Research Assistant for the Intersectional Stigma of Place-based Ageing (ISPA) Project (Internal Only)

Research Assistant for the Intersectional Stigma of Place-based Ageing (ISPA) Project (Internal Only) Apply
The Post

*Internal Applicants Only*

Organisational Structure

This job reports to: ISPA Principal Investigator, Dr Vikki McCall and to Work Package leads, according to project schedule.

The Role

The Research Assistant role will be supporting co-production, data collection and management, analysis and dissemination elements of the ISPA Project. This post will focus on supporting the PI McCall and a large team of academics across several work packages but mainly focusing on the qualitative data collection and analysis.

Description of Duties

• Provide direct support to the PI and Work Package leads in all project tasks
• Schedule and monitor project activities, working closely with the Project academic and partner team to deliver project aims
• Support qualitative data collection, cleaning, coding, data management, analysis and writing for the ISPA Project
• Help support project communications including social media and web presence
• Any other duties required commensurate with the grade

Essential Criteria

Qualifications

• Educated to Degree level or equivalent in a relevant academic discipline (where no formal qualification is held, additional relevant experience is required above that noted below)

Knowledge & Experience

• Understanding of effective data management and archiving
• Experience of qualitative coding and NVivo
• Demonstrable Research Assistance experience in multi-stakeholder contexts
• Experience of working with and interviewing professionals from a range of sectors, including housing, health, government and the voluntary sector
• Experience and understanding of the demands of academic research and impact generation
• Experience of organising events for a range of different audiences
• Active interest in and understanding of co-production, housing, disability and ageing

Skills & Attributes

• Ability to work independently, as well as part of a team
• Qualitative research skills
• Ability to prioritise multiple tasks and meet deadlines
• Excellent IT skills
• Strong collaboration skills in creating productive, respectful and inclusive working relationships with a wide range of colleagues and organisations
• Highly effective communication skills
• Excellent standard of written communication for different audiences
• Ability to interact with a wide range of external stakeholders, including communities and project partners across sectors
• Attention to detail, as well as ability to maintain focus on strategic priorities
• Ability to understand and monitor budgets, working within established policies and procedures
• Excellent interpersonal skills

Additional Information

*Internal Applicants Only*

Part time (50% FTE)
Fixed term until 25 September 2027

Grade 6: £31,236 - £37,694 p.a. pro-rata

The closing date for applications is midnight on Tuesday 06 January 2026.
Interviews are expected to take place week commencing Monday 19 January 2026.

There is an expectation that work will be undertaken in the UK.

This role will require a membership of the PVG scheme. An offer of employment will be subject to a satisfactory outcome of this process.

The University of Stirling recognises that a diverse workforce benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers and welcome applications from those who would contribute to further diversification of our staff and ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion is woven into the substance of the role. We strongly encourage applications from people from diverse backgrounds including gender, identity, race, age, class, and ethnicity.

Behaviours and Competencies

The role holder will be required to evidence that they can meet the qualities associated with the following behavioural competencies, as detailed within the AUA Competency Framework.

Managing self and personal skills
Being aware of your own behaviour and mindful of how it impacts on others, enhancing personal skills to adapt professional practice accordingly.

Delivering excellent service
Providing the best quality service to external and internal clients. Building genuine and open long-term relationships in order to drive up service standards.

Finding solutions
Taking a holistic view and working enthusiastically to analyse problems and to develop workable solutions. Identifying opportunities for innovation.

Embracing change
Being open to and engaging with new ideas and ways of working. Adjusting to unfamiliar situations, shifting demands and changing roles.

Using resources effectively
Identifying and making the most productive use of resources including people, time, information, networks and budgets.

Engaging with the wider context
Enhancing your contribution to the organisation through an understanding of the bigger picture and showing commitment to organisational values.

Developing self and others
Showing commitment to own ongoing professional development. Supporting and encouraging others to develop their professional knowledge, skills and behaviours to enable them to reach their full potential.

Working together
Working collaboratively with others in order to achieve objectives. Recognising and valuing the different contributions people bring to this process.

Achieving Results
Consistently meeting agreed objectives and success criteria. Taking personal responsibility for getting things done.

