Assistant Professor in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation(Education) - School of Sport, Exercise an[...]

University of Birmingham; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 64,000; Full time

Job summary

A renowned academic institution in Birmingham seeks a full-time Assistant Professor specializing in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation. The position involves developing and delivering educational programs in the physiotherapy field, contributing to curriculum advancements, and engaging in student mentoring. Candidates should have significant clinical experience and a postgraduate qualification relevant to musculoskeletal rehabilitation. The role promotes a collaborative educational environment and a commitment to diversity and inclusion in academia.

Benefits

Access to excellent research facilities

Commitment to diversity and inclusivity

Opportunities for professional development

Qualifications

• Experience in practice-based or classroom education.
• In-depth understanding of musculoskeletal physiotherapy.
• Demonstrated clinical skills in diverse healthcare settings.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver musculoskeletal physiotherapy education.
• Lead and contribute to module teams for qualified programs.
• Enhance educational offerings through curriculum development.

Skills

Passionate educator

Significant clinical experience

Understanding of UK healthcare context

Person-centred clinical reasoning

Teaching and assessment

Education

Postgraduate qualification relevant to musculoskeletal rehabilitation

Registered health professional (e.g., Physiotherapist)

Job description

Position Details

School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £47,389 to £56,535 with potential progression once in post to £63,606

Grade: 8

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 18th January 2026

Interviews Scheduled: 30th January 2026

Role Summary

The School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences is seeking to grow our team by appointing a full-time Assistant Professor in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation (teaching focused) who will contribute to a range of education-related and administration activities within the School across our pre and post registration physiotherapy programmes.

About you

As an assistant professor, you will be a passionate and inspiring educator, with significant experience in practice-based or classroom education who is capable of facilitating learning in students of all levels. You will have an in‑depth understanding of the UK healthcare context and an extensive background in musculoskeletal physiotherapy practice with proven specialist clinical skills demonstrated across one or more of healthcare, community and sport and exercise settings. You will demonstrate a strong understanding of person‑centred clinical reasoning and evidence‑based management strategies in the contemporary musculoskeletal context that you are able to communicate and contextualise to support student learning. Your teaching will draw on your own clinical expertise and research evidence to deliver exceptional education and set our graduates up for future success throughout their career.

You may already have experience working in physiotherapy education or be looking to move from a clinical setting into higher education to continue your own career development. We would consider job share options for excellent candidates who wish to retain a clinical post alongside a teaching role within the school.

You will be looking to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of physiotherapy, leading and enhancing our programmes to ensure an outstanding educational journey for our students. Your enthusiasm for educating future physiotherapists will drive you to advance your own teaching and learning practices and develop those around you. You’ll be a cornerstone in healthcare education, providing unwavering academic and pastoral support to students, ensuring they receive an exceptional learning experience.

In our vibrant and inclusive community, you’ll champion diversity and uphold values of integration and support for all, regardless of abilities, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, faith, or gender. Your commitment to these principles will be evident in every aspect of your role.

About the role

Working within the physiotherapy programme teams, you will make a substantial contribution to the leadership and delivery of musculoskeletal physiotherapy education on the School’s qualifying physiotherapy degree programmes and our postgraduate musculoskeletal physiotherapy programmes on our Edgbaston and Dubai campuses. You will lead and contribute to module teams which plan, prepare and deliver excellent engaging and challenging teaching that inspires students and prepares them for current and future practice and a career in physiotherapy. You will seek out opportunities to develop the educational experience for our students which may include the identification and enhancement of placement education, integrating simulation into the curriculum and using new technology to support teaching, learning and assessment.

In the realm of management and administration, you’ll be a leader and a collaborator, steering activities within the School and more widely across the University. Your contributions will be substantial, whether through curriculum development, public engagement, widening participation, or outreach initiatives. You’ll embody academic citizenship, fostering respectful and supportive relationships with staff and students alike, positively influencing their roles.

About the school

The School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences is a world‑leading School that performs cutting‑edge and translational research in all aspects of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation sciences. This unique platform allows us to address societal challenges from a multidisciplinary perspective and enrich our curricula with a research intensity that ranks us at 8th place in global league tables. The university has a long tradition in pre‑qualifying physiotherapy education and our school’s undergraduate physiotherapy programme is ranked number one in the UK in the CompleteUniversity Guide (2023, 2024 and 2025).

In addition to our postgraduate Manipulative physiotherapy and Sport Exercise Medicine programmes in Edgbaston, we have recently launched these programmes in our Dubai campus, and the successful applicant will support teaching on physio programmes across Edgbaston and Dubai campuses as flying faculty.

You will be joining a thriving community of physiotherapists, health psychologists, physiologists, and sports scientists with access to excellent research and teaching facilities. The school is based in a purpose‑built building with a range of teaching spaces and practical labs including simulation capture system. We work closely with clinical centres of excellence and are excited to extend our research and impact for the communities we serve via a new state‑of‑the‑art Exercise and Rehabilitation Facility, The Centre for Movement and Wellbeing, which opened in March 2024 and includes a physiotherapy clinic. Future developments include a new Clinical Skills Building with simulation spaces for including ward, clinic and home environments.

