Research Assistant/Associate-Mental Health Literacy and Psychological Wellbeing of Coaches

Salary:  Research Assistant: £32,546 to £34,132 per annum (pro rata)

             Research Associate: £35,116 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:   21 May 2025

The Role

This is an exciting opportunity to join a supportive, sport and exercise psychology research team and contribute to a 6-month research project funded by North Futures Hub (EPSRC). The research project aims to a) understand the current scope of mental health support training for junior athlete coaches, including current provision and barriers to effective support of their athletes, and; b) identify the strengths and weaknesses of current digital tools that coaches use to support their athletes. The research questions are as follows: 

To achieve these aims, the project will employ a mixed methods approach. This will include a) questionnaires which will provide insight into current mental health literacy and training of youth sport coaches, and; b) semi-structured interviews exploring youth sport coaches' perceptions of mental health training, perceived barriers to optimal mental health education, and awareness of currently available mental health tools.  

The successful candidate will lead the day-to-day running of this project, with support from expert members of the research team. Key responsibilities will include: collecting questionnaire data; organising and leading semi-structured interviews; securing ethical approval, analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, and dissemination (e.g., writing for publication, conference presentations, and/or applied summary reports).

This post is fixed term for 6 months. The post is 60%FTE, equating to three full days per week. The working days might be flexible, depending on the successful candidate.

For informal enquiries contact:  Dr Adam Coussens, adam.coussens@newcastle.ac.uk

The post will be affiliated with the Population Health Science Institute within the Faculty of Medical Sciences. Find out more about our Research Institutes here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/institutes/

Find out more about the Faculty of Medical Sciences here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/ 

Find out more about our Research Institutes here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/research/institutes/

Please note that if you are successful to this role, you will require a DBS before you can commence in the role

Key Accountabilities
•    Although working under the general guidance of an academic or Principal Investigator, and co-investigators, the postholder will contribute ideas, and be responsible for the ‘day to day’ running of the project
•    Contribute ideas, including enhancements to the methodological aspects of the project, thus providing 'added value' 
•    Identifying suitable measures to include in a questionnaire for youth coaches, lead data collection, and subsequent data analysis
•    Lead the recruitment, delivery, and qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with youth coaches and other key stakeholders
•    Take responsibility for the organisation and conduct of Personal and Public Involvement (PPI)  activities for the project
•    Prepare and submit the ethics protocol for the project
•    Contribute to the dissemination of research findings with community partners
•    Begin to write, with appropriate support, proposals for individual research funding or, where funders do not permit this, contribute to the writing of collective bids
•    Assess research findings for the need/scope for further investigations
•    Lead the writing up of their research for publication and dissemination, either through seminar and conference presentations or through publications
•    Present research findings, either at conferences or through publications in reputable outlets appropriate to the discipline
•    May be involved in the supervision, with guidance, of final year undergraduate research projects and in providing support to postgraduate research students or Research Assistants 
•    Will need to work with the support staff and, on occasions, with undergraduate and postgraduate students, and interact intellectually with other academic members of the Institute
•    May contribute to events celebrating the public engagement of science/social sciences/humanities
•    Develop an awareness of University structures, policies and procedures and relevant issues in the higher education, research, social and political environment

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

•    Ability to work well as part of a team and rapidly acquire new skills
•    Detailed subject knowledge (PI to describe subject knowledge required) in the area of research 
•    Likelihood of advanced skills directly related to the research projects 
•    High level of analytical and problem-solving capability 
•    Ability to communicate complex information with clarity and to encourage the commitment of others 
•    Experience of research with clear transferable skills and some experience or awareness of the research environment 
•    Presentations at conferences and/or high-quality publications 
•    Experience of liaising with sport partners for the purpose of recruiting participants.
•    Experience of conducting quantitative and qualitative research from project conception to completion
•    Experience of submitting ethical approval for research
•    Ability to use SPSS to analyse data

Desirable
•    Experience of working with coaches and/or youth sport
•    Knowledge of mental health in sport psychology
•    Experience of adopting a mixed-methods approach to research
•    Understanding of mental health and psychological wellbeing literature

Attributes and Behaviour

•    Ability to work independently, taking initiative and being pro-active, as well as working flexibly and co-operatively with others
•    Excellent attention to detail
•    Excellent organisational, planning, and time management skills
•    Ability and willingness to travel locally within the North East (e.g., for data collection or PPI work)
•    Excellent written and spoken communication skills, which are required for working sensitively and effectively with coaches

Qualifications

•    Good honours degree (or equivalent) with some subject knowledge in the relevant area (e.g. Sport and Exercise Psychology; Psychology)(Research Assistant)
•    A PhD in the research area (e.g. Sport and Exercise Psychology or Psychology) (Research Associate)

Desirable

•    Research Assistant: Master’s degree in a relevant discipline
•    Research Assistant: Having recently submitted, or being close to completing (within the next 3 – 6 months), a PhD in a closely related research area 
•    Research Associate: Previous postdoctoral research experience

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: 28050