Postdoctoral Research Associate

Working at Durham University

A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a warm and friendly place to work, a unique and historic setting - Durham is a university like no other.

As one of the UK's leading universities, Durham is an incredible place to define your career.The University is located within a beautiful historic city, home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and surrounded by stunning countryside. Our talented scholars and researchers from around the world are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives.

We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things in the world. Being a part of Durham is about more than just the success of the University, it's also about contributing to the success of the city, county and community.

Our University Strategy is built on three pillars of research, education and wider student experience, but also on our keen sense of community and of inspiring others to achieve their potential.

Our Purpose and Values

We want our University to be a place where people can be free to be themselves, no matter what their identity or background. Together, we celebrate difference, value one another and are each responsible for creating an inclusive community that is respectful and fair for all.

Find out more about the benefits of working at the University and what it is like to live and work in the Durham area on our Why Join Us? - Information Page

The Role and Department

We are recruiting a team of ambitious early career policy sociologists to contribute to a major new £1.5million UKRI-funded project From the Centre to the Periphery -which addresses regional economic disparities within the UK, and specifically examining the role education can play to reduce deep-seated spatial divides.

We will address this major policy challenge by carrying out the first quasi-experimental evaluation of the Opportunity Areas programme, a £100million national area-based initiative that sought to close gaps in social mobility between different regions and places of the UK. It was a long-term investment in areas of the country that have the most pronounced levels of deprivation and where social mobility is the lowest. Working with our local authority partners, the Department for Education and other third-sector organisations, our research will help to shape future area-based education and social policy.

Those appointed to these posts will work directly with our interdisciplinary team of geographers, sociologists and educationalists, including Professor Michael Donnelly (Education, Bath), Professor Nadia Siddiqui (Education, Durham), Professor Richard Harris (Geography, Bristol), Dr Joanne Davies (Education, Bath), Dr Ceri Brown (Education, Bath), Professor Matt Dickson (IPR, Bath) and Professor Nick Pearce (IPR, Bath).

In this current round of appointments, we are recruiting a full-time Durham-based Research Associate (1.0FTE) as well as a part-time Bath-based Research Assistant (0.50FTE). These posts represent an exciting opportunity for ambitious and enthusiastic early career researchers to join one of the largest studies ever to have been carried out into spatial inequalities in education and social mobility within the UK.

These posts represent an excellent opportunity for early career researchers wishing to develop an academic career in public policy research - those appointed will receive mentoring from the senior colleagues involved in the project to develop co-authored and sole-authored outputs in leading academic journals that are world-leading in quality. We will work with the team to develop their own careers and provide the mentorship to enable them to apply for their own follow-on projects.

The Durham-based Research Associate will primarily be responsible for large-scale primary data collection based on interviews, focused groups, observations of official meetings and panel discussions. We are seeking experienced researchers with a strong background in social policy evaluations and expertise in applying research methods for understanding policy mechanisms. Ideal candidates will bring expertise in assessing policy impact and effectiveness, with a focus on the nuances of policy design and implementation. They will be involved in all aspects of data collection across 24 case-study locations, data analysis and the production of academic and non-academic outputs. We are looking for a policy sociologist with strong qualitative research skills, including an ability to engage with stakeholders that include children and young people, teachers, school leaders, and policy-makers.

The University of Durham's School of Education is one of the best research leading departments in the UK with an outstanding reputation for excellence in research and employability of our students. We ranked joint first in REF2021 for our research impact and academic outputs. The School of Education is recognised for prolific research environment where doctoral students and early career researchers receive exposure to world-class research. Our researchers have opportunities of working with experienced academics on high-quality and large-scale research.

For details on the Bath-based Research Assistant please see here.

Key responsibilities:

This appointment will be a fixed-term Post-doc Research Associate, (1.0FTE, 2 years), Durham University

• To assist the research leads (Durham, Bristol and Bath) in developing field study protocols an
• To prepare data from field-studies and prepare the data for analyses and synthesis.
• To prepare and deliver presentations on research outputs/activities to audiences which may include research sponsors, academic and non-academic audiences.
• To publish high quality outputs, including papers for submission to peer reviewed journals and papers for presentation at conferences and workshops under the direction of the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder.
• To assist with the development of research objectives and proposals.
• To conduct individual and collaborative research projects under the direction of the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder.
• To work with the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder and other colleagues in the research group, as appropriate, to identify areas for research, develop new research methods and extend the research portfolio.
• To deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines by discussing with the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder and offering creative or innovative solutions.
• To liaise with research colleagues and make internal and external contacts to develop knowledge and understanding to form relationships for future research collaboration.
• To plan and manage own research activity, research resources in collaboration with others and contribute to the planning of research projects.
• To deliver training in research techniques/approaches to peers, visitors and students as appropriate.
• To contribute to fostering a collegial and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.
• To engage in wider citizenship to support the department and wider discipline.
• To travel within the country for data collection and dissemination of research findings .

The post-holder is employed to work on this research project line managed by Prof Nadia Siddiqui. Whilst this means that the post-holder will not be carrying out independent research in his/her own right, the expectation is that they will contribute to the advancement of the project, through the development of their own research ideas/adaptation and development of research protocols.

Successful applicants will, ideally, be in post by 1st February 2025.

Working at Durham

A competitive salary is only one part of the many fantastic benefits you will receive if you join the University: you will also receive access to the following fantastic benefits:

- 30 Days annual leave per year in addition to 8 public holidays and 4 customary days per year - a total of 42 days per year.

- The University closes between Christmas and New Year - please include or delete if not applicable.

- We offer a generous pension scheme, As a new member of staff you will be automatically enrolled into the University Superannuation Scheme (USS).

- No matter how you travel to work, we have you covered. We have parking across campus, a cycle to work ...