Job Description

We offer an exciting opportunity for a postdoctoral researcher to join a role split across the Department of Geography and Planning and the Department of Public Health, Policy and Systems at the University of Liverpool. You will be part of an exciting Liverpool-based UKRI-funded programme of research called SCHOUSE: Supporting Communities in social Housing and Optimising Urban food System interventions for Equity".



You will join this inter-disciplinary research project which is a collaboration of academic researchers from the Universities of Liverpool and Cambridge and several non-academic partner organisations. These include housing associations and organisations working to improve food access in Liverpool. The overall aim of SCHOUSE is to produce new evidence on the drivers of dietary inequalities for residents in social housing and to co-design, deliver and evaluate place-based interventions that address these inequalities. This specific post will contribute to the broader research project through the evaluation of the local food environment context in Liverpool, how it affects communities in social housing experiencing food insecurity, and the epidemiological modelling of the impact of a series of interventions around tackling food insecurity on long-term trends of health outcomes for Liverpool and England.



You will be based alongside Professor Mark Green in the Geographic Data Science Lab within the Department of Geography and Planning, School of Environmental Sciences and with Dr Brendan Collins and Dr Zoe Colombet in the Department of Public Health, Policy and Systems within the Institute of Population Health. You will also work closely with the other project investigators and researchers from the Department of Psychology, and from the MRC Epidemiology Unit at University of Cambridge.

Key responsibilities and duties:

Plan, design and deliver high quality research about food insecurity and social housing. - Co-design research projects with the SCHOUSE research team, external stakeholders and public involvement. Review existing academic and policy literature to identify research gaps or summarise current knowledge to inform the design of projects. - Creation and dissemination of geographical indicators of the food environment, social housing and food insecurity for Liverpool including the creation of data dashboards. Assess the quality of a range of datasets (including surveys, administrative datasets, geospatial data), clean and manipulate them into analysis read versions. - Identify new and emerging data science techniques that will enhance project design and analytical rigour. Planning, conducting and reporting statistical analyses including model development and sharing of open code. - Lead on research publications and outputs, writing first drafts, as well as collaborating with colleagues to support projects/outputs across SCHOUSE. Disseminate diverse types of outputs to a range of groups including both scientific, policy and lay audiences. - Prepare and present regular updates on research progress to the SCHOUSE team. Attend meetings and conferences, both nationally and internationally, to promote research and support outreach activities. - Contribute to a collaborative SCHOUSE team culture, by promoting Team Science principles and practices. Build and sustain relationships with other researchers in SCHOUSE, as well as establish new networks outside of SCHOUSE relevant to the project.

This post is fixed term until 30 June 2028.



If you are still awaiting your PhD to be awarded you will be appointed at Grade 6, spine point 30. Upon written confirmation that you have been awarded your PhD, your salary will be increased to Grade 7, spine point 31.



This role is eligible for sponsorship under the skilled worker route.



Commitment to Diversity

The University of Liverpool is committed to enhancing workforce diversity. We actively seek to attract, develop, and retain colleagues with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. We welcome applications from all genders/gender identities, Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, individuals living with a disability, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.