Total 4 job vacancies by Swansea University

This is a Fixed Term role until August 2025 working full-time

We are inviting you to apply for an exciting position within our Population, Psychiatry, Suicide and Informatics (PPSI) team. The role offers unique opportunities to contribute to cutting-edge mental health research led by Prof. Ann John, co-director of DATAMIND and leader of the Data Science theme at the Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health.

The successful applicant will be responsible for completing the mental health data landscape across the 4 nations, working closely with Prof. Ann John and the DATAMIND Programme Manager and external stakeholders as part of other UK wide initiatives.

If you are passionate about mental health, we are inviting you to submit an application for this position. It is anticipated that the successful applicant will be offered the role on an internal secondment basis.

We have 3 Fixed Term position until March 2026. These are a combination of Research Assistant and Research Officer positions, you will be appointed to the role most suitable for you.

The successful applicants will be based in a thriving mental health research team with over £40M in joint funding over the last five years, where you will be able to learn new skills and will be supported throughout your career development. You will apply your research, analytical and/or programming expertise to answer mental health related questions. Your work will result in the publication of research findings as policy briefings and high-impact journal papers.

The team is led by Prof. Ann John and focuses on child and adolescent mental health and suicide and self-harm prevention. Prof. Ann John is chair of the National Advisory Group on suicide and self-harm prevention to Welsh Government, member of SAGE, Trustee of the Samaritans. She is also co-director of DATAMIND, Principle Investigator of the National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH), leads the Data Science theme in the Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health, focussing on reducing anxiety and depression in young people and also co-leads the Data and Digital theme of the Mental Health Mission that aims at enabling data and digital technologies to be used efficiently and consistently in the development and evaluation of new treatments for mental health disorders.


You will join Prof. John’s team and work with data resources such as the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databanks at Swansea University. SAIL is a research Centre of Excellence that brings together a breadth of multi-disciplinary partners through catalytic collaboration. It is a safe haven for billions of person-based records, spanning up to 20 years from the entire population of Wales, which enables researchers to answer important questions for the benefit of society.

The post-holder will have a background in clinical epidemiology and/or health data science and have enthusiasm and aptitude for working with mental health related data. Preferably, you will be experienced in the use of large relational databases through SQL, be fluent in a programming language such as R, Stata or Python, and have knowledge of routine big data such as GP records and hospital admissions.

Professor Richard Bracken at the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Swansea University is seeking to appoint a Research Assistant to work on an Innovate UK funded project that compares the impact of organic or synthetic vitamin supplementation on meal replacement shakes that impact on indices of human health.

The role will require experience of local ethical approvals, sponsor management and trial registrations; operating in a laboratory research facility; working with human participants in a human laboratory setting; participant recruitment strategies; safely taking blood samples and processing blood samples for analysis and perform key variable analysis.

The successful candidate must possess an MSc (by research) or be pursuing a PhD in biochemistry, biomedical sciences, human nutrition science, human metabolism, human biology/physiology, exercise science), or near its completion. Evidence of the ability to actively engage in and contribute to writing and publishing research papers, particularly for refereed journals is essential, as is a demonstrable ability to conduct research in line with the objectives of the project. Candidates must also have some experience in biochemical analyses and be committed to learning new techniques.

We are seeking a highly talented and enthusiastic postdoctoral researcher to join the EV Biology Research Group, to support development of an Extracellular Vesicle (EV)-based platform for diagnosis of clinically significant prostate cancer. This is a full-time appointment on a fixed term contract for 6 months. The project is led by Dr Jason Webber (Swansea University Medical School) and is funded by the Medical Research Council – Impact Acceleration Account.

When diagnosing patients with prostate cancer (PCa), it is difficult to discriminate patients with slow growing tumours from those with clinically significant, aggressive, disease who require urgent treatment. Currently, doctors rely on tissue biopsy, which is an invasive procedure with potential for numerous complications. There remains an unmet need for a simple, non-invasive, assay for diagnosis of PCa. Recently, there has been much interest in the use of extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a source of biomarkers and we have developed several proof-of-concept assays highlighting the potential application of EVs in early detection of PCa.

The appointee will facilitate the development of a plate-based test to detect glycosaminoglycans present on the surface of EVs, to identify patients with clinically significant PCa. The project aims to refine the assay through development of standards and assessment of assay utility within a range of patient biofluids. This is a multidisciplinary project that involves collaboration with researchers at the Swansea Bay University Health Board, and the University of Turku.

Applicants should have a degree in a biomedical science subject and relevant laboratory experience. Applicants are required to have experimental research experience in a range of molecular biology techniques – this must include ELISAs/immunoaffinity assays. Evidence of conduct, interpretation and reporting of qualitative and quantitative research, as well as excellent organisational skills, are essential. Experience working with extracellular vesicles and/or clinical samples is of additional benefit.

The role provides an exciting opportunity to join Swansea University Medical School, one of the UK’s leading Medical Schools. Swansea University Medical School provides an interdisciplinary approach, educating and training the next generation of doctors, life scientists, and health professionals. It collaborates with the NHS, business and the third sector in a spirit of open innovation and has established itself as a world-class place to learn, research and innovate. The Medical School became the first department within the University to achieve an Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) Athena SWAN Charter Silver Award in 2015, and was re-awarded in 2019 in recognition of its commitment to equality. The University also holds the Athena SWAN Charter Silver Award. In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, 86% of research quality within the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science is world leading and internationally excellent.

The University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity in all of its practices and activities. We aim to establish an inclusive environment and welcome diverse applications from the following protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin), religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.

We have an under-representation of men in the area of research and would particularly welcome applications from men for this position. We also have an under representation of individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds and would encourage applications from these groups. Appointments will always be made on merit.

Please note this job is also being advertised to a pool of colleagues internally as part of our University commitment to employee redeployment. Should this post be filled from this route then you will receive an email confirming this. If you do not receive an email, please assume that your application is still in process.

Applicants are asked to provide a completed online application providing evidence against the essential criteria in the recruitment documentation. Applicants should also attach to the application the following documents:
• Curriculum Vitae;
• Publication list;
• Statement detailing your research to date

Interviews planned for Tuesday 12th December

Informal enquiries are welcome and should be directed to Dr Jason Webber (j.p.webber@swansea.ac.uk).