Research Assistant

Salary: £20,000 - £24,000

Company: York Health Economics Consortium

Closing Date: August 24, 2020

Research Assistant – York Health Economics Consortium

Closing date: Monday 24 August by 5pm

Interview date: Wednesday 09 September

York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC) is looking to recruit a Research Assistant to work on a range of literature-based research and consultancy projects within our Review and Information Services (RIS) work stream. This is a great opportunity to begin a career in reviewing within a supportive and welcoming team. We are a health economics research and consulting company owned by, and based at, the University of York. We provide consultancy and research to a wide range of public and private sector bodies. Our clients include:

• Global pharmaceutical manufacturers
• Medical device and biotech companies
• Government bodies, such as the Department of Health
• NICE and the SMC

This role will have a 3-month training period to allow you to become familiar with our process for conducting reviews and the specific tasks involved. The training will include a combination of individual task training sessions supervised by different members of the review team and on the job training. You will be assigned a buddy who will provide support as you progress through your training programme and help you adapt to your first professional role.

We have a team of 48 staff and we hold the Investors in People standard. We want staff to enjoy working at YHEC; our office is a friendly place to work and we have an employee wellbeing programme. This is based on suggestions from staff and includes lunchtime walks, sporting activities and charity fundraising events. YHEC staff nominate a charity on an annual basis and undertake fundraising throughout the year.

We also have a social committee who organise events on a regular basis; even in the current circumstances we have used Zoom to help conduct these events. Staff at YHEC enjoy our inclusive, flexible and friendly working environment.

We established our dedicated Review and Information Services (RIS) team over ten years ago, and we produces at least twenty reviews each year for a range of clients, including pharmaceutical companies, MedTech developers and public sector organisations such as NICE and NHS England. These reviews support a number of different needs from health technology assessment submissions, internal company assessments and scoping reviews for new areas of research, to name a few. Our team comprises reviewers, information specialists, and experienced support staff including medical writing and statistical
support who all work collaboratively to produce the reviews. We have an excellent track record of publication in peer reviewed journals and presentations at national and international conferences https://yhec.co.uk/resources/publications/. We encourage all teams to conduct methods research and to submit research publications to academic journals. Team members are active in Cochrane and Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi), and are encouraged to develop international methods roles, to present at conferences, to undertake training and to referee journal articles. Our team also supports
the InterTASC Information Specialists’ Sub-Group (ISSG) Search Filter Resource and the SuRe Info information retrieval methods research resource.

Our location means that staff have full access to the range of facilities offered by the University of York. We encourage staff to engage with other research departments based at the University. The combination of our unique location and the breadth of our research portfolio makes YHEC a stimulating environment to work in, providing opportunities to work with a wide range of clients and to contribute to the research and development of new healthcare treatments. Further details are available at www.yhec.co.uk.

Main Purpose of the Job

The main purpose of this role is to work as an integral member of a review project team and to provide research support. The post holder will work as part of a team of 6 Research Assistants and Project Assistants. This post will report to a Project Director in the Review and Information Services team.

Main Duties

The main responsibilities of a Research Assistant are:

• Undertaking specific research tasks within the wider review project as part of a research team e.g study selection, data
  extraction and presentation of final results.
• Involvement in preparing proposals for project work, e.g. background research, gathering literature, drafting / collating
  standard sections of proposal.
• Endnote library (bibliographic software) development/maintenance and checking and formatting bibliographic references.
• Proactive management of projects, including project monitoring, e.g. ensuring minimal slippage, flagging up deadlines to team.
• Preparation of brief notes, agendas, minutes, reports and related project correspondence.
• Collating and managing team procedures/handbooks for general office use.

Essential Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills and Attributes are:

• Educated to degree level in a science or health-related subject area with an interest in health care.
• Good educational background (including English, Mathematics and Science, GCSE grade B or equivalent).
• A basic knowledge of research design and awareness of clinical trials.
• Excellent planning and organisational skills:
  • Time management.
  • Prioritising workload to meet specific deadlines.
  • Working to deadlines and ensuring project team are aware of these.
• Ability to produce work with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail within tight deadlines.
• Ability to work as part of a team and on own initiative with a high degree of selfmotivation and proactivity.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work under pressure with an adaptable approach to work.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and use tact and discretion.

Terms of Employment

Posts at YHEC are permanent and subject to regular review of performance. Staff are appointed for a trial period of six months, following which employment will be confirmed, subject to successful performance.

Salary

The salary will be in the range of £20,000 to £24,000 subject to qualifications and experience.

There is a performance-related pay scheme in operation at YHEC. Membership of a defined contribution or defined benefit pension scheme is available subject to eligibility criteria being satisfied.

Annual leave entitlement will be 30 days per year, plus bank holidays.

More information can be found on the YHEC website.