The Early Career Researcher Institute (ECRI) are pleased to open applications for Doctoral students, to work with members of ECRI staff to help develop support for neurodivergent ECRs and take steps towards improving the research environment and culture within our community.
The Role
This exciting developmental opportunity will give you the chance to conduct a desk-based review of activity in other institutions and within Imperial’s own departments and faculties, and help ECRI to produce a report which will focus on the following areas,
- How to improve communication between supervisors, line managers and ECRs, ensuring neurodiversity-affirming practice and bridging the autistic / allistic divide, whether it is the ECR or the supervisor / line manager who is autistic.
- Suggest practical approaches to improving the autistic and ADHD ECR community’s experience of communicating research outside of the university, especially in unfamiliar settings (e.g. conferences).
- Look into the experience of dyslexic and ADHD PGR students in writing extended dissertations required for research degrees, and the role such dissertations play in a modern research environment with an ever-broadening scope of what counts as “research output”.
- Investigate the transition from PGR research student to research staff for those ECRs requiring reasonable adjustments, suggesting ways to ease the burden of different systems and approaches on opposite sides of this boundary.
*Please note that there may be an opportunity to assist with project focus groups, but this will be agreed later, following discussion with the project supervisor, Dr Paul Seldon.
The Appointment
- The appointment will run for 3 months, 27th of January 2025 – 25th of April 2025. The hourly rate of pay for this project is £22.00 (standard GTA rate).
- The successful candidate would be expected to dedicate 4 hours a week to work related to the project.
- As this is a report-based project, there is flexibility attached to the role in terms of how, when and where this work takes place.
- The work will be supervised by Dr Paul Seldon.
- Guidance can be sought from members of EDIC and DAS as and when necessary.
Please feel free to contact Dr Paul Seldon, if you have any questions regarding expectations around the role.
Background
A neurodivergent mind is one that significantly differs from societal expectations of typicality. In a world designed around neurotypical people, neurodivergent people – some 1 in 7 of the population – can be disabled, unless an active effort is taken ensure neuroinclusivity. We recognise that neurodivergent early career researchers already make a significant and valuable contribution to the research and research environment at Imperial, and we aim to further enable our neurodiverse community.
To support neurodivergent ECRs and take steps towards improving the research environment and culture within our community, ECRI would like to contribute to the creation of more neuroinclusive research working environment. We plan to do this by centring the lived experience of neurodivergent early career researchers, learning from them, using the outcomes to implement a number of additional neuroinclusive measures within the university, and raising awareness amongst staff and students of neuroinclusive practices in research.
This project is particularly timely, for several key reasons, amongst them being,
- The UKRI New Deal will expect Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) to be integrated throughout the recruitment and research environment.
- Imperial’s new EDI Strategy seeks, among other priorities, to embed an EDI focus in our research culture.
- The most recent Imperial’s PRES23 Action Plan has identified the need to improve the support of disabled research students.
- The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre (EDIC) is responsible to identify reasonable adjustments for disabled ECR staff, while the Disability Advisory Service (DAS) currently provides support for all students at Imperial, offering screenings, diagnostics, identifying reasonable adjustments and support. The convergence of postgraduate research students (PGR) and Research Staff support under ECRI points to the need to examine the convergence of support across the student/staff divide for disabled ECRs.
- A key priority for ECRI is to develop inclusive and coordinated support to early career researchers and Imperial departments to create a healthy, supportive and productive research environment. Statistics show that mental ill-health is far more prevalent amongst the neurodivergent.
How to Apply
Please submit your CV together with a 250–300-word statement indicating how your skills address the responsibilities of the role as outlined above. Please email your application to the Early Career Researcher Institute at ecri@imperial.ac.uk
We welcome applications from all Doctoral students at Imperial, but particularly those with lived or first-hand experience of neurodiversity.
The application deadline is Monday 20th of January 2025.
Any additional queries, please contact the Manager of ECRI Administration, Bethan Ritchie.