v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 714 entries across 20 domains · CC-BY 4.0714 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack AStablev2026.2

Research associate

A staff researcher (often post-doctoral, sometimes post-master's) employed in a role with substantive scientific contribution and a degree of intellectual independence, typically more senior than a research assistant but not yet an independent principal investigator.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A PhD-qualified research associate at grade 7 leading a workstream within a PI's larger grant

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A research assistant on grade 6 is not a research associate in the UK system

Editorial commentary

In UK academic grading, research associate is grade 7 (above RA at grade 6); in US the term is less standardised. The role often includes mentoring of more junior researchers and may include some teaching. May lead to senior research associate, research fellow, or PI track.

References

UCEA UK Higher Education Academic Pay Grades
Vitae Researcher Development Framework

Also known as

Senior RA · Post-doctoral research associate (PDRA)

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Research associate"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/research-associate" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "Research associate",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/research-associate",
  "description": "A staff researcher (often post-doctoral, sometimes post-master's) employed in a role with substantive scientific contribution and a degree of intellectual independence, typically more senior than a research assistant but not yet an independent principal investigator.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/mentorship-training-and-career-stages/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/research-associate",
  "sameAs": [
    "Senior RA",
    "Post-doctoral research associate (PDRA)"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

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