Complex Change Research Fellow

Type of employment: Fixed-term, 35 hours/week​​​​​.
Salary: £46,735 - £57,422
Closing Date: 23 May 2025

Change-makers sought!

Are you passionate about transformational change to improve the lives of children and families through early help and prevention? We’re looking for an experienced, creative researcher with a track record of supporting research-informed programmes of complex change to join us as our new Complex Change Research Fellow.

About you

You will be able to take a flexible and responsive approach within a fast-paced environment where needs can change and develop rapidly, and have a strong understanding of what it takes to show progress in leading and managing complex change within public services. You will have a track record of working with partners across the public and voluntary sector and will also have worked to embed data and evidence-based approaches and practices to help practitioners and services adapt to, and work with complex change. Are you able to communicate complex ideas to a variety of audiences and to write and review a range of research and evaluation outputs using different formats and channels to make an impact? If so, this could be the role for you.

About the role

This exciting, innovative new role brings together expertise in high-quality research and evaluation with complex change activities related to programmes that are aligned with the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund in Scotland. The Whole Family Wellbeing Funding (WFWF) is a £500 million Scottish Government investment over the period of the current Scottish Parliamentary session (2022 to 2026) to support the whole system transformational change required to reduce the need for crisis intervention with children and their families and shift investment and support towards prevention and early intervention. This role will focus on supporting local and national partners to deliver on this ambition. Through the use of applied research and facilitation skills, your role will be pivotal in leading learning for practitioners and decision-makers to support change in complex systems, and informing decision making, adaptation and strategic planning.

About CELCIS

CELCIS, the Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection is a leading improvement and innovation centre in Scotland. We improve children’s lives by supporting people and organisations to drive long lasting change in the services they need, and the practices used by people responsible for their care.

Qualifications and experience

This role would suit candidates who have a PhD in a relevant social science discipline or equivalent research experience in a professional context and who are able to lead programmes. Experience of working as a principal or co-investigator, applying for and manage funding grants, participating in and developing networks to foster research collaborations is essential to this role and candidates should be used to informing the development of research objectives.

Initial interviews have been scheduled for 16 June 2025.

Funding for the post

The post is funded for 12 months, with a further year of funding indicated by Scottish Government.

Change is happening. Be part of it. Together we can make things better for children, young people and their families and carers. Apply now.

Got a burning question?

For formal enquiries, please contact Heather Ottaway, Head of Evidence and Innovation at heather.ottaway@strath.ac.uk

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