Research Associate

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Centre for Social Care and Artificial intelligence Learning (SCALE) and School of Computer Science and Informatics. SCALE is funded by Health and Care Research Wales and launched in April 2025 with aims to harness the potential of Artificial Intelligence to address challenges in social care for children and adults. The Centre is a truly interdisciplinary collaboration between the School of Computer Science & Informatics (COMSC), the Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE) and the Centre for Adult Social Care (CARE) (both based in the School of Social Sciences).

The post holder will conduct research within the Social Worker Evidence Engagement Tool (SWEET) Study, an exciting cross-disciplinary research project to explore the potential for harnessing Large Language Model technology to support practice in children’s social care, through collaboration with researchers in Artificial Intelligence, contributing to the overall research performance of the Centre, School and University, carrying out research leading to high-quality outputs, and supporting the development of applications for external funding. To provide knowledge of social care and social scientific methods and support for applying these into AI solutions. To pursue excellence in research and to inspire others to do the same.

The successful candidate will be dedicated to finding creative solutions and have a genuine curiosity and enthusiasm to work with a multi-disciplinary research team in computer science, as part of the SCALE centre.

This post is full-time at 1.0 FTE (35 hours per week) fixed term from 1 February 2026 until 31 January 2028.

Internal candidates are welcome to apply for this role as a secondment with their current line managers approval.

Salary: £41,064 per annum (Grade 6), with 4 annual increments up to £46,049 at the top of the scale.

The post holder will be responsible to Dr Fernando Alva Manchego.

For informal enquiries contact Fernando Alva Manchego (alvamanchegof@cardiff.ac.uk, Lecturer in NLP at COMSC) or Laura Thomas (thomasl136@cardiff.ac.uk, SCALE Centre Manager). Informal enquiries in relation to the recruitment / application process can be sent to Simon Hogg, HR Administrator - COMSC-HR@Cardiff.ac.uk.

Cardiff University has a successful School of Computer Science & Informatics with an international reputation for its teaching and research activities. We have seen a transformation of our research environment with the School almost doubling in size. We have moved into a new £39 million purpose-built facility shared with the School of Mathematics called Abacws, designed to facilitate interaction between disciplines and give our research groups new freedom to develop research culture and build identity. SCALE staff will work within the Social Science Research Park (SPARK) and Abacws. We are a research-led School with a longstanding, international reputation for applied research activities, and collaborate with more than 100 UK and international academic and industrial partners. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) 96% of our submitted research was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. The School delivers a stimulating portfolio of BSC and MSc degrees and offers research degrees leading to MPhil and PhD qualifications. For more information on the School please visit: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/computer-science.

Closing date: Friday, 17 April 2026

Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.

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