Psychologist & Social Researcher

Are you passionate about the world of work and the people in it? Do you wish to use your research expertise to help build the Defence workforce of the future? If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Work, the workplace and the workforce continue to rapidly evolve, and these changes are affecting Defence. We need to understand how best to engage, include, train, develop, and value the future Defence workforce, and help everyone thrive in sophisticated environments with new technologies. Our important research into Defence personnel and training is doing just that. We are looking for experienced people to join our team, either on a permanent contract, or on loan / as a secondee (available if you are currently with another Government department).

At Level 4, Dstl Psychologists and Social Researchers need to use their social research/psychology skills, and knowledge of methods, analysis, and reporting, to make insightful contributions to particular research tasks and to lead on designing or assuring smaller scale research tasks or parts of larger tasks. They need to support their team’s engagement with suppliers from academia / industry, and with communicating findings to clients.

Dstl recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion as people from diverse backgrounds bring fresh ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive working environment in which each employee fulfils their potential and maximises their contribution.

We particularly welcome female and ethnic minority applicants and those from the LGBTQI community, as they are under-represented within Dstl at these levels.

In this role you will:

• Support the delivery of psychology, behavioural science and/or social science research against Defence challenges in the HR and work context, either through supporting and sometimes leading discrete pieces of work (where you are responsible for your own research and analysis) or assuring research delivered by industry and academia.
• Work collaboratively as part of inter-disciplinary teams (including working with partners across industry, academia and internationally) to deliver innovative and effective solutions to our customers’ problems.
• Provide support to planning and conducting psychology, behavioural science and/or social science exercises and trials across training and personnel, as well as analysing the data produced.
• Develop your understanding of the UK Defence and Security domains.

Job Dimensions

Working within multi-disciplinary project teams and based within the Training and Personnel team; a team of 16 who flexibly work across two sites (Dstl Porton Down and Dstl Portsdown West) and at home. There may be opportunities to travel to other Defence sites and attendance at relevant conferences.
You will be supporting the task leads in their delivery of studies; supporting the technical leads to scope and plan and communicate the research. You may be a task lead on a small scale piece of work.
You will not have any line management responsibility (i.e no direct reports).

We are looking for people who have:

• Experience of designing, leading and delivering research, as a psychologist, a behavioural scientist or a social scientist.
• Good knowledge of, and ability to apply, qualitative and quantitative research design, methods and analysis
• The ability to communicate complex research to technical and non-technical audiences, selecting an appropriate method of communication to maximise the impact of the research (i.e. technical reports, briefing memos, presentations etc.)
• Self-motivation and is comfortable working independently under their own initiative, but with the ability to work collaboratively within inter-disciplinary teams.
• A commitment to continued professional development and a willingness to up-skill in new / emerging areas and / or work outside your immediate area of expertise.

Skills

• Good knowledge of, and ability to apply, qualitative and quantitative research methods including statistical methods, interview research, focus groups, and, potentially, innovative/experimental approaches.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a team, understand directions / taskings accurately, and support other team members.

Experience

• Conducting high quality human or social research in an academic, industry, or government context.
• Working as part of a team and developing effective working relationships.
• Communicating research findings clearly and in an appropriate format.

If you have an MSc in Occupational Psychology that is approved as stage 1 by BPS then support will be provided if candidates are interested in working towards Stage 2 qualification in Occupational Psychology with the BPS

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

Dstl’s full range of great benefits can be found in the information pack which includes:

• Financial: An excellent pension scheme starting from 26% employer contribution (find out more here). In Year Rewarding Achievement bonuses and thank you vouchers. Rental deposit scheme and cycle to work scheme.
• Flexible working: Full flexibility working options include alternative working patterns, compressed hours, job shares and annualised hours. Remote working may be available dependent on role.
• Flexible working hours: Ability to bank hours in a 12 month reference period including the ability to accrue and use 3 days per calendar month.
• Annual leave: 25 days pro rata (rising to 30 after 5 years) plus 8 public holidays with the ability to buy/sell 5 additional days per annum.
• Family: Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks with full pay, an additional 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid
• Learning and Development: Dstl encourages and supports charterships, accreditations and provides employees access to fully funded apprenticeships up to level 7 (Masters Degree). Dstl will pay for 2 memberships with relevant bodies/institutions. Employees also have access to Civil Service Learning.
• Facilities: Onsite parking, EV Charging points, restaurants, cafés and gyms.

The information pack can be found attached to the job specification on Civil Service Jobs.

Our Diversity Networks

We have a number of support networks to ensure all employees feel supported at work. These include the following:

• Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Network
• Race, Faith and Culture Network
• Parents and Carer Support Network
• Alternative Working Network
• Gender Equality Network
• New Starters Network
• Enabled Network, for people with visible and non-visible disabilities.

Job contact :

Name :
Dstl Recruitment Team
Email :
dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email :
dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk