Research Associate (Fixed Term) at University of Cambridge

This is an exciting opportunity to join a rapidly growing research programme concerning children and young people’s mental health; the ChARM group. The post-holder will work with Tamsin Ford to support the Green Paper Evaluation project and other CHARM projects as required.

The work is funded by the Health and Social Care Delivery Research theme of the NIHR and will be collaborating with researchers at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of Birmingham.

In 2017, the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper (Department of Health and Department for Education, 2017) set out proposals for improving the services and support available to children and young people (CYP) with mental health problems, with a particular focus on enhancing provision for those with low-moderate needs. The proposals and implementation Programme launched in 2018 comprise three key pillars: incentivising education settings to identify a senior mental health lead; Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to provide extra capacity for early intervention and testing a four-week waiting time for access to specialist NHS CYP mental health services. A new professional role has been created for MHSTs: education mental health practitioner (EMHP). This study will explore Programme sustainability; equity and access; and draw out recommendations for future development.

Candidates should have A PhD in Health Services Research, Public Health, Psychology, Neuroscience, Medical Sciences or equivalent or equivalent research degree or be very close to completion/award of same prior to their appointment to the post.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available until 31 May 2026 in the first instance.

Once an offer of employment has been accepted, the successful candidate will be required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service check (enhanced with children and adults’ barred lists), a basic disclosure (criminal records check) check and a health assessment.

Informal enquiries may be directed to Dr Tamsin Ford, tjf52@medschl.cam.ac.uk

Applicants must have (or be close to obtaining) a PhD. 

Appointment at Research Associate level is dependent on having a PhD. Those who have submitted but not yet received their PhD will initially be appointed as a Research Assistant (Grade 5, Point 38 £31,411) moving to Research Associate (Grade 7) upon confirmation of your PhD award.

Please ensure that you upload a covering letter and CV in the Upload section of the online application. The covering letter should outline how you match the criteria for the post and why you are applying for this role. If you upload any additional documents which have not been requested, we will not be able to consider these as part of your application.

Please include details of your referees, including email address and phone number, one of which must be your most recent line manager.

Please quote reference RN37877 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.