About Us

Intersectional Stigma of Place-based Ageing (ISPA)

People experience stigma (linked to negative attitudes, beliefs, and experiences because of a perceived difference) due to certain individual characteristics such as age, disability, or location. Older disabled people are more likely to live in poorer areas that carry a certain stigma, in unfit homes, with increased challenges in accessing support services. Little is known about how experiences of several stigmas converge and impact upon the way that people are integrated and feel included in their communities and societies. The negative impact of stigma must be examined as it has a detrimental effect on inclusion, creating barriers to accessing services and places. Stigma is also a process that can make certain people less powerful in getting the help needed; this is particularly compounded for disabled people. This project will examine inequalities and stigma through the experiences of older disabled adults and explore interventions such as home and environmental modifications that encourage inclusive approaches that support people to age well within homes and communities. The project will focus on older disabled adults (65+) with mobility and sensory impairments but also capture different experiences as everyone is a stakeholder in ageing: Inclusive ageing is not just a 'problem' for or about older people. Furthermore, this project is not just about disabled people. Through engaging with disabled researchers and having representation of disabled people in the academic team and advisory panel it will ensure our research is conducted with disabled people at its heart. The project will create a new community peer-researcher group of older disabled adults. This group will be trained to carry out research in their communities, such as observation, analysing videos and photographs and keeping reflective diaries. By participants also being researchers, this will increase capacity for disabled people to be integrated into evidence-based solutions. The project utilises data that already exists and the collection of new data relating to people's experiences. We will utilise information that has already been gathered in large statistical datasets but re-examine it to understand where different points of identity, including disability, income, age and neighbourhood inequalities, cross and intersect. We will also create a new set of sources that will capture a nuanced and detailed account of people's lives using deliberative diaries that give insight to the real-life experiences of people to help understand and tackle barriers to inclusion. This will be done by using a new concept and toolkit called Inclusive Living, which was co-created with housing organisations. However, the existing toolkit is not fully representative of society, and this project will review and modify it to ensure the experiences of disabled people are integrated. Using the information gathered about people's lived experiences, the project will work with organisations using the newly developed toolkit to make positive changes to increase accessibility for disabled adults with mobility and sensory impairments. This will focus on home and environment modifications, often termed adaptations, and involve confirmed key partners that include housing associations and developers, third sector and health and social care organisations. We have confirmed partnerships with key housing providers to begin this activity, looking to form an Inclusive Living Alliance. The project will further create resources that will help organisations facilitate change to address barriers that disabled adults have experienced and shared within the project. We will create accessible videos and audio podcasts of lived experiences of stigma to bring the stories shared to life. These resources will then be used to make key policy and practice recommendations aiming to improve inclusivity for disabled people.

The University

The University of Stirling is committed to providing education with a purpose and carrying out research which has a positive impact on communities across the globe. Driven by our mission to be the difference, we are addressing real issues, providing solutions, and helping to shape society.

The University has more than 17,500 students globally and employs 1,800 staff, with more than 140 nationalities represented within our community. Our campus environment is ranked first in the UK and top 10 in the world, and our sports facilities rank first in the UK and second in the world (International Student Barometer 2024, wave two), reflecting our long-standing designation as Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence.

We were shortlisted for University of the Year 2024 at the Times Higher Education Awards and are proud holders of a Silver institutional award from the Athena Swan Charter, in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality. We have an overall five-star rating in the QS Stars University Ratings and are ranked top 30 in the UK for postgraduate teaching and learning (Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey 2024). In recognition of our excellence in business education, we are accredited by AACSB International.

Eighty-seven per cent of our research has an outstanding or very considerable impact on society, with more than 80% rated either world leading or internationally excellent (Research Excellence Framework 2021), and we are ranked among the top 100 institutions in the world for our contribution to meeting 10 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. We have twice been recognised with a Queen's Anniversary Prize; for our Institute for Social Marketing and Health (2014) and our Institute of Aquaculture (2019).

Alongside partners, the University spearheads the £214 million Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal – which will deliver three major University-led projects: the National Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Hub, Scotland’s International Environment Centre, and the Intergenerational Living Innovation Hub. We are also a central partner in the Forth Valley University College Health Partnership.

www.stir.ac.uk

Job number

FAC02085

Contract Type

Fixed Term Contract

Posting End Date

06-Jan-2026

Location:

Stirling Campus

Salary

Grade6 £31,236 - £37,694 p.a.

