Research Assistant/Associate

Salary: Research Assistant: £33,951 - £35,608 per annum, pro rata

Research Associate £36,636 - £38,784 per annum, pro rata

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 12 October 2026

The Role

We are seeking to recruit a researcher with a background in Interaction Design and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) or related fields, to work at Open Lab in the School of Computing as part of our UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Innovate UK funded project on Secure Software Development for Resilient Growth (“CV-Record”).

We invite candidates with strong research skills, and ideally with expertise and professional experience practicing participatory design in sensitive contexts and with vulnerable communities.

CV-Record is an exciting 17-month but no later than 31/01/2028 responsible design innovation programme led by TOU App LTD (LibertiTec) in partnership with Newcastle University’s Open Lab, London South Bank University and LCR Ventures Ltd (Lyva Labs) that will develop and evaluate a domestic abuse survivor-controlled, court-admissible secure digital evidence capture tool.

The research involves engaging with domestic abuse survivors and with the ecosystem of services around them, to co-design, develop and evaluate the secure digital evidence capture tool as well as defining its data governance.

In this researcher role, you will be immersed in the creative and cross-disciplinary environment of Open Lab, working closely with the project co-investigators and partners across sectors, to conduct collaborative research and co-define requirements for the design and data governance of the tool and its evaluation. As a research group, Open Lab has international profile in the HCI field for pioneering participatory, civic, and community-centred approaches to technology design.

During this 17-month post, empirical (real-world) research activities will include running meetings and design workshops with survivors and working with the ecosystem of services around them, doing qualitative, and preparing research reports for publication.

You will be supported throughout the post by the CV-Record academic team, who will provide ongoing mentoring and guidance on research design, data collection, analysis, communication and dissemination activities, working collaboratively and with people from diverse backgrounds.

This role presents a unique opportunity for you to develop your research experience and leadership, contributing to novel research innovation and service design in sensitive areas at the intersection of survivor-centred design, social justice and law. You will develop research on collaborative design methods to understand complex and sensitive contexts and needs of domestic abuse survivors; and generate implications for the design of a domestic abuse survivor-controlled, court-admissible secure digital evidence capture tool.

You will benefit from taking part on high-impact business-led research and being based within the multi-award-winning Urban Sciences Building on the Newcastle Helix site, in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne.

This position is available immediately on a four-day (29.6 hpw) workweek 0.8FTE basis for the first 12 months, moving to full time for the final 5 months, fixed term basis post start date.

For informal enquiries about this position, please contact Dr Clara Crivellaro [email protected] or Prof Abi Durrant [email protected]

For more information about Newcastle University’s Open Lab, please click here.

For more information about the School of Computing and our research, please click here

Key Accountabilities

Research Assistant

• Work with the CV-Record team (including Dr Clara Crivellaro, Dr Caroline Claisse, Prof Abigail Durrant and diverse project partners) at Open Lab in the School of Computing, on empirical (real-world) research, co-design and evaluation of technology applications to support collaborative digital service design, and community-driven digital innovation
• Apply novel methods for interaction and interface design and data governance of secure di gital tools
• Lead and/or contribute to collaborative design activities with domestic abuse survivors and the ecosystems of services that support them
• Facilitate stakeholder-driven engagement throughout all stages of projects
• Support project administration and research data and media management in line with project objectives, under the supervision of the Open Lab investigators and in line with university policies, ethical protocols and regulations
• Work to deadlines and manage, with support, competing priorities
• Collect, analyse and interpret research data and draw conclusions on the outcomes
• Co-ordinate own work with that of others, use problem solving to affect the achievement of research objectives and contribute to the planning of the project(s)
• Present information on research progress and outcomes to a Principal Investigator or groups overseeing the research project
• Write up results from own research activity and provide input into the research project’s dissemination, in whatever form (report, papers, chapters, books)
• Use research resources (including, where required, laboratories, workshops and specialist equipment) as appropriate

Research Associate

• Contribute ideas, including enhancements to the technical or methodological aspects of the project
• Determine appropriate methodologies for research
• Assess research findings for the need/scope for further investigations
• Contribute to the writing up of the research and its dissemination, either through seminar and conference presentations or through publications
• Present research findings, either at conferences or through publications in reputable outlets appropriate to the discipline
• Contribute to grant applications submitted by others and develop own research objectives and proposals for funding

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Research Assistant

• Demonstrable knowledge of human-centred design of digital technologies
• Hands-on experience in participatory/service design research and/or community engagement, and digital innovation in sensitive contexts (e.g., domestic abuse survivors support; mental health recovery)
• Design / creative research skills or willingness to develop skills and experience working as a designer in a multidisciplinary, cross-sector team on a research programme
• Experience in design and prototyping tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma
• Demonstrable knowledge of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods
• Experience in digital and/or data governance innovation research and development for domestic abuse survivors (desirable)
• Attention to detail and ability to work at high levels of accuracy
• Ability to present complex information effectively to a range of audiences
• Proven ability to analyse data and write-up results
• Excellent IT skills in all major office applications
• The ability to use personal initiative and creativity to solve research problems

In addition for Research Associate

• Awareness of the research environment
• High level of analytical and problem-solving capacity
• Ability to communicate complex information with clarity
• Experience of presentations at conferences and/or in high-quality publications

Attributes and Behaviour

• Ability to work on own initiative and prioritise tasks (time management)
• Passion and commitment in engendering an inclusive working environment
• Ability to work independently, and flexibly as part of a multi-disciplinary team and contribute to the development of effective and mutually supportive working relationships and practices
• Willingness to support public engagement activities
• Ability to manage (parts of) projects and research team leadership (Desirable)

Qualifications

Research Assistant

• Honours and postgradate degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)/ Interaction Design or a related discipline and/or relevant professional experience

In addition for Research Associate

• PhD in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Science, Interaction / Service Design technology or related field

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a GoldAthena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

Requisition ID: 29767