Research Assistant (part-time)

Job id: 084567. Salary: £32,979 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance (pro rata for part time posts).

Posted: 14 February 2024. Closing date: 06 March 2024.

Business unit: Social Science & Public Policy. Department: Department of Political Economy.

Contact details:Anne Rasmussen. [email protected]

Location: Strand Campus. Category: Research.

Job description

The Department of Political Economy is seeking to appoint up to two Predoc/Research Assistants to work part-time on the research project ADVODID with Anne Rasmussen.  The Advocacy in Digital Democracy (ADVODID) project is funded by an European Research Council Consolidator Grant. It seeks to implement the first large-scale project designed to provide evidence on the effects of advocacy on citizens and policymakers in both online and offline settings. It analyzes the use, impact and democratic consequences of digital advocacy strategies by assessing interactions of advocacy groups, citizens and political representatives in eight countries (potentially Australia, Chile, Denmark, India, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and the US). The project sets out to address – theoretically and empirically – the potentials and challenges for modern democracies that arise from digital advocacy tools. 

The successful applicants will have an excellent academic track record, a strong knowledge of research methods, and ideally have some expertise in experimental and/or quasi-experimental research and/or social data science. The successful applicants will support the research across the project’s three work packages with a potential to co-author research outputs from the project. 

The successful applicants will be based at the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London (e.g., attending departmental seminars, engaging with research groups etc.). Founded in 2010, the department is the only dedicated Department of Political Economy in the UK offering a unique interdisciplinary environment with staff and students from all over the world.   

Applications will be considered from MA and PhD students.  

All applications should include: 1) a cover letter; and 2) a CV (including names of two referees) and 3) a single-authored writing sample. 

The posts will be offered on a fixed-term contract from 1stApril 2024 for a period of six months with strong potential for extension. A later start date is also an option. 

This post will be offered as a part-time or full-time position – with the potential to negotiate to actual time commitments before commencing the employment. The time commitment can range between 10% and 100% FTE.

Key responsibilities

• Help support research on the three work packages of the research project ‘ADVODID’, which includes:
• Collecting data in collaboration with students assistants through for example original surveys, APIs, web-scraping and/or personal interviews
• Cleaning, managing and analyzing quantitative data
• Organizing events to disseminate the project’s findings.
• Potential to contribute to developing experimental, quasi-experimental or observational research designs in the political representation, advocacy and social media context
• Potential to co-author research outputs from the project

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience 

Essential criteria

1.      Current MA or PhD student in Political Science, Communication Science, Data Science, Economics, Sociology, or a closely related discipline. 

2.      Solid expertise in research methods, including experience with coding and data management in common statistical programming languages (e.g. Stata, R, and/or Python). 

Desirable criteria

3.      A good grasp of relevant academic literature (e.g. theory and research on (inequality in) political representation, social media, digital democracy and/or interest groups). 

4.      Demonstrated capacity for producing excellent papers published, or capable of being published, with academic journals and presses. 

5.      Experience with developing and applying quasi-experimental and experimental research designs. 

6.      Ability to conduct interviews in multiple languages spoken in the countries included in the study.  

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6. 

The selection process will include a panel interview, conducted online if necessary.