Senior Lecturer (HSRU), Medicine, Medical Sciences & Nutrition

We are seeking to appoint an outstanding senior lecturer to join HSRU (www.abdn.ac.uk/hsru), University of Aberdeen.  The post holder will be expected to have an established track in any health services research or associated discipline with research experience in applied health data analytics.  The post holder will be working in a multidisciplinary environment and is expected to embrace a range of theories and methods to advance the field of study. Experience of securing research funding from a range of funders is important, as well as evidence of strong research networks and deliverables. The postholder will be expected to contribute teaching and supervision to new and existing postgraduate course and programmes.  

The postholder will be joining a team of research fellows that are currently involved in improvement data science methods developments (e.g. data analytics co-design methods; Artificial intelligence evaluation approaches). Expected to bring expertise in areas of health data science that complement the strengths already in HSRU, and to contribute to postgraduate teaching.

For more information and further particulars please click here.

Chair/Reader/Senior Lecturer in Health Services Research

We are seeking to appoint an outstanding senior researcher to join the Health Services Research Unit (www.abdn.ac.uk/hsru), University of Aberdeen.  The post holder will be expected to have an established track in any health services research or associated discipline with a background in health, social sciences, organisational behaviour, public management, health technology assessment or other cognate disciplines and with a strong methodological background.  The post holder will be working in a multidisciplinary environment and are expected to embrace a range of theories and methods to advance the field of study.  Experience of securing research funding from a range of funders is essential, as well as evidence of strong research networks and deliverables.

We are looking for an individual with considerable experience of health services research related disciplines.  The post would suit someone who is ambitious to develop and lead a programme of international quality research. You will also need to show evidence of successful completion of research projects through high quality peer reviewed publication and ability to provide leadership in securing external grant income, managing research teams, and committed to working collaboratively with clinicians, managers, public or patients and others interested in the health services to make a real difference. We would particularly welcome applicants committed to service improvement science-focussed work.

For more information and further particulars please click here

Quality Assurance / Software Tester

We have an exciting opportunity for a Quality Assurance / Software Tester to join an experienced team of clinical trial programmers in the Centre for Healthcare Randomised Trials (CHaRT).  CHaRT, part of the Health Services Research Unit (HSRU), University of Aberdeen, is a leader in UK clinical trials and the programming team contributes to worthwhile research by providing programming support and data management for multi-centre health care randomised trials and other research studies.  This includes preparing randomisation schedules, setting up databases and online programming applications for data collection and assisting with the conduct of the studies (such as monitoring recruitment and scheduling participant follow up).

The trials compare forms of health care.  The role offers the opportunity to work with other staff in CHaRT/HSRU to deliver high quality work for important research questions whilst also providing excellent CPF prospects.  Further details about the CHaRT trial portfolio are available at www.charttrials.abdn.ac.uk.

For more information and further particulars please click here

Experts from our Clinical Trials Unit (CHaRT) and HSRU deliver a 12 week short course on Designing Real World Trials. 

This course takes you through the process of designing a randomised controlled trial (RCT). The course will focus on trials in the evaluation of real-world healthcare and public health settings.  The course aims to develop your knowledge and awareness of how to design a fair test, the appropriate use of trials and alternative trial designs, involving patients and the public, the logistics and practicalities of designing real-world trials and the role of clinical trials units.

To find out more visit the course page or contact Dr Kirsty McCormack

HSRU contributes teaching to the:

• Master of Public Health (MPH) 
• MSc in Global Health and Management 
• Research Methods for Health (PgCert). 

We offer a number of student projects each year to students on the MSc and Intercalated BMEdSci courses.

Our Designing Real-World Trials short course will earn you 15 credits at Masters level (SCQF Level 11).

Staff in HSRU are fully supported in undertaking a PhD.  They are also encouraged to provide supervisory support for full or part-time PhD students. 

Ongoing 

• Complex designs in randomised clinical trials – a case study in dentistry - Beatriz Goulao
• Interrupted times series (ITS) evaluation - Jemma Hudson
• Optimising the responsible use of antibiotics - Shazia Yousuf
• “Stamping out the gene”? Family and identity, choice and care, in inherited Motor Neurone Disease (MND) - Jade Howard
• Towards improvement in care delivery in Huntington's disease (HD) - Daniela Rae
• What is the best way to avoid recruitment and retention problems in trials? - Adel El Feky

Recently Completed 

• Making clinical trials more efficient: consolidating, communicating and improving knowledge of patient recruitment interventions - Heidi Gardner
• Development of core clinical outcome measures for glaucoma interventions - Rehab Ismail
• Mobile Bone Density Scanning Services in the UK: an implementation and outcome evaluation - Rosemary Hollick
• The relationship between perceived decision difficulty, decision time and decision quality in General Practitioners’ decision-making - Nicola McCleary

Clinical

HSRU actively mentors NHS Research Scotland (NRS) fellowships.  Recent NRS Clinical Fellows were:

Completed

• Mr Jan Jansen, Consultant Surgeon, NHS Grampian - Geospatial Evaluation of Systems of Trauma Care for Scotland.
   
• Dr Andy Keen, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, NHS Grampian - The application of psychological interventions (including mindfulness based approaches) to health and illness.

Non-clinical

HSRU actively encourages the development of staff through seeking prestigious research fellowships. Several funded research fellowships are supported including for example topics on the surgical trial methodology and methodological investigation of decision support for trial participation

We offer summer student work placements to current University of Aberdeen students wishing to improve their knowledge and experience in a research-focused environment.

In 2017 we welcomed five student interns to work with us over the summer months on a variety of projects.   In 2018 we had 6 student interns; 2 working on projects with the CHaRT programming team and 4 working on Health Services Research projects.

We are now accepting applications for student interns for summer 2019.  

Click here for the advert for Health Service Research summer placements and details of the application process. The closing date for applications is 3 May 2019. 

Click here for the advert for Programmer/Web Developer summer placements and details of the application process.  The closing date for these posts is 30 April 2019.

There are lots of opportunities for patients and the public to be involved with our research.

You can find out more here

You can also contact our Patient and Public Involvement Co-ordinator Katie Banister