Research Fellow: Long-term effectiveness of parenting interventions for youth crime and violence

Contract Type: Fixed Term - 30 October 2026

This is a full-time post-doctoral research fellow post working on a project funded by the Youth Endowment Fund investigating the long-term effectiveness of parenting interventions delivered in childhood on later youth violence and offending.

The project involves secondary data analysis of two Randomised Controlled Trials of the Incredible Years parenting programme delivered to children aged 3-7 years of age with very high levels of antisocial behaviour and then followed up in adolescence. The postholder will be responsible for conducting analyses on these datasets in order to test for long-term effects of this intervention, assess effects across different domains of offending and violence, investigate subgroup differences and identify mediators of treatment effect. 

Research assessments in these studies involved large, high quality, multi-informant and multi-method assessment batteries including diagnostic interviews, direct observation tasks, health economics data and a large battery of questionnaires. Because of the quality of the datasets, the elevated risk of children involved and the importance of the research questions, we anticipate submission of a number of articles to some of the highest impact journals in the field, which the postholder will need to contribute to. 

This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the understanding of what works to support some of the most vulnerable young people in the UK and their families, develop advanced analytical skills under the supervision of senior collaborators and contribute to important research publications. 

You will be based at University of Greenwich in the Centre for Vulnerable Children and Families, which is part of the Institute of Lifecourse Development. The Institute uses interdisciplinary expertise to promote the lifelong wellbeing of vulnerable and marginalised people in the community.

You will work under the supervision of Dr Sajid Humayun 
https://www.gre.ac.uk/people/rep/faculty-of-education-and-health/sajid-humayun,
who is an expert on youth antisocial behaviour and evidence-based interventions.
You will collaborate closely with Professor Tom O’Connor (University of Rochester) 
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/people/112359225-thomas-g-o-connor,
one of the world’s leading experts on developmental psychopathology, and
Professor Stephen Scott (King’s College London) 
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/stephen-scott,
the Principal Investigator of the original studies and an international expert on parenting interventions and child psychiatry.  

You will have (or be close to completing) a PhD in Psychology, Criminology, healthcare or a related discipline.  

The post has an anticipated start date of September 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The position is fixed term, ending October 2026.

For an informal discussion about the post please contact:

Dr Sajid Humayun (s.humayun@greenwich.ac.uk).

Should you have any queries please contact the People Directorate Team on: 

peopleoperationsadmin@gre.ac.uk 

The university is a brilliant place to work. We aim to become the top modern university in the UK by 2030 and our people are truly at the heart of what we want to achieve. We offer a great set of benefits including an excellent pension scheme, generous holiday entitlement, flexible working options including hybrid working and a genuine commitment to development.

We are looking for people who can help us achieve our Strategic Plan, through the values we expect for our whole university community, of being Inclusive, Collaborative and Impactful. 

Discover why the university of Greenwich is the perfect place to shape your future – watch our Vice-Chancellor & Chief Executive's inspiring message on why you should join us Your Future Starts Here.

To apply, please click the 'Apply' button, above.

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