Job Title: Post Doctoral Research Fellow (Cambridge)
Location: Remote & ARU Cambridge campus
Faculty: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Start Date: 5th January 2026
End Date: 31 December 2026
Hours: approximately 24 hours per week over the course of the project
Pay: £19.83 per hour
Duties and about the project
Professor Justin Roberts and Dr Mark Cortnage at Anglia Ruskin University have funding to support the employment of a research associate for a 12-month research programme to assess healthspan perspectives in younger populations. This one-year project working in collaboration with the Hallmark Foundation will assess aspects including perception of healthspan in young people. To understand ‘healthspan’ in younger age groups and identify factors/barriers for engagement and perceptions of sustaining healthy lifestyles, leading to longer term development of a novel healthspan education programme.
The 12-month contract consists of the following objectives/ research duties:
1) Evaluating and compiling existing literature pertinent to this area, that will inform the design and execution of a UK-wide survey pertinent to different age groups (14-17yr, 18-25yr) timescale: 5 months
2) Conduct focus group interviews in younger age categories and elderly persons (>70 years) on factors associated with healthy living. Anticipated 3 focus groups, including transcription analysis and write up. Estimated timescale: 4 months.
3) Identification of primary factors/ barriers associated with healthspan in younger cohorts and development of a practical model leading to a longer term educational initiative. Estimated timescale: 2months.
Candidate Experience and Requirements
An applied individual who can demonstrate a keen interest in this emerging field. This role is ideally suited to a postgraduate or postdoctoral candidate aiming to undertake a short term part time research role. Current PG students will be considered so long as they meet the criteria.
Although there is some flexibility in our requirements for the role, sound skills in the following areas are required:
• Ideally linked with either Public Health, Nutrition or Physical Activity.
• IT literate. Able to competently use Microsoft Office, in particular Excel and Word.
• Time management. Alongside collaborative working with the project co-ordinators, a significant portion of this work will require the research associate to be able to sufficiently manage their own workload to achieve project requirements.
• Independent working. The ability to work independently and with their own initiative is crucial.
We also require the candidate to have developed knowledge in the following areas.
• Experience of conducting surveys and focus groups.
• Quantitative and qualitative research design and operation
• Data and literature scoping, assimilation, extrapolation for the purpose of informing a research project and potential research publication.
• Independent and critical thought.
Additional Information
Workload will be flexible based on task set, with the majority of the project undertaken remotely i.e. literature evaluation, setting up and implementing surveys/ focus groups and producing high quality reports/ papers for publication.
To Apply
Please apply directly online with your CV and a covering letter, please ensure your CV is update.
Application Deadline: Monday 29th September 2025, 9am
Interview Date: October 2025 - TBC
Please note I will only reply to the successful candidate.