Research Assistant – MiniAFTERC Project (Hybrid, Part-Time)

University of St Andrews; St Andrews; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 38,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

USS Pension 14.5%

Hybrid work

Staff discount

Job summary

University of St Andrews invites applications for a Research Assistant to join the MiniAFTERC project, working with Dr Andrew O’Malley on an ethically approved Beatson Charity funded study. The role focuses on piloting with a chatbot, collecting interactions, transcripts, and audio data, and assessing AI-generated measures against human ratings.

The post is 0.2 FTE, part-time for four months, with emphasis on empirical research involving human participants and potential digital health

Qualifications

• Good first degree in a relevant subject such as psychology, nursing, medicine, health sciences or public health.
• PhD (or near completion) in a related discipline would be an advantage.
• Experience of empirical research involving human participants, and ideally of digital health, psycho-oncology or behavioural interventions, is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate the day-to-day running of the pilot, including ethics submission to the University of St Andrews Medical School Ethics Committee and ongoing compliance with approved protocols.
• Work with Prof Gerry Humphris to collate a series of simulated patient scenarios spanning high, moderate and low fear of cancer recurrence (FCR), together with edge-case responses such as expressions of suicidal ideation or out-of-scope distress.
• Run simulation sessions with a chatbot and capture transcripts, audio recordings and structured outputs in line with information-governance requirements.
• Conduct accuracy assessments comparing AI-generated FCR4 scores with manual scoring by trained raters, including inter-rater reliability analysis.
• Maintain version-controlled study documentation and contribute to project meetings.

Skills

Empirical research

Human participants research

Education

Relevant degree (psychology, nursing, medicine, health sciences, public health)

Job description

University of St Andrews invites applications for a Research Assistant to join the MiniAFTERC project, working with Dr Andrew O’Malley on an ethically approved Beatson Charity funded study. The role focuses on piloting with a chatbot, collecting interactions, transcripts, and audio data, and assessing AI-generated measures against human ratings.

The post is 0.2 FTE, part-time for four months, with emphasis on empirical research involving human participants and potential digital health