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Research Fellow in Social Identity and Loneliness
Salary- £33,045 - £38,026 per annum
Full time/ Fixed term for 4.5 years
About the Role
The Psychology Department at Nottingham Trent University is seeking to employ a Research Fellow for 4.5 years to explore the relationships between group memberships and loneliness within local community settings. You will be joining a collegial and ambitious group of Social Identity researchers with an excellent reputation for their theoretically informed applied research.
The project uses the Social Identity Approach to examine how different group memberships shape the occurrence and experience of loneliness and how community-based social interventions (e.g. Men’s Sheds or Social Prescribing) can serve to reduce loneliness. The research will involve primary data collection, (e.g. online surveys and experiments), secondary analysis of nationally representative datasets (e.g. Understanding Society and English Longitudinal Study of Ageing), as well as writing and disseminating research outputs. The researcher will take a leading role in the development of this evolving programme of work and be involved in the generation of policy outputs and training materials for local community organisations.
A second dimension of the role will be to work with colleagues in Tohoku University, Japan to undertake comparative research on the relationships between social identity and loneliness in each national context. The Fellow will be expected to collaborate with their Tohoku University counterpart by distance and to travel to Tohoku University annually to undertake onsite training and collaborative research.
Interview date: w/c 15th December 2025
The post is funded by an award from Tohoku University under the Japanese Government's Universities for Research Excellence Scheme to Prof Clifford Stevenson (Clifford Stevenson || 東北大学 大学院教育学研究科 教育学部). The Research Fellow will become a core part of the International Centre for Community-based Loneliness Reduction, a collaboration between NTU, Tohoku University and the Social Identity and Groups Network at University of Queensland. This is an ideal opportunity for an experienced researcher to join a highly motivated international team, refine their skills in conducting applied psychological research and make a valuable contribution to addressing important scientific and policy issues. We expect this role to establish the Research Fellow as a future leader in this field. Accordingly we aim to develop a programme of training and development with the successful candidate tailored to meet their specific career needs.
For more details, please take a look at the role profile. For any informal queries about the role or the team, please contact Professor Clifford Stevenson (Professor of Social Psychology) at clifford.stevenson@ntu.ac.uk.
About Us
NTU Psychology is recognised nationally and internationally for delivering theoretically informed and applied research, with the recent QS 2023 World University rankings, putting us in the top 150 departments for psychology worldwide. At NTU Psychology we are committed to quality, diversity and inclusion and have achieved Athena SWAN recognition at the department level.
The Fellow will be based in the Groups, Identities and Health research group (Groups, Identities and Health | Nottingham Trent University) which uses the Applied Social Identity Approach to investigate the ways in which social identities impact upon the health and wellbeing of group members. We examine groups across a wide range of community, healthcare and educational contexts to examine how social identities can shape group members’ perceptions and experiences, how identities facilitate or impede helping behaviour and how groups serve to support or undermine individual and collective resilience.
Safe and Inclusive
At NTU, we continue to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our students and colleagues. By championing positive wellbeing, we promote an environment where all can thrive and reach their full potential. We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring and we encourage people from underrepresented communities and backgrounds to apply to join our team.
Please note that unfortunately, this role has been assessed as ineligible for sponsorship under the UK Visas & Immigration points-based immigration system however, we recommend that you assess your eligibility before applying for this position. For more information visit the Government Skilled Worker visa support page. However, applications are welcome from candidates who do not currently have the right to work in the UK, but who would be eligible to obtain a valid visa via another route. Please consult the Home Office website for further information.
Please note that this role is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974) and successful applicants will be asked to declare any unspent criminal convictions.
