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24th March deadline! School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, & Culture Lab Newcastle University, UK A post-doctoral researcher (RA grade F) is required to work on a largely qualitative study looking at people's experiences of mobility and access to the urban environment, and how this changes with age. This role contributes a part of the 'social science' contribution of a 36 month multi-disciplinary EPSRC funded project: Mobility and Place for the Age-friendly City Environment (MyPLACE). In order to apply you will need to have a good first degree in a social science discipline. A PhD or other post graduate qualification is essential. The successful applicant will be a self-starter, able to work independently and also contribute effectively in a team environment. The Project This project seeks to advance the concept of the 'age-friendly city', by developing new digital tools, perspectives, evidence leading to a scalable methodology for the participatory design of age-friendly cities. Our research will focus on Newcastle upon Tyne and the surrounding region. We will design and develop a toolkit of digital sensors and a participatory platform to capture data and experiences from older people's journeys through and social interactions within the city centre. We will combine this evidence with social research data and develop interactive visualisations to support citizens and stakeholders in participatory design workshops to re-envision the age-friendly city. We will validate the resulting findings by carrying out experimental interventions in the city, and document our findings for policy makers and other cities interested in deploying a similar platform. It is important that we not only investigate how people use urban space and move around the city environment but also how they experience it and become attached to certain places. This project will use a range of human-centred research and design methods, guided by the community, to connect the physical mobility of older people to their experiences and understandings of the value of and barriers to realizing the age-friendly city. This project encompasses three interrelated social science domains of research that cut across social connectivity, housing and the urban built environment, but also urban design, the built environment and digital technologies. Working in a cross-disciplinary manner the project will yield both a new evidence base for urban mobility and a process of human-centred research and participatory design. Research Role Profile As part of our commitment to career development for research staff, the University has developed 3 levels of research role profiles. These profiles set out firstly the generic competences and responsibilities expected of role holders at each level and secondly the general qualifications and experiences needed for entry at a particular level. It is unlikely that any single member of staff will be applying all these competences at any one time but he or she would be expected to display most of them over a period of time. Please follow this link to our research role profiles http://www.ncl.ac.uk/gps/staff/profile/cathrine.degnen#tab_profile http://www.ncl.ac.uk/apl/staff/profile/r.c.gilroy http://www.ncl.ac.uk/gps/staff/profile/helen.jarvis http://www.ncl.ac.uk/apl/staff/profile/tim.townshend Person Specification Knowledge (inc. qualifications) Essential * PhD, or equivalent research experience in a social science discipline (preferably - planning, urban design, human geography, political science, social anthropology, or sociology) Desirable * Knowledge of concepts of age-friendly cities * Knowledge of concepts of mobility and the built environment Skills (professional, technical, managerial, practical) Essential * Experience of human-centred research and design methods * Excellent qualitative research methods skills (literature review skills, recruiting research participants, interviewing, conducting focus groups and interactive workshops and observational work) * Excellent organisational and time management skills * Excellent communication and interpersonal skills * Ability to work as part of a research collaboration team * Experience of working in a cross-disciplinary or, interdisciplinary team and/or proven ability to communicate across disciplines * Demonstrable interest in coproduced research * Excellent verbal and written English * Writing skills to publishable standards - ability to prepare outputs to publication standards * Excellent IT skills Desirable * Familiarity with GIS * Track record of publications Experience and Achievements (paid or unpaid) Essential * Research experience in the social sciences - such as project formulation and research development, methodological knowledge, project implementation/coordination, analysis of empirical data and writing up Desirable * Involvement in coproduced research * Experience of - or demonstrable interest in - working/collaborating with people who have limited mobility, or sensory impairment * Experience of - or demonstrable interest in - working with working/collaborating with older people For additional details about this vacancy and essential information on how to apply, visit our Job Vacancies web page at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/vacancies/ If you want to discuss this further before applying, please contact [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]