Having been awarded Athena SWAN Silver status, the school is committed to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusivity, and therefore welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds to join our global community. The University of Birmingham holds Advance HE Race Equality Charter and Athena Swan Charter bronze awards and is a Stonewall Global Diversity Champion. Further information about working at the University of Birmingham, including information about employee benefits and childcare provision is at https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/index.aspx.

Main Duties

Education

• Undertaking a broad range of teaching activities
  • Teaching and assessing courses at a range of levels
  • Planning and reviewing your own teaching approaches and encouraging others to do the same
  • Designing contemporary, inclusive, engaging and academically challenging curriculum content
  • Working collaboratively with colleagues to design and deliver teaching, learning and assessment
  • Using digital resources/environments effectively to support learning and assessment
  • Where appropriate, undertaking and developing the full range of responsibilities in relation to supervision, marking and examining
  • Leading the co‑ordination of programmes or equivalent activities across the School
  • Devising and supervising projects, student dissertations and practical work
  • Providing pastoral care and academic support to students
• Frequently updating your subject expertise, and undertaking personal and professional development in teaching, including self‑reflection on own teaching, using student and peer review feedback, to enhance own teaching and learning processes
• Contributing to the knowledge base of the subject to advance teaching through the enhancement of practice, the development of teaching resources and/or through practice‑based research
• Actively engaging students in curriculum and assessment design and sharing evidence of “what works”
• Ensuring that your teaching practice is informed by discipline‑based research, through participating in the research culture of the School
• Developing and advising others on learning and teaching tasks and methods;
• Developing an external profile evidenced through engaging in external quality assurance activities related to teaching, e.g., external examining and engaging with/supporting education in other institutions or national professional, statutory and regulatory bodies where appropriate
• Contributing to the recruitment and admission of students to the School
• Contributing to the development of teaching, learning and assessment policies and strategies
• Supporting and developing impact activity in knowledge transfer and enterprise in physiotherapy that enhances the student experience and/or employability
• Contributing to the development of the School’s education portfolio and making substantial contributions to the design of teaching programmes more widely

Management/Administration

To contribute to Departmental /School administration. This may include:

• Contribute to the allocation and administration of student healthcare clinical placements
• Contributing to the administration/management of teaching across the Department/School;
• Where appropriate, leading and managing a programme team to devise and implement a new and/or revised process (e.g. new programme or a recruitment drive);
• Advising on personal development of colleagues and students;
• Contributing to administrative activities within the University (e.g. appeals panels, working groups);
• Managing enterprise, business development, and public engagement activities;
• Developing and making substantial contributions to knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, public engagement, widening participation, Schools outreach;
• Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour.

Citizenship

• Pursuing your activities in a way that helps others to engage in their activities effectively and efficiently;
• Demonstrating a willingness to be involved in a variety of activities supporting University life (e.g., participation in Graduation, Departmental/School Committees);
• Demonstrating support for colleagues, such as sharing resources, providing advice;
• Willingness to volunteer for one‑off duties (such as supporting School, Institute, and Departmental projects);
• Positively engaging in School strategic initiatives;
• Proactive support and involvement in activities specifically contributing to a positive and inclusive community spirit across the School/College/University.

PersonSpecification

• Registered health professional (e.g., Physiotherapist or other musculoskeletal focussed AHP) holding current HCPC or relevant professional registration.
• Postgraduate qualification (MSc/MRes or higher) relevant to the musculoskeletal rehabilitation discipline.
• In depth understanding of health care delivery in the UK NHS context.
• Working towards or currently practising at Advanced Clinical Practitioner (Musculoskeletal) level or equivalent advancing practice framework, with demonstrable experience to four pillars of advanced practice (clinical practice, leadership, education and research).
• Significant clinical experience in a relevant area of musculoskeletal practice.
• Significant teaching experience and scholarship within subject specialism(this may be in a clinical or education setting).
• Proven ability to devise, advise on and manage learning.
• Skills in managing, motivating & mentoring others.
• Excellent organisation and time-management skills including ability to work to tight deadlines.

Teaching

• Ability to deliver engaging, contemporary evidence‐based teaching across the full spectrum of musculoskeletal physiotherapy practice.
• Ability to design, deliver, assess and revise teaching programmes.
• Experience and demonstrated success in developing appropriate approaches to learning and teaching and advising colleagues.
• Experience and achievement in knowledge transfer, enterprise and similar activity that enhances the student experience or employability.

Management Administration

• Ability to contribute to School/Departmental management processes.
• Ability to assess and organise resources effectively.
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes.
• Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.
• Ability to monitor and evaluate the extent to which equality and diversity legislation, policies, procedures are applied.
• Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact on protected groups and take appropriate action.

Informal enquiries to Michael Mansfield, email: [e-mail]

Use of AI in applications

We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone