Complex Change Research Fellow (709756)

FTE: 1.0 (35 hours/week)

Term: Fixed (12 months)

Are you passionate about transformational change to improve the lives of children and families through early help and prevention? We’re looking for an experienced, creative researcher with a track record of supporting research-informed programmes of complex change to join CELCIS as our new Complex Change Research Fellow. As a leading improvement and innovation centre in Scotland, at CELCIS we work to improve the lives of children and young people in need of care and protection, and their families and carers. We do this by supporting people and organisations responsible for their care to make changes in services and in the practices and skills they use, all based on the needs, experiences and rights of children and young people.

This exciting, innovative new role brings together expertise in high-quality research and evaluation with complex change activities related to programmes that are aligned with the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund in Scotland. The Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) is a £500 million Scottish Government investment over the period of the current Scottish Parliamentary session (2022 to 2026) to support the whole system transformational change required to reduce the need for crisis intervention with children and their families and shift investment and support towards prevention and early intervention. This role will focus on supporting local and national partners to deliver on this ambition. Through the use of applied research and facilitation skills, your role will be pivotal in leading learning for practitioners and decision-makers to support change in complex systems, and informing decision making, adaptation and strategic planning.

The role will contribute to meeting the aspirations of The Promise of the Independent Care Review, incorporation of the UNCRC into Scots law, and the Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) approach.

Our Complex Change Research Fellow will need to take a flexible and responsive approach within a fast-paced environment where needs can change and develop rapidly, and have a strong understanding of what it takes to show progress in leading and managing complex change within public services. Do you have a track record of working with partners across the public and voluntary sector? Have you worked to embed data and evidence-based approaches and practices to help practitioners and services adapt and work with complex change? Are you able to communicate complex ideas to a variety of audiences and to write and review a range of research and evaluation outputs using different formats and channels to make an impact? If so, this could be the role for you.

This role would suit candidates who have a PhD in a relevant social science discipline or equivalent research experience in a professional context and who are able to lead programmes. Experience of working as a principal or co-investigator, applying for and manage funding grants, participating in and developing networks to foster research collaborations is essential to this role and candidates should be used to informing the development of research objectives.

Change is happening. Be part of it. Together we can make things better for children, young people and their families and carers.

Initial interviews have been scheduled for 16/06/2025.

For formal enquiries, please contact Heather Ottaway, Head of Evidence and Innovation at heather.ottaway@strath.ac.uk

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