Research Associate, Algorithmic Kitchen Project (Fixed Term)

Applications are invited for a Research Associate to join the Wellcome-funded project Algorithmic Kitchen: Recipes for Disability-Led Health Technology Design, led by Dr Louise Hickman at the University of Cambridge. The person appointed will support the project's investigation into disability-led design approaches to health technology, grounded in care, interdependence, and lived experience. Start date is from 1 November 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The successful candidate will pursue high-quality research (i.e., data collection and analysis) as part of the Algorithmic Kitchen project. The project explores how disabled people, caregivers, designers, and health workers can collaboratively reimagine health technologies. Organised around two strands Friction Fiction and Algorithmic Kitchen it uses storytelling, participatory co-design, and conceptual prototyping to develop "recipes" for inclusive design and influence health tech policy and practice.

Ideal applicants will demonstrate expertise in at least one of the areas of direct relevance to the project, including critical disability studies, critical design research, feminist or critical technology studies, or participatory and ethnographic research methods.

Candidates must have been awarded a PhD in a relevant field, including but not limited to Science and Technology Studies, Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Critical Disability Studies, or Sociology. Demonstration of the ability to plan, execute and deliver large research projects is highly desirable.

Algorithmic Kitchen is based at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Cambridge, and is funded by the Wellcome Trust. The project supports disability justice in health technology development and centres community expertise in design and research.

The funds for this post are available for 3 years in the first instance. Working arrangements in terms of in-office or from home can be discussed.

The closing date for applications is midnight (BST) on Sunday 5 October 2025. Interviews are planned for the week starting 13 October 2025, subject to change.

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact the Schools HR Team on sahhr@admin.cam.ac.uk.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click the 'Apply' button above. 

Please quote reference VM47058 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.

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