Research Associate

Want your research skills to directly improve how pain medicines are prescribed for millions of people?

Do you want to work with an enthusiastic group of world-leading researchers and epidemiologists nationally to address critical gaps in existing knowledge?

This is your chance to turn big data into safer care. We are seeking a talented Research Associate to join a major national initiative focused on making pain management for musculoskeletal conditions safer, smarter, and more personalised.

Why Join Us?

• Be part of a friendly and inclusive team that values diverse perspectives and supports career development.
• Contribute to a nationally leading research programme with real-world impact.
• Help build and support communities of practice, engage with patient partners, and contribute to knowledge mobilisation across the consortium.

About the Arthritis UK Research Consortium: Musculoskeletal Epidemiology

This is a new and exciting opportunity to join the Arthritis UK Research Consortium:

• Musculoskeletal Epidemiology, a major UK-wide research initiative funded by Arthritis UK. The consortium brings together leading academic institutions—including Manchester, Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele, and Nottingham—to deliver impactful research aimed at improving lives and making journeys through musculoskeletal care safer.
• Launched in July 2025, the consortium work spans five dynamic research themes, each using existing data to address critical gaps in musculoskeletal epidemiology. Each workstream is co-led by academic and patient partners and designed to address priority areas identified by people living with arthritis (PlwA). Together, they aim to generate evidence that improves care, reduces inequalities, and informs policy. More details about this national consortium including the different workstreams here: https://www.arthritis-uk.org/news/2025/may/versus-arthritis-is-championing-team-science-to-tackle-challenges-in-arthritis/
• As a Post-Doctoral Research Associate, you’ll be part of a collaborative, supportive, and forward-thinking team based at the University of Manchester. This post will be based at the University of Manchester working closely with researchers from the University of Oxford. You’ll also work alongside other researchers, clinicians, patient partners, and knowledge mobilisation specialists across the UK to help shape the future of musculoskeletal research.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and outstanding research associate with a background in one of the following disciplines, or related, epidemiology, data science, public health, or statistics. You will be performing quantitative research using data from electronic health records. You will have an excellent understanding of applying various statistical analysis and of real-world data and in interrogating observational large datasets. It is desirable for the research associate to experience of pharmacoepidemiology study designs and working with real-world EHR data such as the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and prospective studies such as UK Biobank.

You will have good organisational skills and be able to work both independently and as part of a team. You will be able to demonstrate a flexible approach to work and be able to meet agreed deadlines using initiative and judgement to prioritise competing demands. In addition, given you will be part of a large national consortium an important aspect is communicating the research to the members of the consortium, Arthritis UK and the wider community. You will have excellent communication skills and experience giving presentations to small and medium size audiences.

What you will get in return:

• Fantastic market leading Pension scheme
• Excellent employee health and wellbeing services including an Employee Assistance Programme
• Exceptional starting annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays
• Additional paid closure over the Christmas period
• Local and national discounts at a range of major retailers, and more.

As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Name: Dr Meghna Jani
Email: meghna.jani@manchester.ac.uk

General enquiries:

Email: recruitmentservices.people@manchester.ac.uk

Technical support:

https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.

Please see the link below for the Further Particulars document which contains the person specification criteria