Research Project Support Officer in Preventative

The ability to communicate in Welsh is desirable for this post.

Informal enquires can be made by contacting Dr Nathan Bray, ALPHAcademy Lead and Senior Lecturer in Preventative Health.

Committed to Equal Opportunities

Overview

The Applied Learning for Preventative Health Academy (ALPHAcademy) is funded by the Welsh Government, as an action of A Healthier Wales and led by Bangor University. The ALPHAcademy is part of a new network of Intensive Learning Academies (ILAs), hubs for developing skills and expertise, for sharing knowledge and translating research into outcomes.

Our focus is on prevention -helping people stay healthy, happy and independent for as long as possible not just treating people when they become ill. Recognising the influence of wider social determinants, the ALPHAcademy brings together leaders and aspiring leaders from across services (health, social care, education, sports, housing, environment), sectors, nationally and internationally - to learn by doing, grounded with evidence-based insights, combined with input from renowned experts.

A portfolio of education and development opportunities is being developed including masterclasses, forums, workshops, keynote lectures, an executive education programme and strategic leaders’ consultation. A learning escalator to include flexible delivery modules, Masters and other postgraduate programmes (PG Cert & PG Dip) will enable learners to become engaged and to undertake programmes at different entry levels with credits contributing to higher level accreditation. An alumni network will provide on-going opportunities and coaching to support leaders as they translate the knowledge and skills gained into practical solutions.

All learning will be digitally enabled with a focus on system leadership and strong emphasis on practical learning. Sharing knowledge and good practice ALPHAcademy will facilitate the building of an international network of connected leaders, developing research and learning links with leading institutions and leading practitioners and become a knowledgebase and promoter for continuous improvement to drive up the quality and value of prevention services in Wales.

Building on a strong platform of partners and internationally recognised centres of excellence with the University, the ALPHAcademy will offer research and evaluation consultancy to develop new prevention approaches and doctoral research-based studies to conduct in-depth research for translating research into prevention outcomes. As a new initiative, programmes are currently being developed, marketing and communications are being initiated and engagement with stakeholders is ongoing with a focus on building a wide international support network.

The Project

The precept that prevention is better than cure continues to grow in relevance. Indeed, as populations become progressively affected by multi-morbidity and avoidable long-term disorders, both the urgency and the need to focus on prevention of illness is increasing.

Prevention is about helping people stay healthy, happy and independent for as long as possible. It means stopping problems from arising in the first place; focusing on keeping people healthy, not just treating them when they become ill.

Huge progress continues to be made in improving the health of the nation - helping people to live longer lives. However, people are spending too many years in poor health, with these gains in health not felt equally across society. But this is not inevitable; much of ill health could be prevented.

The ALPHAcademy will focus on how to deliver prevention in practice, providing opportunities for leaders and aspiring leaders from across services and sectors to learn by doing, grounded with evidence-based insights. It will combine input from nationally and internationally renowned experts in prevention with opportunities for conversations with those making change happen, producing advocates of change who can take a leading role in supporting transformative redesign of the systems/policies for prevention.

Purpose of the Job
- To support development of the ILAs research programme
- To identify opportunities for research, including funding opportunities and collaborations with other departments and organisations
- To provide pastoral and academic support to postgraduate students.

Main

**Responsibilities**:

- Provide support to the ILA team in identifying and leading opportunities for research activities.- Assisting in the design and implementation of research. This will include providing support to the ILA team on all aspects of research.- Assist in identifying opportunities for research funding and collaboration with other departments and organisations.- Assist in gathering, preparing, and analysing data, and presenting results.- Work as part of the ILA team in delivering research outcomes by contributing to the preparation of verbal and written reports and scientific papers.- Contribute to the dissemination of re