ABOUT THE ROLE This fifty month post will enable you to explore the development and implementation of new approaches to workforce sustainability across staff in primary care and maternity services as part of a larger multi-method study across England. We want to work with a great qualitative researcher, who has excellent practical, analytic and conceptual skills. You will be working as part of a friendly and supportive multi-disciplinary team including academics and national project partners. You will be based in the Implementation and Innovation Research Group (IIR) at Northumbria University, working primarily with Tim Rapley. Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, you will support the delivery of qualitative work on the NIHR HSDR funded Partnership for workforce sustainability in under-served areas research project by undertaking research activity, writing up research work for publication, and collaborating with project partners. The qualitative work will involve interviews, focus groups and observation with front line and managerial staff and service, using populations over multiple sites across England. Some of the fieldwork will be conducted in person, so at times there will be travel to different parts of England, some will also be conducted remotely. The Partnership for workforcestudy seeks to identify and develop interventions which will address threats to workforce sustainability across all staff groups in two priority sectors: primary care and maternity services. These threats will include challenges to recruitment (which may vary by staff group and geography), and retention (which may include high turnover among some junior staff, and early retirement among others). Related issues which contribute to these problems, such as workload, and its impact on wellbeing, will also fall into the Partnership's scope. The Partnership for workforceteaminvolves interrelated workstreams focusing on: realist evidence synthesis, secondary data, co-design, staff surveys, health economics and qualitative approaches. The qualitative work will help identify problems and potential solutions, as well as explore the implementation processes across a range of sites. For further information see the job description. This role is fixed-term, full time, for 50 months and will start in August 2025. This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 therefore the successful candidate will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check. ABOUT THE TEAM The study is a collaboration between university partners - Newcastle University, Birmingham University, Northumbria University, Oxford University and York University - alongside a project partner - the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board. You will be embedded in the Implementation and Innovation Research Group (IIR) - a small friendly cross departmental group between Nursing, Midwifery and Health and Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing at Northumbria University. IIRs work ranges from initiation, scoping and development of novel ideas for service, therapeutic and care innovations, to feasibility studies, pilot and full trials with embedded process evaluations, as well as the scaling up and scaling out of evidence-based interventions. IIR works with key health and social care stakeholders to develop innovative, individualised, community-based and organisational solutions to problems of implementation and knowledge mobilisation through applied research. Through high quality research, we develop theories, tools and methodologies as well as interventions to support implementation and knowledge mobilisation in practice. You will be formally based in the Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Northumbria University, Coach Lane campus, one of five departments within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. ABOUT YOU To be successful in the role you will have: Excellent practical, analytic and conceptual skills in multi-method qualitative research. Knowledge of contemporary debates and challenges relating to workforce issues in the provision of health services, and /or implementation in health and/or social care is essential, and knowledge of debates and challenges relating to Primary health care and /or Maternity services is desirable. Ability to travel for purpose of data collection to various locations in the UK is essential. You will hold a PhD, have submitted your PhD or be about to submit your PhD in the next two months, or have equivalent experience, in a health and/or social science related discipline. Further information is available in the person specification. If you would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact Professor Tim Rapley - tim.rapley@northumbria.ac.uk To apply for this vacancy please click 'Apply Now'. Your application should include a covering letter and a CV. We welcome applications from the UK and across the world. Visit our web pages for details about Relocation Assistance. ABOUT US Join Northumbria University, a research-intensive institution unlocking potential and changing lives locally and globally. Named Times Higher Education's University of the Year i n 2022 and Modern University of the Year in 2025, we rank top 25 in the UK for research power. Discover more about us. With over 37,000 students from 140 countries, we offer world-leading research, award-winning partnerships, and an outstanding student experience. We empower our exceptional staff, promoting a positive work-life balance and offering great benefits, including excellent pension schemes, flexible working, generous holiday entitlement and more. Our Northumbria Values, co-created by our team, define who we are: Academic Excellence, Innovation, Inclusivity, Collaboration, and Ambition. Our Behaviours shape our work culture: We listen and learn, support one another, respect everyone, trust each other, and are bold. Located in Newcastle upon Tyne and London, we are an on-campus organisation with flexibility in hours and location. We pride ourselves on diversity and inclusivity, holding numerous awards for gender and race equality, disability confidence, and research excellence. We also hold the HR Excellence in Research award for implementing the concordat supporting the career Development of Researchers and are members of the Euraxess initiative to deliver information and support to professional researchers.The University has implemented a range of flexible working arrangements, and we are happy to explore candidate requirements as part of the recruitment process. Apply now and join a community committed to transforming society and the economy. Explore \" Our Exceptional People, Our Values and Behaviours \" page to learn more about our commitments and see our Privacy Policy for further details.Are you an experienced Researcher looking for an opportunity to join the UK's first modern research-intensive University?