University of Edinburgh
Research Assistant (Changing the Narratives)
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UE06: £34,610 - £39,906 per annum pro rata
School of Health in Social Science, Counselling, Psychotherapy and Applied Social Sciences
Part-time: 14 hours per week
Fixed term: 11 months; between 4th October 2026 - 31st August 2027
The Opportunity:
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The University of Edinburgh is a world-class organisation. We look for the best in the field across all disciplines and provide a working environment where academics can develop their careers and passion for their chosen subject area. We offer the full range of academic roles and have a genuine focus on our students performance and wellbeing.
An opportunity to join a vibrant team delivering an impact project that is informing suicide prevention and self-harm policy and practice across Scotland, and beyond.
Funded by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Accelerator Award, we are looking for a Research Assistant to play a pivotal role in supporting the translation of critical social science research on suicide, self-harm and gender into action. The project - Gender, Self-Harm, and Suicide: Changing the Narratives - aims to transform how gender is addressed in self-harm and suicide policies and practices.
As Research Assistant on the Changing the Narratives project, you will work closely with a multidisciplinary team of researchers, led by Professor Amy Chandler, along with project collaborators from Public Health Scotland, Penumbra and Samaritans Scotland.
The role centres research impact, and includes helping to communicate social scientific research findings to diverse audiences of policy-makers, practitioners, and people with lived/living experiences of self-harm and suicide. You will help to organise and run public engagement events, write reports, and contribute to the production of accessible outputs, such as research briefings, podcasts, and infographics. You will also support the monitoring and evaluation of the impact of project activities.
Essential skills and experience for this role include:
- A relevant social science degree (e.g. in sociology, anthropology, psychology, social work, social policy or politics)
- A good understanding of qualitative research methods
- Experience of doing public engagement work – particularly if this relates to potentially sensitive topics (such as mental health, suicide or similar)
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The post-holder will be appointable on first point of the grade due to budgetary restrictions (£34,610), with automatic increments awarded as outlined in Conditions of Service.
This post is part time (14 hours per week). We are open to considering requests for hybrid working (on a non-contractual basis) that combines a mix of remote and regular on-campus working. Regular in-person meetings are required, and there may be some in person events/travel. A small number of additional hours supporting another research project may be available to the successful candidate.
View the full job description (opens in a new browser tab)
How to apply
Please include the following documents in your application:
- CV
- Cover letter setting out how you meet the person specification, and why you are interested in the role.
As a valued member of our team, you can expect:
- A competitive salary.
- An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.
- To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community.
- Comprehensive Staff Benefits, including generous annual leave entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, a wide range of staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the value of your pay and benefits.
Championing equality, diversity, and inclusion
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter, and we are also a Stonewall Proud Employer, actively promoting LGBTQ+ equality.
We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and particularly encourage applications from Black and Minority Ethnic candidates, as we acknowledge these groups are currently under-represented in suicide research, policy and practice. People with direct lived/living experiences of suicide and/or self-harm are also very welcome to apply.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University, you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages (opens new browser tab)
On this occasion the University will not consider applicants requiring sponsorship for this role. International workers will therefore only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.
Key dates to note
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The closing date for applications is 28 August 2026
Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm UK time. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
Health in Social Science, Counselling and Psychotherapy is one of Scotland’s leading providers of postgraduate education, training and research in the field of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Since the 1970s, Counselling and Psychotherapy has been at the forefront of the development of counselling as a professional activity in Scotland and across the globe. We provide a range of professionally accredited education programmes, from the Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma, through to Masters and Professional Doctorate. We also offer research degrees, the MSc by Research and PhD/MPhil. To support our training and research, we operate our own public counselling service, the Hope Park Counselling Centre, one of only three such centres in the UK. Our core orientation is a dialogue between psychodynamic perspectives and the person-centred approach. Our core ethos is to provide a rich relational engagement with clients, students, research participants and colleagues, an engagement which values dialogue, subjectivity, diversity and the complexity of the lives we live in contemporary times.
The staff team is made up of senior practitioners in the field, who are also experienced teachers, supervisors and researchers. We are committed to original, empirical and theoretical research that engages critically with the practices of counselling and psychotherapy, and we are especially keen to encourage research concerned with the interface between counselling, psychotherapy and social, cultural and political life, as well as research that draws directly on practitioners’ own therapeutic work. Our expertise lies in qualitative, reflexive and critical research approaches. Methodologically we draw upon autoethnographic, arts-informed, narrative and collaborative traditions. Our research portfolio is interdisciplinary, integrating concepts, practices and scholarship from counselling and psychotherapy with a range of disciplines including sociology, human geography, philosophy, theology, religious studies, education and cultural studies.
To find out more, visit https://www.ed.ac.uk/health/subject-areas/counselling
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