Research Associate / Senior Research Associate - Psychology

About the role

This role is based in the School of Psychology at UNSW, Sydney, Australia. It is part of the Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program and involves contributing to two specific projects.

Responsibilities

• Contribute independently or as a team member in conducting collaborative research with a focus to enhance the quality of research outcomes in the discipline area and to enable research teams to create scholarly output.
• Undertake specific research project/s under the guidance of a research leader and contribute to development of research activities.
• Support the dissemination of research outcomes through appropriate channels and outlets.
• Undertake discipline-appropriate research activities, e.g. surveys, literature reviews, data gathering and/or recording of results using appropriate research methods.
• Participate in and/or present at conferences and/or workshops relevant to the project as required.
• Assist with the supervision of research students in the research area where required.
• Develop and maintain well-organised, efficient systems of scheduling, communication, file organization and documentation of both meetings and study procedures and train project staff in their use.
• Coordinate multi-site research studies, including managing recruitment, screening, scheduling, tracking, and following up participants, and independently identifying and resolving issues surrounding participation rates.
• Coordinate project meetings and oversee the smooth running of research projects, ensuring adherence to study protocols and that project milestones and outcomes are met.
• Oversee translation and back-translation of measures into study languages.
• Engage with the Partner Organization and other stakeholders, including academic partners, non-government organizations and refugee-led organizations.
• Deliver or support training in Problem Management-Plus to facilitators from refugee backgrounds.
• Oversee administration of survey measures and/or assessments to study participants.
• Oversee the implementation of experimental research sessions with study participants.
• Data management including coordinating and executing data cleaning, data management processes and ensuring research integrity in research databases.
• Assist with research duties related to the Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program at the School of Psychology, UNSW as required.

Qualifications

• A PhD in a related discipline, and/or relevant work experience.
• Excellent organisational skills, including an ability to undertake a range of diverse tasks, to work independently, accurately, and with attention to detail and to deliver high quality work on time.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and levels of seniority.
• Prominent commitment to proactively keeping up to date with discipline knowledge and developments.
• Demonstrated ability to undertake high quality academic research and conduct independent research with limited supervision.
• Demonstrated track record of publications and conference presentations relative to opportunity.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team, collaborate across disciplines and build effective relationships.
• (Non-essential, but preferred): Completed clinical training as a registered psychologist or clinical psychologist, demonstrated experience in working on longitudinal research studies and/or randomized controlled trials, demonstrated experience in providing training in cognitive behavioural or similar therapeutic modalities, demonstrated experience in recruiting and/or retaining participants into research studies, demonstrated experience in working with people from refugee or culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, an understanding of and commitment to UNSW’s aims, objectives and values in action, together with relevant policies and guidelines, knowledge of health and safety responsibilities and commitment to attending relevant health and safety training.

Benefits

The role offers a fixed term contract of approximately 2 years, starting from August 2026, with a salary range of $113,000 - $150,000 plus 17% superannuation and annual leave loading.