Back to search results

Research Associate - ‘Interpreting the Governance of Human Trafficking: Explaining Policy Practice’

The University of Manchester - Humanities - Politics - School of Social Sciences

Location: Ghent - Belgium
Salary: £37,174 to £45,413 per annum dependent on relevant experience
Hours: Full Time
Contract Type: Fixed-Term/Contract
Placed On: 3rd April 2025
Closes: 6th May 2025
Job Ref: HUM-028463
Job reference: HUM-028463
Salary: £37,174 to £45,413 per annum dependent on relevant experience
Faculty/Organisational Unit: Humanities
Location: Gent, Belgium
Employment type: Fixed Term
Division/Team: Politics
Hours Per Week: Full Time (1 FTE)
Closing date (DD/MM/YYYY): 06/05/2025
Contract Duration: 12 months
School/Directorate: School of Social Sciences

We are recruiting a Research Associate for a Belgium-based research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust, ‘Interpreting the Governance of Human Trafficking: explaining policy practice’. The post-holder will be based at Ghent University in the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy. This is an excellent opportunity for an undergraduate- or master's-degree holder in law or social sciences to participate in a large-scale project on policy analysis and interpretation in the field of criminology. The project is an innovative, comparative interpretive study of public policy and practice regarding human trafficking. It compares public policy and implementation practices across the United Kingdom, Belgium and Romania. The project objectives are to:

  • Discover the interplay between governance structures, interpretation and practitioner discretion
  • Explain how policy workers govern the trafficking problem by interpreting and responding to policy, and what this means for people with lived experience of trafficking
  • Uncover the network and political dynamics operating in trafficking governance, between policy workers and their organisations, and people with lived experience of trafficking.

The post holder, hereby referred to as the Research Associate, will be employed by The University of Manchester UK, but located at Ghent University (Belgium) under the supervision of Professor Tom Vander Beken. The post holder will also be responsible to the Manchester research Project Team, Dr Anna Forringer-Beal, Dr Nick Turnbull and Professor Rose Broad. While the work specifically relates to the Belgium case studies, it would also inform the wider project goals. The Research Associate will be responsible for conducting fieldwork in Belgium, involving: locating, contacting and working with public officials, non-government agencies, and people with lived experience of human trafficking; semi-structured interviews; field observations; interview transcription and translation; delivery of a survey questionnaire; data management; and policy document analysis.

There is the potential for the post-holder to contribute to academic conference presentations and publications. This is an excellent career opportunity for a social researcher to gain skills managing and conducting fieldwork, examining policy texts, and codifying research themes. The Research Associate would join a team focused on collegial, collaborative practice and the production of high-quality research.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:

Name: Professor Tom Vander Beken

Email: Tom.VanderBeken@UGent.be

Name: Dr Nick Turnbull

Email: nick.turnbull@manchester.ac.uk

Name: Professor Rose Broad

Email: rosemary.broad@manchester.ac.uk

General enquiries:

Email: People.recruitment@manchester.ac.uk

Technical support: jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.

Please see the link below for the Further Particulars document which contains the person specification criteria.

We value your feedback on the quality of our adverts. If you have a comment to make about the overall quality of this advert, or its categorisation then please send us your feedback
Advert information

Type / Role:

Subject Area(s):

Location(s):

Job tools
 

PhD Alert Created

Job Alert Created

Your PhD alert has been successfully created for this search.

Your job alert has been successfully created for this search.

Ok Ok

PhD Alert Created

Job Alert Created

Your PhD alert has been successfully created for this search.

Your job alert has been successfully created for this search.

Manage your job alerts Manage your job alerts

Account Verification Missing

In order to create multiple job alerts, you must first verify your email address to complete your account creation

Request verification email Request verification email

jobs.ac.uk Account Required

In order to create multiple alerts, you must create a jobs.ac.uk jobseeker account

Create Account Create Account

Alert Creation Failed

Unfortunately, your account is currently blocked. Please login to unblock your account.

Email Address Blocked

We received a delivery failure message when attempting to send you an email and therefore your email address has been blocked. You will not receive job alerts until your email address is unblocked. To do so, please choose from one of the two options below.

Max Alerts Reached

A maximum of 5 Job Alerts can be created against your account. Please remove an existing alert in order to create this new Job Alert

Manage your job alerts Manage your job alerts

Creation Failed

Unfortunately, your alert was not created at this time. Please try again.

Ok Ok

Create PhD Alert

Create Job Alert

When you create this PhD alert we will email you a selection of PhDs matching your criteria.When you create this job alert we will email you a selection of jobs matching your criteria. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply to this service. Any personal data you provide in setting up this alert is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice

Create PhD Alert

Create Job Alert

When you create this PhD alert we will email you a selection of PhDs matching your criteria.When you create this job alert we will email you a selection of jobs matching your criteria. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply to this service. Any personal data you provide in setting up this alert is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice

 
 
More jobs from The University of Manchester

Show all jobs for this employer …

More jobs like this
Join in and follow us

Browser Upgrade Recommended

jobs.ac.uk has been optimised for the latest browsers.

For the best user experience, we recommend viewing jobs.ac.uk on one of the following:

Google Chrome Firefox Microsoft Edge