Research Assistant/ Research Associate (History/Qualitative Research)

Company description:

We are a world class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

Job description:

Salary: 

Research Assistant: £31,396 to £32,982 per annum

Research Associate: £33,966 to £44,263 per annum

The Role

We are seeking to appoint a Research Assistant/ Research Associate with a background and skills in historical research, to work on an innovative project entitled Caring Communities: Rethinking Social Care 1800-present, led by PI Dr Claudia Soares, and funded by UKRI.

Caring Communities: Rethinking Children’s Social Care 1800-present is an ambitious and innovative research project that uses historical and contemporary sources in innovative ways to generate new understandings about the role, value and meaning of children’s care through time, and importantly, offer new ideas about what children’s care could look like in the future. The project develops an innovative, interdisciplinary framework that combines approaches from historical research with creative, arts-based methods and participatory practices to provide a major cultural and affective study of children’s care between 1800-present. 

Your role will focus on the extensive collection and interpretation of historical evidence relating to children's care between 1800-1945. This will include archival, family history and genealogical research. Additionally, you will work creatively and collaboratively with project partners, including major UK care agencies and Care-Experienced groups, to collect and generate evidence of contemporary experiences of care. This will involve qualitative, creative and participatory methods of research.

You will join a small interdisciplinary team led by the PI, alongside an RA with family history/genealogical expertise, and a RA with Creative Research/Arts-Based expertise. With support from the PI, you will be required to collaborate with a range of stakeholders, expected to take initiative in your work, and consult with the wider team over the details of the project. You will be expected to attend regular in-person and online project meetings, and to participate fully in the research life of the School. 

The project is hosted in the School of History, Classics & Archaeology, which has a vibrant and active research culture with particular strengths in interdisciplinary working and supporting the holistic career development of early career colleagues. 

You will be provided with academic and pastoral support within the School, and training will be provided to develop your competences. You will benefit from access to the School’s mentoring scheme, individual research expense allowance, extensive training opportunities including a bespoke personal development plan, and peer support from a cross disciplinary cohort of talented postdoctoral and early career researchers. Newcastle University is a signatory to the Concordat to support researchers’ career development which entitles Researchers up to 10 days annually of personal CPD activities. 

For more information about the school please visit our website: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/hca/about/

To apply, please upload an up-to-date CV and cover letter outlining how you meet the essential criteria of the job. Please also upload one writing sample (e.g. journal article, thesis chapter, or essay-in-progress) that you feel best reflects your research, preferably between 7,000 to 10,000 words.

Please get in touch with any informal enquiries about the role with the project's PI - Dr Claudia Soares at claudia.soares@newcastle.ac.uk. 

A successful DBS check will be a condition of appointment.

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