The Department of Psychology at Lancaster University is seeking to appoint a full time Senior Research Associate to deliver a 3-year ESRC-funded research project lead by Dr Calum Hartley (PI) in collaboration with Dr John Shaw (Co-I, Edge Hill University), Prof Rebecca Killick (Co-I), and partners at Ygam, Internet Matters, and ADHD UK.
The project you will be working on will be investigating developmental trajectories for primary school children's engagement with video games, microtransactions, and loot boxes. 92% of UK children aged 5-11 years play video games and one-in-three purchase in-game items, spending £26 per month on average. In-game purchases (“microtransactions”) involve exchanging currency for specific virtual items or the opportunity to open enticing digital containers offering randomised rewards (“loot boxes”). Coercive pressure is exerted on children to engage with microtransactions through time-limited availability, rarity, and social desirability of virtual items. Crucially, loot boxes share psychological and mechanistic similarities with gambling, and are concurrently linked with mental health difficulties in adolescents. The risks posed by loot boxes may be particularly great for neurodivergent children, including those with ADHD and autism, who often spend more time playing video games than neurotypical peers.
Research has yet to determine how engagement with loot boxes develops, how they impact on children's broader psychological development, or who is most vulnerable. Generating this knowledge is vital to safeguard children and promote digital literacy for families navigating increasingly commercialised gaming environments.
Developed in partnership with the charities YGam, Internet Matters, and ADHD UK, our project will address four critical objectives:
Establish developmental trajectories and predictors for engagement with video games and loot boxes in primary school children, including those with ADHD and autism.
Determine how children’s engagement with video games and loot boxes impacts on their long-term wellbeing, including mental and physical health, risk taking, and gambling vulnerability.
Examine whether caregivers’ engagement with video games and loot boxes longitudinally predicts similar behaviours in their children.
Understand the factors driving children’s valuation of in-game items (avatar skins) and their motivations for opening loot boxes.
This project will significantly advance how children’s engagement with video games and microtransactions are conceptualised and studied within the family system. Our results will determine developmental pathways and implications associated with children’s and caregivers’ gaming, providing a vital foundation for much-needed evidence-based interventions and policy recommendations. Collaboration with our partner organisations will guarantee community and stakeholder engagement throughout the project, and ensure impact through digital dissemination of key findings, development of online resources for families and educators, policy action briefings, and knowledge-exchange events.
ABOUT YOU
You will:
Have conducted high quality doctoral research involving neurotypical and neurodivergent children, as evidenced by a publication track record that is appropriate for their career stage.
Have excellent verbal and written communication skills and a proven ability to manage research projects effectively.
Have an excellent understanding of ethics and data protection regulations in relation to research activity involving children.
Have a proven ability to analyse complex statistical associations in behavioural data (e.g. via mixed-effects modelling).
Have experience of engaging in Open Science practices, including pre-registering research and data sharing.
Have experience of disseminating research to non-academic audiences and stakeholders.
THE BENEFITS OF THE ROLE
Generous holiday leave - 25 days (pro-rata) annual leave plus University closure days and bank holidays.
Access to employee pension scheme, and annual flexible benefits scheme.
We are committed to promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion across the Faculty, and supporting family-friendly and flexible working policies on an individual basis. The Department holds an Athena Swan Silver Award, which recognises and celebrates good employment practice undertaken to address gender equality in Higher Education and research.
For more information about the benefits of working at Lancaster University, including support for relocation from overseas, see Jobs - Lancaster University
The Psychology Department is a busy teaching and research active Department. It is home to a friendly group of around 40 Academic staff, with teams of Research and Professional Services and Technical staff. The Department supports a large cohort of Undergraduate students; a thriving group of Masters and Postgraduate research students; and a wide range of research projects including several cross-institution grants.
Further information about the Department is available at: http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk
Please upload a cover letter with your application.
We welcome applications from people in all diversity groups, and for this full-time post, we expect a start date of 11th January 2027.
