Lecturer in Psychology

Weekly Working Hours: 37

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About the Role

Please note we may need to close this vacancy early (see below for full details and applicant support information).

We are seeking to appoint a highly motivated Lecturer in Psychology. The role is located in the School of Psychology & Counselling and is associated with the Centre for Protecting Women Online, funded by Research England. The successful candidate will work closely with Professors Lisa Lazard and Rose Capdevila and the Human Behaviour team within the Centre.

We are looking for a lecturer who would seek to play an active part in building the research culture in the Centre and who is committed to collaborative research. They will use their research knowledge, skills and grant bidding experience to conduct research activities, knowledge exchange and bidding. They will have an opportunity to collaborate with researchers in the centre to initiate, shape and develop funding applications which develop their own research. A successful candidate would also contribute to the School and Centre’s publications and knowledge exchange activities. Relevant training and professional development opportunities will be made available.

In the School of Psychology & Counselling, they will work in teams that produce and deliver innovative and exciting learning resources, focusing on the development and teaching of the British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited psychology qualifications. The Open University offers distance learning at scale. With modules taught using a combination of core textbooks, VLE materials and primarily online tutorials delivered by associate lecturers/tutors. If appointed, the successful candidate will have the opportunity to work as part of teams of fellow academics, editors and producers to create innovative teaching and learning materials using a variety of media. They will also join a team working on existing modules to offer support to students and associate lecturers. 

Project Description

The Centre for Protecting Women Online is a research unit dedicated to understanding and addressing challenges posed to women’s safety online through a novel, interdisciplinary and ambitious research agenda. This will be combined with cross-sectoral, collaborative outputs and interventions which inform law, policy, technology development and practice to reduce online harms suffered by women and girls; minimise anti-social behaviours online whilst promoting pro-social behaviours, and help build tech/software that helps ensure accountability, credibility, and facilitate justice. The work of the Centre is delivered through five interwoven Work Streams. Please visit our Centre website for further details - https://cpwo.open.ac.uk/ and LinkedIn page - https://www.linkedin.com/company/centre-for-protecting-women-online/.

Key Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to research and administration within the Centre for Protecting Women Online as well as the teaching and administration of the School, Faculty and University. Duties include, but are not limited to.

Research:

• Play an active part in building and supporting the research culture of the Centre for Protecting Women Online as well as the School of Psychology & Counselling.
• Initiate and build collaborations with external partners and researchers. 
• Initiate, lead on and contribute to innovative funding bids relevant to the Human Behaviour stream in collaboration with other researchers.
• Initiate and lead on research projects from start to completion.   
• Take a lead role in the dissemination of research carried out within the Human Behaviour stream of the Centre (including writing academic and non-academic publications; presentation of research findings at conferences and events; communicating research to non-academic and lay audiences via media).  
• Working with the Centre’s Director and Work Stream leads to meet the strategic objectives set out in the Centre’s plan. 
• Lead on design and delivery of knowledge exchange and impact activities.
• Contribute to current research-related activities and projects in the Centre.
• Contribute to the delivery of the University’s research and knowledge exchange strategy.
• Supervision of research students in areas aligned to the work of the centre.

Teaching:

• Contribute to teams producing, presenting and updating relevant modules and qualifications for the School of Psychology & Counselling. An interest or expertise in Forensic Psychology would be particularly welcome.
• Contribute to teaching in areas aligned to the work of the Centre to groups/individuals from diverse backgrounds.
• Play a leading role in the teaching of psychology across UG and PG curriculum.
• Support teaching and learning activity appropriate to online and distance education and qualifications for The Open University.
• Take an active role in the School and Faculty activities and groups developing innovative curricula and pedagogies.
• Contribute to the production and delivery of interdisciplinary curricula involving psychology within The Open University curriculum more broadly.

Academic Management:

• Contribute to academic management within the Centre, School, Faculty and University, as required.

