The University of Edinburgh
Our MA in Health in Social Science is an interdisciplinary programme, drawing on professional and research expertise in a range of Health-related Social Science disciplines, including Sociology, Social Policy, Public Health, Clinical and Health Psychology, Nursing Studies, Counselling and Psychotherapy and others. We welcome applications from across this broad spectrum of disciplines and specialisms. The four-year undergraduate MA programme offers students an opportunity to build a robust understanding of the complexity of human experience in the area of health, illness and the social arrangements for care.
Our Masters and Doctoral programmes in Counselling and Psychotherapy educate students to become qualified counsellors and psychotherapists, both in the UK and across the globe. Based in the dialogue between the psychodynamic and person-centred approaches, the programmes provide professionally-accredited education in non-directive, relationship-based therapeutic practice. The Counselling and Psychotherapy programmes are founded on social science and practice-based research and scholarship, including case study and experience-near research paradigms and creative-relational inquiry approaches.
You will be joining an enthusiastic, motivated and diverse team where different experiences and skills are valued and contribute to our ability to provide an excellent student experience. You will be offered mentoring and professional development to enhance your teaching, including the opportunity to undertake the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice which can lead to Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. This post will commence in August 2025.
You will contribute to core teaching on both the MA (Hons) Health in Social Science Programme and our postgraduate Masters and Doctoral Counselling and Psychotherapy Programmes, supervise both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations and support practice placements. All teaching is fully on campus.
Your Skills And Attributes For Success
- You will have a Postgraduate Qualification in an applied social science in health, such as sociology, psychology, nursing, counselling and psychotherapy or other relevant discipline.
- You will have experience of delivering education in a field relevant to applied social science in health, in both undergraduate programmes and postgraduate professional training including lecturing and leading tutorial groups.
- You will be a qualified practitioner in Counselling and Psychotherapy, holding professional accreditation with a relevant Counselling and Psychotherapy professional body (COSCA, BACP, UKCP or equivalent) or eligibility to apply for accreditation.
- You will have the ability to design and deliver course materials and assess student performance in both academic assignments and counselling practice development.
- You will have experience of supporting students in practice skills development.
- You will be able to take responsibility for organising your own activities and for the management of allocated resources.
- You will have the ability to work effectively both independently and as a member of a team.
Click to view a copy of the full job description (opens new browser tab).
Please apply including a cover letter and an up-to-date CV.
As a valued member of our team you can expect:
- A competitive salary of £49,559 – £60,907 per annum.
- An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.
- To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community.
- To develop undergraduate teaching skills in a well- supported team recognising your contribution and rewarding success.
- To develop counselling and psychotherapy professional programme teaching skills in a well- supported team recognising your contribution and rewarding success
- Comprehensive Staff Benefits, such as a generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the total value of your pay and benefits.
Championing equality, diversity and inclusion
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages (opens new browser tab).
The University is able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. If successful, an international applicant requiring sponsorship to work in the UK will need to satisfy the UK Home Office’s English Language requirements and apply for and secure a Skilled Worker Visa.
Key dates to note
The closing date for applications is 2 nd July 2025.
Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.
Interviews are likely to be held at the end of July. Please contact Heather Wilkinson, Counselling, Psychotherapy and Applied Social Sciences, if you have any queries about the role ( H.Wilkinson@ed.ac.uk ).
About Us
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
About The Team
Health in Social Science, Counselling and Psychotherapy is one of Scotland’s leading providers of postgraduate education, training and research in the field of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Since the 1970s, Counselling and Psychotherapy has been at the forefront of the development of counselling as a professional activity in Scotland and across the globe. We provide a range of professionally accredited education programmes, from the Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma, through to Masters and Professional Doctorate. We also offer research degrees, the MSc by Research and PhD/MPhil. To support our training and research, we operate our own public counselling service, the Hope Park Counselling Centre, one of only three such centres in the UK. Our core orientation is a dialogue between psychodynamic perspectives and the person-centred approach. Our core ethos is to provide a rich relational engagement with clients, students, research participants and colleagues, an engagement which values dialogue, subjectivity, diversity and the complexity of the lives we live in contemporary times.
The staff team is made up of senior practitioners in the field, who are also experienced teachers, supervisors and researchers. We are committed to original, empirical and theoretical research that engages critically with the practices of counselling and psychotherapy, and we are especially keen to encourage research concerned with the interface between counselling, psychotherapy and social, cultural and political life, as well as research that draws directly on practitioners’ own therapeutic work. Our expertise lies in qualitative, reflexive and critical research approaches. Methodologically we draw upon autoethnographic, arts-informed, narrative and collaborative traditions. Our research portfolio is interdisciplinary, integrating concepts, practices and scholarship from counselling and psychotherapy with a range of disciplines including sociology, human geography, philosophy, theology, religious studies, education and cultural studies.
To find out more, visit https://www.ed.ac.uk/health/subject-areas/counselling
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