About us

We are seeking to recruit an organised, reliable and enthusiastic qualitative researcher with expertise in sociology or another relevant social science discipline to work on our ESRC-funded project, ‘Young Lives, Young Futures’. This is a longitudinal mixed methods study investigating how England’s education and training system can better support the transitions into further education and work of the 50 per cent of young people who don’t go to university.

The research is focussed on the 15-20 age group and has a particular emphasis on engaging with the perspectives of young people themselves, including those who are most marginalised and whose input is often not heard in policymaking. Further details about the study can be found on our project website here.

The post-holder will be based in the Centre for Public Policy Research, a friendly and vibrant research centre within the School of Education, Communication and Society in the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy.

About the role

The successful candidate will work collaboratively as part of a larger research team. Their responsibilities will include: planning and organizing qualitative fieldwork; qualitative data collection and analysis; contributing to project publications; and co-leading the impact work with the young people. The latter will involve working in partnership with a human rights charity and professional film maker to support young people to reflect on the project data and their own experiences as a springboard for developing their self- and collective advocacy skills. The work may require some travel and overnight stays for fieldwork.

The successful candidate will have a PhD in sociology or another relevant discipline (e.g. anthropology, social geography, social policy), strong qualitative research skills and a strong interest in social justice. They will be able to show evidence of high quality academic writing, excellent written and spoken English, a commitment to working collaboratively with others inside and outside the university and substantial experience of grassroots work with diverse groups of young people, for example, in youth work or similar settings.

We particularly welcome applications from candidates from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

This is a part time post (14 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 30 September 2025.

About you

To be successful in this role, candidates will need to be able to demonstrate the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. PhD in sociology or other relevant discipline (e.g. anthropology, social geography, or social policy)
2. Strong qualitative research skills including expertise in qualitative interviewing and qualitative data analysis using NVivo
3. Evidence of high quality academic writing
4. Strong communication skills, with excellent written and spoken English, including the ability to communicate effectively with young people, as well as professionals and practitioners from a range of agencies and organisations
5. A proven capacity to reach out to and develop rapport with diverse groups of marginalised young people, for example in youth work or similar settings
6. Strong organisational and administrative skills, including the ability to prioritise and multi-task and work effectively both as part of a team and independently
7. A commitment to social justice and equality in relation to practice and to working collaboratively with colleagues and others inside and outside of the university. (This could be evidenced, for example, in previous research conducted, community activism and/or experience of implementing equality policies in a work setting.)
8. Dedicated, hardworking, reliable and flexible (including a willingness to travel and stay overnight at hotels/B&Bs for fieldwork for short periods of time if necessary)

Desirable criteria

1. Familiarity with debates relevant to the study, e.g. on young people’s education-to work-transitions, youth employment and unemployment, vocational education and training, careers support and guidance, intersectionality
2. Experience of working on funded research projects
3. Experience of facilitating activities and/or creating outputs that involve generating impact from research
4. Experience of developing high-quality research-based publications

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert, and a sample piece of academic writing, ideally using qualitative data. This could be a draft or published journal article or book chapter on which you are sole or lead author, or a chapter from your PhD. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.

Further information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held on 18th December 2024.

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.

This post is subject to Disclosure and Barring Service .