Research Assistant (Learning Disability Nursing)

Job description

University research at its best is about creating the kind of high-quality knowledge that benefits the social, cultural and economic life of the society we serve.

At Edinburgh Napier University’s School of Health and Social Care, our research staff’s expertise is well established within public health, education, leadership in compassionate care and enduring conditions, and is growing within areas such as mental health, early years and maternal care.

Currently, we are undertaking a project in support of our work with the Royal College of Nursing Foundation and have an opportunity for a Research Assistant to join us on a part-time basis for 6 months and undertake research duties, conduct interviews and focus groups and assist with data analysis.

The Role:

As Research Assistant on this project, you will have the opportunity to use your skills to prepare, set up and conduct interviews and focus groups for individuals with learning disabilities, their families and carers, to understand the challenges they face with navigating health and social care environments. You will also have the opportunity to conduct focus groups with service providers and clinical educators to understand the needs of staff in providing high quality educational experiences to meet the needs of this population.

Your excellent research skills and proactive mindset will serve you well in this regard, as you collect valuable data that ultimately aims to address health inequality and improve health related quality of life outcomes for people with lived experience of a learning disability in Scotland.

We expect that you will have had experience of working with individuals with learning disabilities and as such, have a demonstrable interest in equity and social justice to compliment your involvement in this project.

With this, you will be in a good position to use your highly developed communication style to gather data in a sympathetic manner and work closely with potentially vulnerable people, collecting valuable information for the study.

Furthermore, your expertise in one or more relevant research methodologies, such as surveys, corporate research, oral histories, participatory action research, or mixed methods will allow you to effectively consolidate data from a number of sources, which you will then have the opportunity to analyse and interpret with a view to generating original ideas for positive interventions based on outcomes.

What we will need from you:

• Masters degree in relevant discipline
• Demonstrable experience of carrying out research using evidence-informed approaches
• Expertise in one or more relevant research methodologies
• Experience of working with people with learning disabilities
• Demonstrable interest in equity, social justice and/or trauma-informed practice.
• Up to date PVG Certificate (application will be made upon appointment)

Benefits we offer:

Annual leave based on 46 days p/a (includes bank holidays and pro-rated for part time), generous pension scheme (17.6 - 26%), flexible working and professional development opportunities. Further information can be viewed here.

Additional information:

Salary: £31,236 - £37,694 per annum (depending on experience)

Contract: Fixed-Term – 6 months

Hours: 14 hours/wk

Interviews: Week commencing 12th January 2026

The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role on the Skilled Worker visa route. International applicants will only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

The University holds Disability Confident, Carer Positive and Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champion status. More details can be found here. We are a flexible Employer.

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