Quantitative Research Associate in Society and Mental Health
- Recruiter
- KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
- Location
- London (Greater) (GB)
- Salary
- £40,386 - £42,592 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance
- Posted
- 21 Nov 2022
- End of advertisement period
- 18 Dec 2022
- Ref
- 058325
- Job Type
- Research Related, Research Associate
- Contract Type
- Fixed Term
- Hours
- Full Time
Job description
An exciting opportunity has arisen to appoint a skilled and experienced Quantitative Research Associate to join our research team for maternity cover at the ESRC-funded Centre for Society and Mental Health (CSMH, www.kcl.ac.uk/csmh). The post-holder will be responsible for managing, maintaining and supporting analyses of several complex datasets from ongoing studies within the ‘Young People and Social Change’ Programme of the CSMH, although most of the work will be predominantly focused towards data management on the REACH study (Resilience, Ethnicity and AdolesCent mental Health; www.thereachstudy.com ).
REACH is investigating the developmental origins of mental health among young people from diverse backgrounds. REACH started in 2015 and is ongoing. Over 4000 young people from South London secondary school students have taken part, providing detailed information, each year, on their mental health and putative risk and protective factors for mental health problems. Around 800 participants have also provided in-depth information about their mental health and life experiences via face-to-face interviews and tasks. The latest phase of REACH (waves 4-6) investigated the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on young people from disadvantaged and marginalised groups.
Working closely with the REACH project leads, you will be responsible for REACH data management, including: managing research databases, in Stata, Excel, and Access; checking, cleaning, and coding data; conducting basic analyses and preparing data reports for the project leads, and for young people, policy makers, and community stakeholders; supporting the linkage of REACH data to routine/administrative data; guiding others in the effective preparation and analysis of REACH data; developing and maintaining participant contact databases for the next phase of the study; and contributing to analyses and scientific papers.
The post provides an excellent opportunity to contribute to high impact quantitative research. You will also contribute to other activities (e.g., research meetings, reports, presentations, etc), as directed, and will be encouraged to make use of the wide range of training and career development resources available at King’s and within the CSMH and the department. You will have the opportunity to join the CSMH Early Career Researcher Network, which offers access to bespoke training opportunities
This post will be offered on an a fixed-term contract for 12 months
This is a full-time post - 100% full time equivalent
Key responsibilities
The role will be heavily focussed towards the REACH study, but will likely involve opportunities to contribute to other ongoing programmes of research within the Centre for Society and Mental Health:
• Managing study databases (inc. Microsoft Access, Excel, and Stata datasets)
• Data processing, including data entry, data checking, data validation and resolving data errors, preparing data for analyses (e.g., creating variables, merging datasets)
• Writing and applying syntax to score and code questionnaire and interview data
• Creating and maintaining accurate meta data (e.g., data dictionaries)
• Designing, implementing, and overseeing data management protocols and procedures
• Conducting basic statistical analyses
• Preparing data reports for the project leads of REACH, and for young people, schools, policy makers, and community stakeholders
• Managing and supporting data access requests from external researchers
• Updating participant contact details
• Supporting the linkage of REACH data to routine data sources, such as the UK National Pupil Database
• Attending and contributing to team meetings and research meetings
• Promoting strong working relationships with partners of the relevant programmes of research
• Undertaking training relevant to the role, including data protection, and safeguarding, and if required in advanced STATA data management techniques and programming, multiple imputation and inverse probability weighting
• Working independently to complete tasks within agreed timeframes
• Any other tasks relevant to the successful completion of this phase of REACH and the other projects within the Centre.
The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.
Skills, knowledge, and experience
Essential criteria
- PhD in a relevant subject, or equivalent experience
- Excellent working knowledge of Stata, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Access
- Experience of designing and implementing effective data management protocols, processes, and systems
- Experience of accurately and efficiently entering and cleaning research data
- Experience of managing large, longitudinal and/or complex datasets
- Experience of analysing large, complex datasets
- Ability to be meticulous and focussed when completing monotonous tasks (e.g., data entry)
- Excellent attention to detail
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Excellent organisation and time management skills
- Excellent understanding of data protection regulations and Information Governance procedures
- Demonstrable understanding of the importance of data integrity in longitudinal/epidemiological research
Desirable criteria
- Good knowledge of youth mental health and social risks measures for epidemiological studies (e.g., SDQ, DAWBA, CTQ, MSPSS, PBI, etc.)
- Good knowledge of statistical methods for epidemiological research
- Experience of managing or mentoring junior researchers
- Experience of conducting mental health research
- Experience of preparing written reports
Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.
Further information
For informal inquiries about the role
Dr Charlotte Gayer-Anderson, charlotte.gayer-anderson@kcl.ac.uk; Gemma Knowles, gemma.knowles@kcl.ac.uk; Prof Craig Morgan, craig.morgan@kcl.ac.uk