About You

Essential Criteria:

• A PhD or equivalent in psychology or a cognate discipline.
• A developing profile of research excellence in an area of psychology, particularly forensic psychology around violence against women and girls, women’s online safety, and/or technology-facilitated violence against women and girls.
• Evidence of high-quality, REF-returnable research outputs relevant to the Human Behaviour stream, appropriate for career stage.
• Evidence of potential for securing external research funding.
• Commitment to the value of open, collaborative and engaged research interacting meaningfully with various stakeholders.
• A developing profile of teaching excellence at a range of levels in psychology.
• Evidence of understanding contemporary issues and trends in research methods and open research practices.
• Evidence of understanding the issues involved in supporting and delivering distance learning in Higher Education and commitment to online teaching and learning.
• Writing skills that demonstrate the ability to produce written material for students appropriate to their level of study.
• A willingness to work collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary team, in line with equal opportunities policies and practices.  
• Data management skills (e.g. research data) that are commensurate with this role.
• IT skills and proficiency in using a range of IT software appropriate to this role (e.g., NVivo, SPSS, Qualtrics or similar).
• The ability to plan and organise own work.
• The ability to adapt to changing situations in a timely manner within scope and direction set by the work stream lead.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of working with and producing distance-teaching materials. Note: This approach differs from delivering lectures/seminars online. 
• Experience of using and developing online and multimedia teaching materials.
• Experience of supervising student dissertations and projects.
• Fellowship or Senior Fellowship of Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) or PG CERT.

About the Unit

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)

The Faculty is the largest and most diverse at The Open University, with some 50,000 students studying our modules and consistently outstanding student satisfaction ratings. Rated Gold in our recent TEF submission and noted for the strength of our interdisciplinary approaches, our scholars of international standing teach and research a very wide range of topics and themes in specific subject areas, which has a direct and profound influence on our undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

The Faculty is currently organised into three Schools with a fourth in development:

• School of Psychology & Counselling
• School of Social Sciences & Global Studies
• School of Arts & Humanities
• School of Creative Industries (in development)

Students are supported by Student Support Teams, one for each School. These teams offer specialist study support to students undertaking our qualifications across the University. Members of academic staff, including regional academics, form part of these teams, working to sustain and improve student progression and retention.

The Faculty works closely with important organisations and institutions in the UK and other parts of the world in a range of validated partnerships and collaborations. Staff are engaged in world-class, agenda setting research tackling the most difficult challenges facing us in the 21st Century, with work in numerous subject-based and interdisciplinary research groups and projects.

With c.1800 members of staff comprising academics, associate lecturers, professional services and support staff and full-time research students, working across the locations of the University, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is a vibrant and exciting place to study and work combining originality and innovation in research and curriculum.

To find out more about the Faculty’s teaching, learning and research, please visit: http://fass.open.ac.uk/.

The School of Psychology & Counselling

The Psychology programme in the School of Psychology & Counselling is Europe’s largest provider of university-level education in Psychology, offering undergraduate, postgraduate and research qualifications. The School has a vigorous research culture with strengths in Cultural and Social Psychology (CuSP), Psychology of Health and Wellbeing (PHeW), Forensic Cognition (FCRG) and wide-ranging multidisciplinary collaborations. Our general orientation is specifically multi-perspectival and interdisciplinary. This is reflected in both our teaching and research - our students are trained in methodological concepts and techniques, understand fundamental conceptual and philosophical issues in psychology, and develop a critical understanding of the different ways in which psychological knowledge can be constructed and applied. The School also has a growing curriculum in Counselling at foundation and degree level.

Members of the School also work in close collaboration with psychologists in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS), the Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) and the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in research, teaching and curriculum provision.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

Working Location: It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes Office, it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be once or twice per month on average, as business needs dictate. Full-time working based from our Milton Keynes site is also supported if this is preferred by the candidate. Expenses associated with travel to our Milton Keynes site are not reimbursable. 

Next steps in the Recruitment process

Interviews for this post are likely to be held in mid to late July.

Early closing date notification

While most roles will remain open until the advertised closing date, applications may be reviewed on an ongoing basis. In some cases, vacancies may close earlier if a sufficient number of suitable applications have been received and equality impacts have been appropriately considered. All roles will remain advertised for a minimum of one week before any early closure is implemented.

If you have started an application or were in the process of applying when the advert closed, we encourage you to get in touch. We are committed to understanding individual circumstances and can offer further support where needed, including reasonable adjustments for applicants with protected characteristics.

How to apply

To apply for this role, please submit the following documents:

• CV that includes details of academic qualifications, teaching and research experience, grants received and publications.
• Supporting Statement, up to 1,000 words, you should set out in your supporting statement why you’re interested in this role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the essential and desirable criteria for this role as detailed above. You may find it helpful to list each point and give an example for how you meet that requirement.

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.

The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential. We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength. We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.

Closing Date: on Sunday 5^th July 2026, 23:59 pm