Post Doctoral Research Fellow (The Abundance Project)

The opportunity

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Abundance project as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow.  The Abundance Project: Enhancing Cultural and Green Inclusion in Social Prescribing in Southwest London to Address Ethnic Inequalities in Mental Health is an AHRC funded project led by University of the Arts London and co-led by Kingston University.

Black, ethnic minority and refugee communities who live in poorer Southwest London boroughs and other cities across the UK are at the greatest risk of poor mental health, yet are least likely to engage with cultural and green community assets or social prescribing. The Abundance project is a 3-year research project that aims to develop ways for these communities to engage with assets such as galleries, museums, natural spaces and community groups and benefit from them. The project aims to empower Black, minority ethnic and refugee communities by taking a community-led approach to engaging assets within health systems and creating opportunities to reduce mental health inequalities.

In your role as Post-Doctoral Research Fellow you will carry out research activities and support research carried out by the Principal Investigator, academic and community co-investigators. Research activities include data collection and analysis of existing and new data, desk-based research, policy documentation analysis, interviews, focus groups, surveys, workshops, hackathons and other methods of participatory research. You will co-author reports and other outputs and will have opportunities to present research findings and policy briefings. You will carry out communications activities related to the project aimed at project participants and external stakeholders including website, social media content and liaise with other content and service providers. 

About you

You will be committed to maintaining high standards in project delivery and to treating all stakeholders with empathy and respect. You will be crucial to the successful delivery of the project, resulting to a community-led model for social prescribing of cultural and green assets that can address health inequalities, particularly in the area of mental health of underserved communities.

You will have a sound knowledge and experience working with qualitative, quantitative and participatory research methods, including the delivery of co-design workshops and hackathons. You will need excellent organisational skills to coordinate and contribute to the delivery of research activities, data analysis and reporting; as well as project management skills to help plan and deliver, and awareness of and interest in the challenges and opportunities of working collaboratively using participatory research methodologies with a diverse range of community co-investigators. Skills and interests in public and internal communications, content creation, management and design are essential, as you will need to support the development and production of co-designed resources or interventions, such as videos, tools, guidance or training materials.
You will be committed to maintaining high standards in project delivery and to treating all stakeholders with empathy and respect. You will be crucial to the successful delivery of the project, resulting to a community-led model for social prescribing of cultural and green assets that can address health inequalities, particularly in the area of mental health of underserved communities.

You will have a sound knowledge and experience working with qualitative, quantitative and participatory research methods, including the delivery of co-design workshops and hackathons. You will need excellent organisational skills to coordinate and contribute to the delivery of research activities, data analysis and reporting; as well as project management skills to help plan and deliver, and awareness of and interest in the challenges and opportunities of working collaboratively using participatory research methodologies with a diverse range of community co-investigators. Skills and interests in public and internal communications, content creation, management and design are essential, as you will need to support the development and production of co-designed resources or interventions, such as videos, tools, guidance or training materials.

What we offer

To recognise the hard work of our staff and their contributions, we provide a wide range of benefits – please check our careers site/Canvas for further information as conditions and exclusions apply:

▪ at least 39 days of annual leave in addition to bank holidays.

▪ equal parental leave offering up to 6 months full pay for maternity and paternity.

▪ 2 days of paid volunteering leave for a UK registered charity.

▪ generous defined benefit pension schemes (LGPS/TPS}.

▪ discounts including gyms, nursery and private healthcare insurance.

▪ learning and development opportunities including free Short Courses.

▪ season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme, free counselling and more!

We are UAL

University of the Arts London (UAL) offers an extensive range of courses in art, design, fashion, communication and performing arts. We are a collegiate University spread across London with six Colleges, four Institutes and five Research Centres. UAL also has two subsidiary companies, delivering specialist activities – UAL Short Courses Ltd, and UAL Arts Temps Ltd.

We’re made up of all types of people, coming together in London, the world’s creative capital. We are designers, artists, performers, thinkers, researchers and makers. Our students, staff and graduates form a global network of creatives, entrepreneurs and leaders. Together, our ideas change the world. Because the world needs creativity.

We are ranked highly across the board. We are ranked first for specialist art and design, second in the world for Art and Design in the 2023 QS World University Rankings (for the fifth year in a row), ranked fifth in sustainability and two of our colleges were rated in the top three fashion schools in the world. 

Our culture

We have become one of the world’s most international Universities, welcoming over 22,000 students and 6,000 staff from 130 countries. And, as a global university, staff and students learn from different cultures and perspectives, which leads to new conversations and innovative work. At our very core, everything we do seeks to challenge the status quo by driving social purpose and standing up for what matters.

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds including those who may feel underrepresented in the workforce due to their socioeconomic circumstances such as those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (B.A.M.E.) backgrounds. We aim to be a university where everyone can be themselves and are supported to reach their full potential.

With our commitment to inclusion and diversity, we are proud to be a Race Equality Charter (REC) member to help us reduce barriers that negatively impacts B.A.M.E. staff, a Stonewall Diversity Champion to ensure all LGBTQ+ people are valued at work, a Disability Confident Scheme Committed employer and member of the Business Disability Forum which help us to improve the lives of disabled people in the workplace.