Job summary
- Main area
- Research
- Grade
- Band 6
- Contract
- 12 months (Fixed term 12 months from start date of appointment)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday)
- Job ref
- 350-TWS8358814-B
- Employer
- Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Hollins Park Hospital,
- Town
- Warrington
- Salary
- £39,959 - £48,117 Per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 10/11/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Research Associate, Medtech Innovation
Band 6
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us. We encourage all applicants to share their equality information with us.
Using AI to support your application
AI can be a useful tool to support the preparation of your application. However, all information submitted must be accurate, truthful and reflect your own skills, experience and achievements. Applications should include personal examples demonstrating how you meet the person specification. Applications that appear mostly or fully generated by AI, without clear personal examples linked to the person specification, may be rejected. For tips and guidance, please refer to our applicant guidance.
Identity verification
Candidates attending interview will be required to provide original photographic identification where available. Where suitable photographic identification is not available, a photograph will be taken at interview for identity verification purposes. Successful candidates will also be required to complete digital identity and right to work checks via TrustID, including facial recognition and image matching technology, to verify their identity throughout the recruitment and onboarding process. Identity verification will also be undertaken on the first day of employment in line with NHS employment check requirements.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Job overview
This role sits within Research and Innovation and is critical to the delivery of robust, ethical and impactful research. It will support a growing programme of research into the medical technologies and digital innovations.
The postholder will have responsibility for the successful delivery of specific projects and activities. They will contribute to mixed-methods evaluations, longitudinal studies, and feasibility research, with a focus on participant recruitment, fieldwork, data analysis, and stakeholder engagement. They will work in close partnership with Industry, and academic collaborators and ensure that the research informs clinical applications of medical technologies and digital innovations for patient benefit and service delivery.
Main duties of the job
The postholder will successfully monitor the delivery of project management tools, techniques and experience. They will ensure programmes/ projects/ activities adapt to changing requirements and that plans are adjusted accordingly so that the deliverables are on time and to specified quality. They will initiate, support and manage the on-going and new development of programmes/ projects/ activities supported by a robust governance structure in order to enhance quality and compliance across the NHS, industry and academic collaborators.
Duties and responsibilities:
· In collaboration with the Research Team and M-RIC oversee implementation and delivery of the rolling programme of research in medical technology and digital innovation activities.
· To support Senior Research Lead with grant applications, evaluation tenders and business planning.
· To apply ethical, and inclusive approaches to research and evaluation across mental health and community settings.
· To support all aspects of research delivery, including study setup, ethics and governance compliance, and ongoing project coordination and management.
· To develop, pilot, and administer quantitative and mixed-methods tools such as statistical analysis, interview schedules, surveys, and observation protocols.
· To plan, initiate and project manage the delivery of programmes/projects to time, budget and quality requirements via the application of agreed PMO tools, techniques, and expertise.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached job description and person specification for further details of this role or contact the recruiting manager for more information.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Postgraduate degree (e.g. psychology, Public Health, Neuroscience, Data Science)
Desirable criteria
- Research methods training or accreditation in applied clinical research
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience in applied research or evaluation roles
- Expertise within research, underpinned by theory and practical experience
- Experience using data analysis software (e.g. STATA, R, NVivio)
- Experience supporting service-user or lived experience involvement in research
- Experience conducting and reporting on qualitative and/or quantitative research
- Demonstratable experience in applied research or evaluation
Desirable criteria
- Experience of research in forensic or mental health settings
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Knowledge of research in practice, acquired through academic training, plus further management knowledge.
- Knowledge of research ethics, governance processes, and information security in healthcare settings
- Knowledge of research ethics and governance frameworks (e.g. HRA)
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge of NHD ethics application process
- Knowledge of the criminal justice system, the Mental health system and the Mental Health Act
- Awareness or knowledge of Government strategy as it relates to personality disordered offenders
Skills
Essential criteria
- Excellent interpersonal communication skills, able to engage with all levels of hierarchy, both internal to the Trust and across external stakeholder organisations
- Ability to negotiate, persuade and manage conflict.
- Competence in interviewing people with mental health/personality related difficulties
- Good verbal and written communication skills including report writing, presentations and system specifications
- Ability to work on own or in a group with minimal direct supervision.
- A flexible and methodical approach to work to meet the needs of the role, adapts to ensure achievement of objectives within changing environment
- Excellent IT skills, able to use a wide range of software packages including TATA, R, Microsoft Project, PowerPoint, Excel and produce spreadsheets/ formulas with a good working knowledge of information systems and their role in supporting good project management
- Excellent organisation skills and team leader skills with ability to engage and motivate others
- Ability to work within a multi-professional team and build rapport with all staff.
- Self-motivated and able to work autonomously.
- Ability to project plan and report on performance.
- Ability to keep accurate and complete records consistent with best practice policies and procedures
- Ability to extract and analyse complex data from multiple sources with strong analytical and investigative skills
- Occasional travel across sites for fieldwork, stakeholder engagement or in person data collection. Need to be flexible and willing to travel
Values
Essential criteria
- Continuous improvement – committed to making improvements to our services for the benefit of all.
- Accountability – taking ownership to anticipate, develop and deliver high quality care.
- Respect – how we treat others in an inclusive and supportive way
- Enthusiasm – demonstrate our passion and pride for what we do and how we do it.
- Support – actively supporting others with compassion and courage.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Dr. Jade Thai
- Job title
- Senior Research Lead
- Email address
- [email protected]
List jobs with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust in Allied Health Professions or all sectors