Principal Research Fellow, National Institute for Health and Care Research Full Time NEW

ARC Wessex is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), to support applied health and care research that responds to, and meets, the needs of local populations and local health and care systems. Knowledge Mobilisation underpins its five themes: Data & Technology, Healthy Communities & Prevention, Integrated Health & Social Care, Living well with Long-Term Conditions, and Mental Health.

Knowledge Mobilisation (KM) supports teams to create outputs that are accessible, practical, and tailored to local and national needs. It includes engaging with people working in health and social care and academics to understand their needs, co-production, evidence synthesis, sharing findings in meaningful ways, implementing findings into practice, and influencing decision and policy-makers. The team are recruiting Principal KM Fellows to provide senior support in the initial stages of programme set up and structure, to ensure the long-term success of the KM programme throughout the ARC Wessex lifecycle.

Fellowships will provide the opportunity for individuals interested in KM to ensure that the priorities of the health and social care system drive applied research and embed KM into all ARC Wessex research from inception. They will also offer learning and development opportunities to build individual capacity and capability in Knowledge Mobilisation. We welcome applicants from health and social care and/or applied health research backgrounds. KM is about getting the “right information” to the “right people” in the “right format” at the “right time”, consisting of activities and outputs that build awareness, disseminate findings and enable effective use of research.

Post holders will work across the ARC Wessex thematic programmes to support and enable knowledge mobilisation throughout, supporting them to meet the strategic objectives of ARC Wessex, working alongside the Collaboration Hub: Implementation & Scaling, Knowledge Mobilisation, Methods & Analytics, Research Capacity Development, and Research Inclusion & Engagement.

This opportunity is aimed at individuals with the potential to become leaders in KM, who have an interest in the Knowledge Mobilisation of research and the use of best evidence and Knowledge Mobilisation across health and social care sectors.

The successful candidate will have: a relevant PhD qualification (or equivalent experience delivering service innovation and evaluation), a publication track record commensurate with stage of career, well developed communication and relationship building skills, experience and examples in successful knowledge mobilisation.

We are looking to appoint ambitious individuals with the confidence and experience to engage with collaborators and stakeholders at all levels of seniority, across different geographies and sectors of the health and care system; and a willingness to work with research partners and others across the NIHR ARC network and our local health and care systems. You will be self-motivated, have excellent communication and writing skills, demonstrate past ability to meet project milestones within agreed timelines and produce work of high quality. Extensive experience of working with mental health, community services, and /or and Integrated Care Board (ICB) is essential, alongside being able to work creatively and manage uncertainty.

Postholders will be based at NIHR ARC Wessex Office, Chilworth, and employed by University of Southampton who offer a competitive salary, pension scheme and other benefits. Subject to agreement, posts could be offered on a secondment basis.

For informal discussions, contact ARCWessex@soton.ac.uk.