PART TIME (0.80 FTE – 25.25 HOURS)

Lancashire Emotional Health in Schools and Colleges (LEHSS) is seeking to appoint a Research Associate in Mental Health. LEHSS is based in the Lancaster University Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) programme and is part of the Division of Health Research within Lancaster University’s Faculty of Health and Medicine.
LEHSS is comprised of a small team of clinical psychologists and is commissioned and funded by Lancashire County Council to provide psychological services to education staff in schools and colleges across the county. LEHSS provides evidence-based training and specialist consultation to staff in order to support the mental health and wellbeing of school and college staff and students. LEHSS has been funded by the local authority for over 10 years to date and has provided training and advice to over 12,000 staff from schools and colleges across Lancashire. Further information on our service can be found at www.lehss.com and https://cs-hub.co.uk
The post holder will have a lead role in developing and conducting a realist evaluation of the work of LEHSS, working with the service lead Dr Richard Slinger. We are keen to find out more about the impact of our service, who the service works best for, how and why. Alongside the service evaluation role the post holder will also assist LEHSS staff in developing accessible ways for school and college staff to benefit from our work, in the form of e-learning modules and resources to support our training.
There will be opportunities to develop clinical skills through shadowing and working alongside LEHSS team members in the delivery of training and other aspects of the LEHSS service offer. Weekly supervision will be provided by qualified clinical psychologists, and CPD is available to support the post holder in skills development appropriate to the role. This is an ideal opportunity for someone to further develop their skills and knowledge in preparation for applying for DClinPsy training.
You must have at least a degree level qualification in psychology, and experience of using qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. Experience of working either in a clinical or research role with service users and service providers would be an advantage, as would be experience of working in the field(s) of children’s mental health and/or education.
We are looking for a self-directed and committed individual with an interest in becoming part of our team. You will have excellent communication and presentation skills, show attention to detail, and demonstrate strong organisational skills when faced with challenges. Strong IT skills are essential, and experience of using graphical packages to develop engaging and accessible presentations, documents and resources is desirable.
We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements, including working week and days/hours worked, flexible start and finish times or condensed hours. The post will be based at Lancaster University (Health Innovation One) but will be a hybrid role with a mixture of remote and office-based working, as well as travelling to education settings across the county to meet with school and college staff.
The Faculty of Health and Medicine provides an environment that strongly supports the individual needs of each employee, promoting a healthy work-life balance. We are committed to family-friendly and flexible working policies on an individual basis, as well as the Athena SWAN Charter, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in higher education. We welcome applications from people in all diversity groups.
You will join Lancaster University on an indefinite contract however the role remains contingent on external funding which at this time is due to end on 31st March 2026.
Applicants wishing to consider the Skilled Worker Route should ensure they meet the points requirement before applying. Further information can be found on the UK Visas and Immigration website.
If you have any further enquiries, please contact the service at lehss@lancaster.ac.uk (please quote ‘Research Associate’ in the email subject line).

Please refer the Job description for details