Faculty/Service

Faculty of Social Sciences

The Post

*Internal Applicants Only*

Organisational Structure

This job reports to: ISPA Principal Investigator, Dr Vikki McCall and to Work Package leads, according to project schedule.

The Role

The Research Assistant role will be supporting co-production, data collection and management, analysis and dissemination elements of the ISPA Project. This post will focus on supporting the PI McCall and a large team of academics across several work packages but mainly focusing on the qualitative data collection and analysis.

Description of Duties

• Provide direct support to the PI and Work Package leads in all project tasks
• Schedule and monitor project activities, working closely with the Project academic and partner team to deliver project aims
• Support qualitative data collection, cleaning, coding, data management, analysis and writing for the ISPA Project
• Help support project communications including social media and web presence
• Any other duties required commensurate with the grade

Essential Criteria

Qualifications

• Educated to Degree level or equivalent in a relevant academic discipline (where no formal qualification is held, additional relevant experience is required above that noted below)

Knowledge & Experience

• Understanding of effective data management and archiving
• Experience of qualitative coding and NVivo
• Demonstrable Research Assistance experience in multi-stakeholder contexts
• Experience of working with and interviewing professionals from a range of sectors, including housing, health, government and the voluntary sector
• Experience and understanding of the demands of academic research and impact generation
• Experience of organising events for a range of different audiences
• Active interest in and understanding of co-production, housing, disability and ageing

Skills & Attributes

• Ability to work independently, as well as part of a team
• Qualitative research skills
• Ability to prioritise multiple tasks and meet deadlines
• Excellent IT skills
• Strong collaboration skills in creating productive, respectful and inclusive working relationships with a wide range of colleagues and organisations
• Highly effective communication skills
• Excellent standard of written communication for different audiences
• Ability to interact with a wide range of external stakeholders, including communities and project partners across sectors
• Attention to detail, as well as ability to maintain focus on strategic priorities
• Ability to understand and monitor budgets, working within established policies and procedures
• Excellent interpersonal skills

Additional Information

*Internal Applicants Only*

Part time (50% FTE)
Fixed term until 25 September 2027

Grade 6: £31,236 - £37,694 p.a. pro-rata

The closing date for applications is midnight on Tuesday 06 January 2026.
Interviews are expected to take place week commencing Monday 19 January 2026.

There is an expectation that work will be undertaken in the UK.

This role will require a membership of the PVG scheme. An offer of employment will be subject to a satisfactory outcome of this process.

The University of Stirling recognises that a diverse workforce benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers and welcome applications from those who would contribute to further diversification of our staff and ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion is woven into the substance of the role. We strongly encourage applications from people from diverse backgrounds including gender, identity, race, age, class, and ethnicity.

Behaviours and Competencies

The role holder will be required to evidence that they can meet the qualities associated with the following behavioural competencies, as detailed within the AUA Competency Framework.

Managing self and personal skills
Being aware of your own behaviour and mindful of how it impacts on others, enhancing personal skills to adapt professional practice accordingly.

Delivering excellent service
Providing the best quality service to external and internal clients. Building genuine and open long-term relationships in order to drive up service standards.

Finding solutions
Taking a holistic view and working enthusiastically to analyse problems and to develop workable solutions. Identifying opportunities for innovation.

Embracing change
Being open to and engaging with new ideas and ways of working. Adjusting to unfamiliar situations, shifting demands and changing roles.

Using resources effectively
Identifying and making the most productive use of resources including people, time, information, networks and budgets.

Engaging with the wider context
Enhancing your contribution to the organisation through an understanding of the bigger picture and showing commitment to organisational values.

Developing self and others
Showing commitment to own ongoing professional development. Supporting and encouraging others to develop their professional knowledge, skills and behaviours to enable them to reach their full potential.

Working together
Working collaboratively with others in order to achieve objectives. Recognising and valuing the different contributions people bring to this process.

Achieving Results
Consistently meeting agreed objectives and success criteria. Taking personal responsibility for getting things done.

