21529 Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA)

Unit : 
Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FASS)
Salary : 
37,099 – £39,347
Location : 
Milton Keynes
Please quote reference : 
21529
Full time, Fixed Term Contract until 31/7/27
Closing Date : 
3 April, 2024 – 12:00

Flexible working patterns will be considered.

(It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be approximately once per week.

Change your career, change lives

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education.

About the Centre

The Centre for Protecting Women Online is funded by a £7.7 million grant from Reserach England. The centre is based in the Faculty of Business and Law and will collaborate closely with other Faculties, including the School of Psychology & Counselling, based in the The Faculty of Social Sciences. It 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 ouputs and intervientions which inform law, policy, technology deverlopment 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 of the Centre will be delivered through a management and five interwoven Work Streams. Professors Capdevila and Lazard, who are based in the School of Psycholgy &Counselling , will lead on the development of understanding of online interactions and how they might function to enable or hinder problematic or violent behaviour. 

The role  

The Open University is recruiting a highly motivated Post Doctoral Research Associate (PDRA) to work in the Centre for Protecting Women Online funded by Research England. The successful candidate will work closely with Professors Capdevila and Lazard leading the Human Behaviour Workstream and Professor Jurasz, Director of the Centre for Protecting Women Online, who leads the Centre’s cross-disciplinary research team. 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 dynamic PDRA who would seek to play an active part in building the research culture in the centre. The postholder 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. They will be assisting with research outputs, including presentation and publication and contribute to/support current research related activities and projects in the Centre. Relevant training and professional development opportunities will be made available.

Skills and experience

The candidate is expected to hold a PhD in Psychology or related field and have familiarity with critical and feminist approaches to gendered violence. They need to have expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods and knowledge and familiarity with research on online environments, in particular social media. Experience of grant bidding to external funders is essential for this post as well as experience of authoring or co-authoring academic outputs (e.g., journal articles, books, research reports). A strong record of research and/or knowledge exchange that is commensurate to the position is required.

More information can be provided via a link to the Job Description.

If you would like to discuss the application or recruitment process before making an application, please contact Jo Beach at Resourcing Hub on 01908 655544 or [email protected] quoting the reference VRF 21529.

What you get in return

We have a strong commitment to providing training and development in and beyond your current role. This includes thorough induction into the organisation and regular reviews of your training and development needs.

We also offer a great range of benefits that support our employees and their families for the long term. Staff Benefits include an attractive pension proposition and 33 days holiday per annum pro rata, plus Bank Holidays and Christmas closure days.

How to apply

Unless otherwise stated in the advert, all applications are completed online via the instructions on The OU Job’s page. Applications submitted via 3rd party websites will not be received.

Access details for disabled applicants are available from the Resourcing Hub, telephone: 01908 655544, quoting the vacancy reference above.

To apply for this role please submit the following as one document;

• CV
• Personal statement, up to 1,000 words, you should set out in your statement why you’re interested in this role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the required competencies for this role as detailed in the job and person specification.

Please save your document with the following file name as appropriate to the vacancy you are applying for: reference, surname, forename.

You will need to have your documents ready ahead of submitting the electronic application. Please click on the APPLY NOW button below to be redirected to our application page.

APPLY NOW

You will receive updates regarding your application from [email protected] . Please ensure this email address is added to your list of trusted senders so it does not go to your junk folder.

You can view your application communications on the Candidate portal .

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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.

Job related information : 

• Terms and Conditions – Research Staff  (PDF)

• Terms and Conditions – Research Staff  (Word document)

Posting Date : 
6 March, 2024 – 15:30