Research Associate; ADHD Project

Manchester Metropolitan University is seeking an ambitious and talented Research Associate to join the Business School and contribute to an exciting programme of health services research.

This post is funded through National Institute of Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) Research Capability Funding and will support the project ‘Evaluating Innovative Models for the Screening and Diagnosis of Adult ADHD in Primary Care'. Working closely with the project lead, Professor Damian Hodgson), the successful candidate will conduct mixed-methods health services research into innovative, community-based models for adult ADHD diagnosis and treatment.

The Research Associate will play a key role in advancing the University’s research profile through rigorous, policy-relevant health services research. You will work collaboratively with researchers and practitioners at Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Sheffield and NHS organisations, while also taking responsibility for progressing discrete research tasks and contributing to the wider research culture of the department.

• Conducting a scoping review of national and international academic and grey literature on community-based ADHD diagnosis and treatment models, including protocol development, searching, screening, data extraction and synthesis.
• Conducting secondary quantitative analysis of activity, outcome and cost data from the Sheffield adult ADHD primary care pilot, together with documentary analysis of pilot reports, commissioning and policy documents.
• Conducting semi-structured qualitative interviews with pilot leads and staff, and national and regional ADHD/autism service leads across primary, secondary, community and third-sector settings.
• Supporting patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE), including organising and documenting PPIE panel meetings, to ensure lived experience informs the programme theory, interview topic guides and project outputs.
• Contributing under direction to the final project report and the development of a funding proposal to be submitted to the NIHR.
• Presenting research findings at conferences, seminars and research forums.
• Managing discrete sub-project tasks as directed by the project lead, using initiative and judgement to resolve problems affecting objectives and deadlines.
• Building and maintaining productive relationships with internal and external partners, including NHS organisations, clinicians, commissioners and policymakers.
• Contributing to the wider activities of the Business School and the Department of People and Performance.

We are looking for a highly motivated researcher with a social science and/or health services research background, and a strong commitment to producing policy-relevant, high-quality research in partnership with the NHS.

• The ability to synthesise complex data from different sources and communicate findings orally and via written reports and articles for a range of diverse audiences.
• The ability to use initiative, creativity and judgement to develop appropriate approaches in order to further research.
• The ability to conduct semi-structured interviews with senior stakeholders, and to engage credibly and effectively with NHS policymakers, commissioners, clinical staff and people with lived experience.
• Proficiency in qualitative data analysis and relevant software (e.g. NVivo), and in quantitative/statistical analysis using tools (e.g. R, SPSS or Stata).
• Research experience in the field of health services research, including making a demonstrable contribution to projects, preparing written reports of results, and conducting both qualitative and quantitative research and analysis.
• Understanding of NHS primary care organisation, commissioning and pathways, and familiarity with routinely collected NHS primary care and service data.
• Understanding of theory-based evaluation approaches (e.g. programme theory, logic models) and of scoping or systematic review methods.

• Up-to-date knowledge of health services research (including current practice).
• Training in Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and/or formal…