Research Fellow in Political Process Preferences in Europe (PoPPiE)

We are delighted to welcome applications for the position of Research Fellow within a new ERC-funded research group on Political Process Preferences in Europe (PoPPiE): Rethinking Conceptual, Ontological and Methodological Foundations. The project aims to develop new ways of understanding how citizens and other political actors think their political institutions should function. Existing surveys like the European Social Survey show extremely strong support for liberal democratic values across Europe, yet people are increasingly voting for far-right parties that reject exactly these values. To make sense of this conundrum, we need to shift away from researching democratic attitudes as a choice between alternative normative models of democracy, such as representative democracy versus direct democracy. Instead, we require an approach that is psychologically more realistic and more closely approximates the reality of the complex democratic systems we inhabit, which do not correspond to the neat conceptual delineations of democratic theories. 

The post holder will take a prominent role in developing the conceptual and methodological innovations to create and operationalise the new approach, as well as executing a more participatory approach to survey development than deriving questions top-down from democratic theory. It will require using mixed methods, for instance; focus groups and cognitive interviewing to better understand the nature and content of political process preferences, then using the insights from this work to create survey experiments that will test the new approach. The post-holder will take a role in all stages of this process, from conceptualisation to data collection and analysis, as well as writing up and presenting the findings. As such, there is scope for the post-holder to bring their own skills and interests to influence the study design. 

This research position will be based in the Department of Politics and International Relations within the Faculty of Social Sciences, at the University of Southampton, and the work will be carried out under the supervision of Rikki Dean (principal investigator of the project). You will join a vibrant and growing Department with a concentration of scholars researching related themes in the Public Opinion Research Network and the Centre for Behavioural, Experimental and Action Research.  

To be successful you will have completed your PhD in a relevant discipline before May 2025 (or equivalent professional qualifications). You will have: a demonstrated interest in mixed methods approach to researching political attitudes of the public and/or other key political actors; a facility for solving conceptual and methodological problems; the ability to plan and organise work independently and as part of a team; the ability to write research presentations and papers for peer review publication. Knowledge and experience of focus groups, cognitive interviewing and/or survey experiments is desirable. 

The Research Fellow post is full-time for a fixed term of 3 years with a negotiable start date. 

Applications will be considered from candidates who are working towards or nearing completion of a relevant PhD qualification. The title of Research Fellow will be applied upon completion of PhD. Prior to the qualification being awarded the title of Senior Research Assistant will be given.

The University of Southampton holds an Athena SWAN Silver Award demonstrating commitment to equal opportunities in the workplace. 

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Rikki Dean, email: r.j.dean@soton.ac.uk 

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