Researcher in Psychology

About the University

We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better.

The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region.

We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes. 

Financially strong and seriously ambitious we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.

About the College/Department

The School of Psychology is situated within the College of Health, Psychology and Social Care. The School is home to our two Discipline areas of Psychological and Behavioural Sciences (PBS) and Professional Psychological Practice (PPP). We foster a culture of continual growth and improvement and seek to hold equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing as a central pillar to all activity. Our research is articulated through several research groups (which feed into the University Themes and Research Centres) that address a diversity of areal of psychological research including nature connectedness and wellbeing, emotional regulation, cognitive control performance, pain perception and management, and the promotion of pro-social behaviour and wellbeing in educational settings to mention just a few.

The Biomedical and Clinical Sciences Theme promotes and supports healthier living, ageing and wellbeing while providing solutions to chronic conditions and global health challenges such as cancer, diabetes and dementia. We work holistically across biomedical scientists, psychologists and healthcare practitioners to understand the individual and their health conditions.

The Healthy Ageing and Mental Wellbeing Research Centre is a community of researchers from the College of Science and Engineering and the College of Health, Psychology and Social Care. Researchers in the centre conduct research ranging from lab-based biomedical research to community-based behavioural and experiential research. This enables us to approach ageing and wellbeing issues in a very holistic way. It also enables us to firstly develop new knowledge and understanding, but then also to translate this knowledge into effective applications that can make a difference to people’s lives.  

About the Role

We are excited to be able to advertise this role for a researcher who will contribute to the development of innovative research that takes place within the Health Aging and Mental Health Wellbeing Research Centre, in particular the lab based research in the area of Psychology. We have identified a number of ongoing projects that would benefit from the input of a researcher to complete experimental series conducing to research outcomes suitable for the REF 2029 submission (likely to be rated 3* or 4*). Examples of these research areas include (but do not limit to): emotional regulation from nature connectedness; emotional regulation interventions to promote pro-social behaviour and wellbeing in schools; group singing and heart rate variability as an index of emotion regulation; cross-modal correspondence and working memory performance; mental representations and cognition in deaf and hearing individuals; spatial training transfer to mathematics performance; maths anxiety and mathematics performance; and pain perception and management. 

The anticipated interview date is W/C Monday 28th April 2025.

About You

We are seeking an experienced post-doctoral researcher with specific expertise in any relevant areas of experimental psychology. The post-holder should be able to contribute to the design and completion of behavioural lab-based and online experiments, and should have expertise and experience in one or more of the following: psychophysiological recordings (Heart Rate Variability; blood pressure; skin conductivity...); eye tracking technology; lab-based observation of parent-child interaction; online questionnaire surveys (e.g., Qualtrics); experimental online data collection (e.g., PsychoPy or similar).

Benefits

Generous annual leave entitlement of 47 days inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata)Teacher’s Pension SchemeSuite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support including family-friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and comprehensive Employee Assistance ProgrammeAccess to a variety of staff discounts at high street retailersDiscounted onsite gymDiscounted access to Devonshire SpaCycle to Work schemeA flexible working environmentA commitment to personal and professional development

Key Contact

For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Professor Jose Prados, Head of School of Psychology via j.prados@derby.ac.uk

For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via recruitment@derby.ac.uk

Important Information

If you are successful, you will be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Any information you provide will be treated in confidence and only used when considering your suitability for the post.

To enable us to process your DBS check please ensure you are able to supply the documentation listed on the DBS website at interview stage.

This role is eligible for sponsorship by the University, however, your individual circumstances must meet the criteria set out by UKVI; this includes meeting the English Language requirement and earning a salary that meets the highest of either the going rate for the SOC code or the minimum salary threshold for the Skilled Worker route (£38,700 per annum).

If the role is eligible, but the offered salary is less that the going rate for the role, you may still be able to apply for a Skilled Worker visa if:

Your job is on the Immigration Skills ListYou’re under 26, studying or a recent graduate, or in professional trainingYou have a PhD level qualification that’s relevant to your jobYou have a postdoctoral position in science or higher education

Please note that the University cannot confirm your eligibility for sponsorship until an offer is made and your individual circumstances have been considered.

For more information, visit our website.

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Please find our Safeguarding pages including our Safeguarding Policy here.

Closing Date: 06 Apr 2025

Area: Teaching and Research

Salary: £29,179 to £44,128 per annum