About Us

Intersectional Stigma of Place-based Ageing (ISPA)

People experience stigma (linked to negative attitudes, beliefs, and experiences because of a perceived difference) due to certain individual characteristics such as age, disability, or location. Older disabled people are more likely to live in poorer areas that carry a certain stigma, in unfit homes, with increased challenges in accessing support services. Little is known about how experiences of several stigmas converge and impact upon the way that people are integrated and feel included in their communities and societies. The negative impact of stigma must be examined as it has a detrimental effect on inclusion, creating barriers to accessing services and places. Stigma is also a process that can make certain people less powerful in getting the help needed; this is particularly compounded for disabled people. This project will examine inequalities and stigma through the experiences of older disabled adults and explore interventions such as home and environmental modifications that encourage inclusive approaches that support people to age well within homes and communities. The project will focus on older disabled adults (65+) with mobility and sensory impairments but also capture different experiences as everyone is a stakeholder in ageing: Inclusive ageing is not just a 'problem' for or about older people. Furthermore, this project is not just about disabled people. Through engaging with disabled researchers and having representation of disabled people in the academic team and advisory panel it will ensure our research is conducted with disabled people at its heart. The project will create a new community peer-researcher group of older disabled adults. This group will be trained to carry out research in their communities, such as observation, analysing videos and photographs and keeping reflective diaries. By participants also being researchers, this will increase capacity for disabled people to be integrated into evidence-based solutions. The project utilises data that already exists and the collection of new data relating to people's experiences. We will utilise information that has already been gathered in large statistical datasets but re-examine it to understand where different points of identity, including disability, income, age and neighbourhood inequalities, cross and intersect. We will also create a new set of sources that will capture a nuanced and detailed account of people's lives using deliberative diaries that give insight to the real-life experiences of people to help understand and tackle barriers to inclusion. This will be done by using a new concept and toolkit called Inclusive Living, which was co-created with housing organisations. However, the existing toolkit is not fully representative of society, and this project will review and modify it to ensure the experiences of disabled people are integrated. Using the information gathered about people's lived experiences, the project will work with organisations using the newly developed toolkit to make positive changes to increase accessibility for disabled adults with mobility and sensory impairments. This will focus on home and environment modifications, often termed adaptations, and involve confirmed key partners that include housing associations and developers, third sector and health and social care organisations. We have confirmed partnerships with key housing providers to begin this activity, looking to form an Inclusive Living Alliance. The project will further create resources that will help organisations facilitate change to address barriers that disabled adults have experienced and shared within the project. We will create accessible videos and audio podcasts of lived experiences of stigma to bring the stories shared to life. These resources will then be used to make key policy and practice recommendations aiming to improve inclusivity for disabled people.

The University

The University of Stirling is committed to providing education with a purpose and carrying out research which has a positive impact on communities across the globe. Driven by our mission to be the difference, we are addressing real issues, providing solutions, and helping to shape society.

The University has more than 17,500 students globally and employs 1,800 staff, with more than 140 nationalities represented within our community. Our campus environment is ranked first in the UK and top 10 in the world, and our sports facilities rank first in the UK and second in the world (International Student Barometer 2024, wave two), reflecting our long-standing designation as Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence.

We were shortlisted for University of the Year 2024 at the Times Higher Education Awards and are proud holders of a Silver institutional award from the Athena Swan Charter, in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality. We have an overall five-star rating in the QS Stars University Ratings and are ranked top 30 in the UK for postgraduate teaching and learning (Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey 2024). In recognition of our excellence in business education, we are accredited by AACSB International.

Eighty-seven per cent of our research has an outstanding or very considerable impact on society, with more than 80% rated either world leading or internationally excellent (Research Excellence Framework 2021), and we are ranked among the top 100 institutions in the world for our contribution to meeting 10 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. We have twice been recognised with a Queen's Anniversary Prize; for our Institute for Social Marketing and Health (2014) and our Institute of Aquaculture (2019).

Alongside partners, the University spearheads the £214 million Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal – which will deliver three major University-led projects: the National Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Hub, Scotland’s International Environment Centre, and the Intergenerational Living Innovation Hub. We are also a central partner in the Forth Valley University College Health Partnership.

www.stir.ac.uk

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