Research Assistant

PRIMARY DETAIL
- Salary Package: $57.21 per hour (HEW 5, Step 1) with a 3% increase in July 2025, plus 11.5% employer’s superannuation
- Appointment: Casual
- Location: Macquarie University, Wallumattagal Campus (North Ryde)

THE ROLE

This is a research assistant role in the School of Psychological Sciences. You will be supporting the conduct of an Australian Research Council funded research project exploring the growth of capacities for resilience in emerging adults aged 18-25 years.

Duties will include:
- Supporting the analysis of longitudinal quantitative data.- Supporting data cleaning and screening.- Management of research records and participant files.- Supporting the checking of transcription files.- Supporting updates on the team website.- Conducting amendments to ethics protocols.- Supporting the writing of literature reviews and production of manuscripts for publication.- Any other duties within the staff member's level of competence as required.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
Emerging adulthood (ages 18-25) is a unique time when young people are facing significant changes and stressors as they transition into adulthood. The COVID-19 pandemic and its on-going effects have only added to these demands. It is important for both individuals and society to understand the factors that affect the ability of young adults to grow capacities that will help them to manage these stressors. What if these diverse stressors could be harnessed to aid the growth of capacities for resilience, specifically emotion regulatory flexibility?

We will discover how this transformation takes place, the time course for these changes, and why some young adults excel at it while others struggle. In doing so, we will empower young adults to turn these stressors into catalysts for refining their emotion regulatory flexibility, setting them on a path towards positive outcomes in adulthood.

With Australia's future prosperity riding on the shoulders of its emerging adults, this research is more important than ever. During this key window, emerging adults who can enhance their flexibility in emotion regulation are in a better position to ensure positive trajectories of functioning.

We will explore new frontiers in emotion regulation research, share our findings through workshops, online resources, and peer-reviewed papers, and empower the educators, organisations, and communities who shape the lives of young adults with the tools they need to guide them towards a brighter future.

ABOUT US
We are a thriving team of masters, PhD students, and researchers interested in human resilience. We work with many populations but have a special interest in emerging adults. We are located at Macquarie University within the School of Psychological Sciences. The team lead is Professor Monique Crane who has 14 years experience researching resilience in extreme and high-performance workplaces.
- Number of days: Casual 924 hours across 12 months with possible opportunity for extension across project life.

TO APPLY
To be considered for the role please provide a short letter (2-pages) addressing the selection criteria and a copy of your CV for consideration to:
Selection criteria:
- Bachelor’s degree in psychology or a related field.- Demonstrated ability to conduct comprehensive literature reviews using academic databases (e.g., PsycINFO, PubMed).- Experience with quantitative research methods and related software (e.g., SPSS, R, MPLUS)- Competency in using Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate research findings to both academic and non-academic audiences.- Ability to solve problems that may arise during the research process.- Demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a research team, as well as independently with mínimal supervision.- Understanding of and commitment to ethical research practices and guidelines, including confidentiality and data protection.

Desirable criteria:
- Track record of publications- Experience with the modelling of longitudinal data.- Postgraduate qualifications or ongoing study in psychology or a related discipline.- Experience in preparing research reports, academic papers, or presentations.- A specific interest in the psychological resilience or emotional health, evidenced by previous work, study, or projects.- Awareness of and sensitivity to cultural diversity and its implications for research practices, especially in participant recruitment and engagement.- Experience in preparing or amending ethics protocols for research projects.
- Do I need to work on site?_
The expectation is that you will work mostly on site at the School of Psychological Sciences, but there is flexibility where requested.

For any role specific queries please contact Monique Crane, Professor via

Applications Close: Monday 31st March 2025 11:55PM AEDST

Applications Close:
31/03/2025 11:59 PM

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