Graduate Research Assistant or Postdoctoral Research Associate

**Salary**

The starting salary will be £33,951 pro rata for GRA, or from £34,610 pro rata for PDRA, depending on qualifications and experience.

**Package**

Generous holiday allowances, flexible working, pension scheme and relocation package (if applicable).

**Job category/type**

Research

**Date posted**

17/09/2025

**Job reference**

Q08048

**Faculty of Health & Life Sciences**

This part-time (0.5 FTE) role on a permanent basis.

**The post**

This GRA/PDRA role will work within the EMPower PHIRST team. The team is part of the University of Exeter’s Faculty for Health and Life Sciences’ Department of Public Health and Sports Science. EMPower PHIRST is a newly established team working within NIHR PHIRST scheme’s wider network of PHIRST teams across the UK. NIHR PHIRST links up academic teams with local government organisations to evaluate public health interventions that are already happening across the UK.

The Exeter-McPin PHIRST (EMPower-PHIRST) is a distinctive collaboration spanning the higher education and third sectors, including complementary expertise from the University of Exeter and The McPin Foundation. The University of Exeter is a leading academic centre in public health, community involvement and engagement (particularly those experiencing the greatest inequalities), evidence synthesis and health services research to inform policy and practice. The McPin Foundation is a leading charity with expertise in mental wellbeing, peer research and research involvement and engagement, and is an anchor partner for the NIHR School for Public Health Research. Both partners have distinctive expertise in peer and community research and involvement and engagement.

The key objective of EMPower is to support local authorities with timely, responsive evaluation evidence, informed by robust community involvement and engagement, in support of the delivery of effective services to impact health inequalities.

**About you**

Applicants will possess a relevant Masters, PhD or possess an equivalent qualification/experience in a related field of public health/health inequalities and be able to demonstrate sufficient knowledge in the discipline and of research methods and techniques to work within this NIHR PHIRST team.

**Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification for full details of this role by clicking on the attachment.**

**What we can offer you**
- Freedom (and the support) to pursue your intellectual interests and to work creatively across disciplines to produce internationally exciting research;
- Support teams that understand the University wide research and teaching goals and partner with our academics accordingly
- An Innovation, Impact and Business directorate that works closely with our academics providing specialist support for external engagement and development
- Our Exeter Academic initiative supporting high performing academics to achieve their potential and develop their career
- A multitude of staff benefits including sector leading benefits around maternity, adoption and shared parental leave (up to 26 weeks full pay), Paternity leave (up to 6 weeks full pay), and a new Fertility Treatment Policy
- A beautiful campus set in the heart of stunning Devon

**The University of Exeter**

We are a member of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities and in the top 150 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022 and QS World University Ranking 2022). We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, achieving a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2017.

Our research income in recent years means we’re the fastest growing UK Research University with some of the world’s most influential scientists, and we seek to answer some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today through this. 98% of our research is of international quality (2014 Research Excellence Framework). We encourage proactive engagement with industry, business and community partners to enhance the impact of research and education and improve the employability of our students. Read about our world leading research - Green Futures and how we are transforming education for a changing world. We are located in a beautiful part of the country and Exeter (a fast growing tech hub) is one of only a few UK cities to have been designated as a UNESCO Creative City

**Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment