Research Assistant in Psychology and Education

We are seeking a graduate researcher to join an exciting ongoing project at the interface between psychology, education and intervention. We have developed a preschool-based intervention geared to improving pre-schoolers’ executive and numeracy skills. The intervention aims to improve the foundations of early numeracy, by working in collaboration with early years education practitioners and leveraging informal educational opportunities in the classroom. The intervention was developed by cognitive scientists, educational experts and practitioners. This particular position will involve joining an extended team connecting the University of Sheffield with the University of Oxford and our national / international collaborators, to deliver the intervention as part of a large scale randomised controlled trial. This RCT will evaluate the effectiveness of the programme in improving young children’s mathematics outcomes, with a particular focus on economically disadvantaged children.

A keen interest in developmental psychology, early education and related data is essential. Prior knowledge of the programme and its delivery to settings is also essential. You will have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and the ability to manage your own research and administrative activities, as well as working as part of a team. The post-holder will be involved in all aspects of the research project, with a strong focus on communicating with nurseries around the UK, intervention delivery in the nurseries that have signed up, presenting to teachers, qualitative / quantitative data collection and knowledge exchange activities. As this post will involve travel to nurseries around the UK (e.g., London, East Midlands and the East of England), this would be facilitated by ideally having access to own reliable transport.

The post is full-time, and funded as part of parental leave cover for this project, from 17th June 2024 or as soon thereafter, for 12 months.

All applications must be received by midday UK time on Tuesday 28th May. It is foreseen that interviews will be held over the week commencing Monday 3rd June. The post-holder will be able to start in post on 17th June or as soon as possible thereafter. 

For queries regarding the post or job description, feel free to contact Prof Gaia Scerif, gaia.scerif@psy.ox.ac.uk and Dr Emma Blakey emma.blakey@sheffield.ac.uk.

You will be required to upload a covering letter explaining how you meet the job requirements, as well as a CV and details of two referees as part of your online application.

To apply for this role and for further details, including the job description and selection criteria, please see the links below:

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