PRR Project

Summary

Schools face an unparalleled mental health crisis, raising serious economic, healthcare and societal challenges. Teachers of all education sectors and across countries reveal elevated stress and burnout, intending to leave the profession. Teachers’ stress has adverse consequences to their mental/physical health, and negatively influences students (e.g. social adjustment, academic performance, wellbeing), whose mental health problems are also on the rise. Addressing mental health problems in educational settings is a public health priority. Tasks :The prospective employee is expected to focus their work on leading state-of-the-art research with scientific autonomy, expanding educational psychology science in the topic of promotion of mental health and wellbeing in educational settings, by aiming to: a) study the factors/processes (e.g. neurophysiological, social, emotional, cognitive) related to mental health and wellbeing in educational settings, using advanced multimethod approaches, targeting students and agents involved in the educational process (e.g. teachers, parents); b) conduct advanced research on the development, implementation and evaluation of innovative evidence-based psychological programs aiming at promoting mental health and wellbeing in school contexts, tailored for students, teaching/non-teaching staff and parents, fostering inclusive, prosocial and cooperative educational environments; c) adopt multilevel and multimethod approaches to investigate the feasibility, efficacy and economic utility of these psychological programs, ensuring their successful uptake within the educational sector at inter/national levels; d) develop/validate innovative assessment tools in the areas of positive development, psychological health and mental well-being, relevant to the different stakeholders in educational/school contexts.The prospective employee is also expected to: a) lead/participate in research projects with inter/national collaborations related to the promotion of psychological health and mental wellbeing in educational contexts; b) capture external competitive funding; c) establish new and reinforce existing inter/national collaborations and partnerships; d) attract inter/national early career researchers (e.g. PhD students) to conduct high-quality research, aiming to create a specific research team; e) optimize the dissemination of research outputs, for the scientific, educational and lay public, and also for psychologists and professionals intervening in educational settings. Another important task will be knowledge transfer to society and offering consultancy services, particularly to the educational sector, covering public and private institutions, and relevant stakeholders (namely through the Cognitive-Behavioral Clinical Psychology Unit-UPC3 and UC Business). It is also expected that the employee’s work aligns with the host institution’s pedagogical priorities (graduate/post-graduate programs) in the field of educational psychology, and that they can support institutional and management initiatives. Scientific profile:The scientific profile of the candidate should reveal a strong research focus and expertise in the: a) study of factors and processes associated with mental health and wellbeing using advanced multimethod approaches in educational settings; b) development, delivery and evaluation of innovative evidence-based psychological programs aiming at promoting mental health and wellbeing in schools, tailored for students, teachers and parents, fostering inclusive, prosocial and cooperative environments; c) development/validation of assessment tools in the topic of psychological health and wellbeing with application to the school context.Other essential skills to fit this position are a track-record in: leading/participating in research projects and teams; establishing strategic international networks that can advance the excellence of the scientific research; attracting/training young researchers. The scientific profile of the candidate should provide evidence of their contributions to knowledge transfer to the educational sector embedded in the concerned systems of the larger community. Rationale:The RU aims to develop high-quality research in alignment with UN SDGs. This position aims to reinforce CINEICC’s in key areas of its 2025-29 strategic project, namely related to the promotion of psychological health and mental wellbeing in educational settings, responding to the current mental health crisis in education, and in alignment with recent UNICEF guidelines.By pursuing cutting-edge research related to the study of factors/processes associated with mental health and wellbeing, and to the implementation of pioneer evidence-based psychological programs in educational settings, this position enlarges the scope of RU research to these contexts, expanding the contributions of psychological science to the promotion of mental health and wellbeing in educational settings.