Senior Research Associate in Infant Development - 1049-26

Lancaster University; Lancashire; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 46,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave (pro‑rata)

Pension scheme

Athena Swan Silver Award

Job summary

Lancaster University is inviting applications for a Senior Research Associate in Infant Development within the Psychology Department. The role focuses on a project titled “The Origins of Infant Word Learning,” funded by the Leverhulme Trust, investigating how hearing words influences infant perception and word learning.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated educational attainment and research experience in infant/language development, with infant behavioral research and advanced data

Qualifications

• Be able to demonstrate relevant educational attainment and research experience in infant and/or language and cognitive development.
• Have experience of conducting infant behavioral research.
• Design and conduct theoretically-driven developmental research, state-of-the-art data analysis, open science practices, scientific writing, and critical thinking.

Responsibilities

• Lead/participate in infant language development research projects.
• Collaborate with colleagues across psychology and related disciplines.
• Ensure rigorous data collection, analysis, and dissemination of findings.

Skills

Infant development

Language development

Research methods

Data analysis

Education

Educational attainment in psychology/neuroscience

Tools

Open science practices

Job description

Senior Research Associate in Infant Development

Psychology

Location: Bailrigg, Lancaster, UK

Salary: £39,906 to £46,049 (Full-Time/Indefinite with End Date)

Closing Date: Wednesday 14 October 2026

Interview Date: Monday 02 November 2026

Reference: 1049-26

The Department of Psychology at Lancaster University is seeking to appoint a full-time Senior Research Associate, to join a research project on infant language development.

The project you will be working on

is titled "The Origins of Infant Word Learning", and is funded by the Leverhulme Trust. This project will investigate how hearing words influences how infants perceive and recognise objects, and how this process ultimately leads to word learning.

About You

The successful candidate will:

• Be able to demonstrate relevant educational attainment and research experience in the area of infant and/or language and cognitive development.
• Have experience of conducting infant behavioral research.
• Be able to demonstrate competence with designing and conducting theoretically-driven developmental research, state-of-the art data analysis, open science practices, scientific writing, and critical thinking.

The Benefits Of The Role

• Generous holiday leave - 25 days (pro-rata) annual leave plus University closure days and bank holidays.
• Access to employee pension scheme, and annual flexible benefits scheme.
• We are committed to promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion across the Faculty, and supporting family-friendly and flexible working policies on an individual basis. The Department holds an Athena Swan Silver Award, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in Higher Education and research.

The Psychology Department

is a busy teaching and research active Department. It is home to a friendly group of around 40 Academic staff, with teams of Research, Professional Services and Technical staff. The Department supports a large cohort of Undergraduate students; a thriving group of Masters and Postgraduate research students; and a wide range of research projects including several cross-institution grants.

Further information about the Department is available at: http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk

We welcome applications from people in all diversity groups. We expect a start date by January, 2027. The post is for 16.5 months.

This role is indefinite, subject to funding, which is currently only available until December, 2028.

Informal enquiries are welcome and should be addressed to Dr. Jill Lany, Senior Lecturer, at [e-mail].

Further Details

Job Description

Person Specification

Please note: unless specified otherwise in the advert, all advertised roles are UK based.

Find out what it's like to work at Lancaster University, including information on our wide range of employee benefits, support networks and our policies and facilities for a family-friendly workplace.

The University recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address all inequality in higher education whilst promoting the importance and wellbeing for all our colleagues.

We warmly welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of their age, religion, gender identity or expression, race, disability or sexual orientation, and are committed to promoting diversity, and equality of opportunity.