Research Associate (Applied Linguistics)

Salary: £34,866 to £35,880 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: 22 November 2024

The Role

We are recruiting a Research Associate to work for 8 months at 0.6 FTE (three days per week) on an Innovate UK-funded research project. The project is a collaboration between our team at Newcastle University, teams at two partner universities, and a digital health startup who have developed a conversational AI agent for healthcare consultations.

The Newcastle University strand of the project will involve using a Conversation Analysis research approach to (1) identify effective communicative practices used by human clinicians when conducting telephone clinical consultations with patients, (2) train a Large Language Model to incorporate these practices into its own conversations, and (3) examine the efficacy of the LLM-powered clinical conversations by analysing test calls with human users.

See the ECLS website for more information about the team and the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, including our Applied Linguistics & Communication subject area and Multimodal Analysis Research Group.

        You should have a PhD in a relevant discipline. You will be responsible for management and processing of existing audio data. This will include liaising with the partner company about access to data, transcription of data using Conversation Analysis transcription conventions, and analysis of data in collaboration with the Newcastle University research team. You will also be actively involved in writing and dissemination of provisional research outcomes, for example for academic conferences, and in engagement beyond academic audiences via workshops and other activities.

       We are committed to building and maintaining a fair and inclusive working environment. We would be happy to discuss arrangements for flexible working, including blended working, and flexibility around start and finish times, appropriate to the needs of the role.

       Informal enquiries are welcome. Please contact Dr Adam Brandt (adam.brandt@newcastle.ac.uk) to discuss the role.

       To apply, please upload an up-to-date CV and letter of application outlining specific examples around how you meet the requirements set out in ‘The Person’ section below.

       Key Accountabilities

• Organisation of audio data, including saving, storing and filing a large volume of recorded telephone calls
• Transcription of audio recordings of telephone calls using Conversation Analysis techniques
• Identification of potential areas for analytic focus
• Developing and maintaining knowledge of relevant research findings in the field
• Collaboratively working to prepare research outcomes for submission to high-quality refereed journals and presentation at national and international conferences
• Collaboratively working on the organisation of workshops for research planning and dissemination

The Person 

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Theoretical knowledge related to Conversation Analysis, preferably in relation to healthcare communication and/or technologized communication, and ability to maintain knowledge of ongoing research developments in relevant fields
• Experience and ability to transcribe audio data using Conversation Analysis conventions
• Ability to analyse audio data using Conversation Analysis
• Strong attention to detail in data management, and in written and verbal communication, and the ability to communicate complex information clearly

Attributes and Behaviour

• Application of knowledge and insight to analyse and interpret research data
• Intellectual agility for understanding and resolution of unfamiliar problems
• Systematic approach to project planning, time-management, organisation and prioritisation, with the ability to set and update realistic goals
• Effective and self-motivated working to deadlines, in consultation with the project team
• Effective, collegial contributions to project work as a part of an interdisciplinary team, and engagement with the wider university research community
• Commitment to personal career development appropriate to the expectations and opportunities of a postdoctoral research position

Qualifications

• PhD in relevant discipline (e.g., applied linguistics, linguistics, sociology)

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 silver Athena 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: 27710