Research Associate - The School Meals Service: Past, Present and - Future?

We have an exciting full-time opportunity in the School of Education for someone with a strong background in the history of education and oral history methods to join a 2-year ESRC-funded project examining the history, lived experience and possible futures of the School Meals Service in the UK.

You should have (or be very close to having) a PhD in History or History of Education and ideally experience with a variety of oral history methods. We are looking for someone who can also design and carry out documentary and archival research and work successfully both independently and as part of a team.

You will be working as part of a supportive multidisciplinary research team, with colleagues based at the University of Sheffield, UCL and the University of Wolverhampton. The team includes historians and sociologists of education as well as educational ethnographers. You will be based in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield, which is home to a diverse and welcoming academic community with staff and students from all over the world. Our forward-thinking teaching and influential research are respected globally. You will be  working with Dr Heather Ellis to develop a social history of school meals in the UK through a combination of archival and documentary research and the collection of new oral history interviews with former parents, teachers, school catering staff and students to explore the lived experience of the school meals services from its beginnings in 1906 to the present day. As a key member of the project team you will have opportunities to co-design research instruments, plan and organise data collection and develop both independent and collaborative research outputs.

We’re one of the best not-for-profit organisations to work for in the UK. The University’s Total Reward Package includes a competitive salary, a generous Pension Scheme and annual leave entitlement, as well as access to a range of learning and development courses to support your personal and professional development.

We build teams of people from different heritages and lifestyles from across the world, whose talent and contributions complement each other to greatest effect. We believe diversity in all its forms delivers greater impact through research, teaching and student experience.

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