Postdoctoral Research Associate

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.

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