Post Doctoral Research Associate

Fixed Term Contract: End Date: 29th December 2025

About the role

We are seeking to appoint a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to work in the Centre for Protecting Women Online funded by Research England. The successful candidate will work closely with Professor Rose Capdevila and Professor Lisa Lazard who are based in the School of Psychology & Counselling. We are looking for a PDRA who would seek to play an active part in building the research culture in the centre. They will use their research knowledge, skills and grant bidding experience to provide support for research activities and bidding. As well as facilitating the bids of others, they will have an opportunity to collaborate with researchers in the centre to initiate, shape and develop funding applications which develop their own research. Relevant training and professional development opportunities will be made available.

Project Description

The Centre for Protecting Women online will be a vehicle for understanding and addressing challenges posed to women’s safety online through a novel, interdisciplinary and ambitious research agenda. This will be combined with cross-sectoral, collaborative outputs and interventions which inform law, policy, technology development and practice to reduce online harms suffered by women and girls; minimise anti-social behaviours online whilst promoting pro-social behaviours and help build tech/ software that helps ensure accountability, credibility and helps facilitate justice. The work will be delivered through a management and five interwoven Work Streams. Professors Capdevila and Lazard will lead on the development of understanding of online interactions and how they might function to enable or hinder problematic or violent behaviour.

Key responsibilities

This is not intended as a comprehensive list of duties or a restrictive definition of the post but is rather a guide.

• Play an active part in building and supporting the Centre’s research culture.
• Initiate and contribute to innovative funding bids in collaboration with other researchers.
• Support the development and submission of funding bids in the Centre including working on systematic literature reviews, data and impact plans, networking with non-academic stakeholders and partners, working with internal research staff and scoping of potential funding sources.
• Assist with research outputs, including presentation and publication.
• Contribute and support current research related activities and projects in the Centre.
• Contribute to the delivery of the University’s strategy for research.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of the University’s local, national and international academic and community networks related to Centre-related research.
• Work closely with key members of the Centre to support and enhance the Postgraduate Research culture.

Skills and experience

Essential

• A PhD in Psychology or related field and familiarity with critical and feminist approaches to gendered violence.
• Expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods.
• Knowledge and familiarity with research on online environments, in particular social media.
• Experience of grant bidding to external funders.
• Experience of authoring or co-authoring academic outputs (e.g., journal articles, books, research reports).
• Excellent data management skills.
• Excellent IT skills (e.g., NVivo, SPSS, Qualtrics or similar).
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary team.
• Ability to plan and organise own work.
• Ability to adapt to changing situations in a timely manner.
• A commitment to, and understanding of, equal opportunities.
• A commitment to own personal development.

Desirable

• An undergraduate or master’s degree in a relevant field.
• An existing track record of publication, particularly in academic journals.
• Experience of working and interacting with external organisations, particularly from culturally diverse backgrounds.
• Experience of writing or communicating research ideas with non-specialist audiences.
• Experience of contributing to the planning of project activities and outputs.

The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential. We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength.  We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.

Closing Date: Midnight on 22nd November 2024