Research Fellow (Rain within the Rainbow) chez Edinburgh University Group

The Opportunity: 

This post is full-time (35 hours per week); however, we are open to considering flexible working patterns.  We are also open to considering requests for hybrid working (on a non-contractual basis) that combines a mix of remote and regular on-campus working.  The ideal start date for the successful candidate is 1st February 2026.

 

The salary for this post is grade 7 (£41,064.00-£48,822.00). Please note that due to budgetary restrictions, the appointment will be made on the first step (£41,064.00) within the grade.

 

Your skills and attributes for success: 

• Expertise in qualitative interviewing and qualitative analysis 

• Ability to communicate complex information clearly, in writing and verbally, for academic, public, practitioner, and policy audiences  

• Understanding of LGBTQ+ mental health, suicide studies, and/or bereavement studies 

• Expertise in conducting emotionally sensitive research, including adhering to ethical and data management processes designed to safeguard participants and maintain confidentiality 

• Excellent interpersonal skills and willingness to contribute to positive research culture in the wider Suicide Research Group 

 

Click to view a copy of the full job description (opens new browser tab). 

 

Application Information  

  

Please ensure you include the following documents in your application: 

• CV 

• Cover letter, setting out why you are applying for the role and how you meet the essential and desirable criteria. Your cover letter should be a maximum of 3 pages in length; please be aware that if you submit more than 3 pages, we will only read the first 3 pages submitted. 

• A sample of your writing – for example a report, a book or thesis chapter or journal article (published or drafted). No more than 8,000 words. 

 

If invited to interview, you will also be asked to give a short presentation. 

 

As a valued member of our team you can expect:  

• A competitive salary 

• To join a vibrant, creative and interdisciplinary group of researchers in our Suicide Research Group, where your intellectual contributions will be valued and celebrated.  

• A supportive research culture with access to peer support and reflective practice groups and a personal well-being fund throughout the project to contribute to individualised self-care and well-being support  

• Encouragement and generous funding to build your academic profile through conference and event attendance 

• A training budget to enable you to develop your academic skills, relevant to the research 

• Comprehensive Staff Benefits, such as a generous holiday entitlement, competitive pension schemes, staff discounts, and family-friendly initiatives. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the total 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 Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.  

 

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. 

 

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