their project, what their needs are and continue to support them throughout the application process.

The successful applicants will also play a key role in building research capacity as part of a range of NIHR RSS Hub activities and will support the promotion of the NIHR Research Support Service through a variety of mechanisms.

The success applicants will have the opportunity to develop and apply their knowledge in methodology.  They will also continue to advance their own research by applying for research funding, alongside their role with the RSS.

The successful applicant will be joining a team of research methodologists based at Newcastle University and in partner and stakeholder organisations. 

There are two roles available within the NIHR RSS delivered by Newcastle University and Partners. Each role is available as a minimum of 0.6 whole time equivalent, up to 1 whole time equivalent (37 hours per week), fixed term until 30 September 2028.

For informal enquiries, please contact rssSMT@newcastle.ac.uk.  

To apply, applicants should provide evidence of how they meet the essential criteria required for the role outlined in the job description/person specification by uploading a letter of application along with a Curriculum Vitae (CV).

As part of our commitment to career development for research colleagues, the University has developed Academic Job Summary Guidance. This summarises the range of activities that academic colleagues may be expected to perform.

Key Accountabilities

• As part of the NIHR RSS, provide a central point of support for researchers and aspiring researchers wishing to develop research proposals, including for submission to a range of health and care funding bodies
• Alongside other methodologists (including statisticians, epidemiologists, health economists, qualitative researchers, evidence synthesis specialists, patient and public involvement and engagement methodologists and equality, diversity and inclusion methodologists), and representatives of other partner and stakeholder organisations, provide high quality design advice and research collaboration to researchers including on research questions, methods and impact
• Work closely with a range of methodologists to develop and deliver research design, in support of the RSS’ strategic aims, ensuring ongoing development, and identifying and mitigating risk to ensure successful delivery of the NIHR RSS contract
• Develop and lead research proposals and funding bids to carry out your own research and/or contribute to ongoing research projects and programmes
• Lead the writing up of own/collaborative research and publish in high quality peer reviewed journals and disseminate findings at conferences nationally and internationally
• Plan and lead a range of research capacity building events and activities, engaging with the NIHR RSS team and colleagues from stakeholder and partner organisations to deliver fully evaluated, high impact sessions
• Disseminate research findings through appropriate media to advance knowledge in the field and enhance the University’s reputation for high quality research. This will include authoring or co-authoring papers for publication in high quality academic journals and dissemination of findings at conferences nationally and internationally, as well as other dissemination methods to maximise research impact
• Attract and supervise PhD students to successful completion of their studies
• Embed patient and public involvement and engagement, research inclusion and equality, diversity and inclusion in all activities
• Attend RSS triage meetings, working with the operations team to allocate workload to Core RSS Methodologists, aligning with their expertise and capacity
• Co-ordinate and chair meetings with researchers and methodologists to ensure these are constructive and efficient and that actions are clear, and that activity is recorded on the RSS database
• Ensure that RSS activities are achieved to agreed quality standards and deadlines and that data are recorded in an accurate and timely manner in the RSS research design database.  Provide feedback and case studies about researchers, and as part of NIHR annual reporting process
•  Remain up to date with NIHR Research Support Service initiatives and national developments, including being the lead expert on the requirements for specific funding programmes, ensuring details are shared with researchers and colleagues
• Make recommendations and develop NIHR Research Support Service training and development resources. Take part in and provide input to RSS staff induction and training programmes
• Represent the RSS at local and national events, including leading discussions or chairing sessions at conferences playing a prominent role in driving forward RSS’ national work programme and helping increase uptake of the RSS’ offer
• Deputise at national forums and other meetings as appropriate

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

• Substantial experience of undertaking successful health and care research to inform your own research and the ability to provide guidance and input to researchers regarding theirs, as evidenced by grant applications, international quality publications, methods development, presentations etc
• Significant knowledge and experience in an area of research methodology relevant to health and care research and hands on experience of designing and delivering research projects
• Proven knowledge of the funding environment for health and care research in England including a track record of successfully preparing and securing external research funding as lead or co-investigator
• A significant publication record in peer-reviewed journals, showing evidence of work of at least national/international quality
• Extensive knowledge of the processes and requirements of conducting health and care research
• Experience of peer reviewing grant applications or as a member of an awarding body panel, or academic journals or experience of addressing peer review comments as an applicant
• Strong interpersonal, communication, planning, team working, negotiation and problem-solving skills, alongside the ability to work efficiently and independently under pressure and to multiple deadlines
• Ability to understand and interpret complex ideas and communicate these simply to broad audiences
• Experience of managing, mentoring or supervising less experienced researchers

Attributes and Behaviour

• Self-motivated and proactive
• Enthusiastic, innovative approach to challenges
• Ability to provide leadership in multi-disciplinary settings
• Coaching and mentoring skills to help researchers develop research ideas into project and programmes
• Ability to provide constructive feedback in a sensitive manner, in particular to inform people to delay applications or wait for later deadline when their application will be more competitive
• Ability to work with colleagues from a wide range of professional and research backgrounds and roles, and to contribute to the wider team
• Ability to manage own workload and prioritise a complex set of responsibilities

Qualifications

• PhD in health and care research or a related discipline e.g. health services research, economics, psychology, human nutrition, sociology, health technology assessment, statistics, information specialist, evidence synthesis, realist methods, data science, patient and public involvement and engagement, equality, diversity and inclusion
• Training and/or experience in quantitative and/or qualitative research methods and/or patient and public involvement and engagement/equality diversity and inclusion/research inclusion methods

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. 

Requisition ID: 28207