Research Fellow

Job Purpose

The role of the post holder will be to work as part of a team of researchers to contribute to the research activity of the Third Sector Research Centre.

The post holder will undertake research under the supervision and guidance of TSRC’s Director, Professor John Mohan. The work is funded by the Leverhulme Trust and focusses on analyses of change in the voluntary sector in four selected communities over time. The primary role of the researcher will be working on trends in the numbers, characteristics and resources of voluntary organisations, using administrative data, survey data and some archival data.

The post holder will be expected to work closely with other colleagues in TSRC at Birmingham. The project will employ two other qualitative researchers while TSRC currently has 5 other staff on projects funded from various sources. From April 2019 the researcher will also support a further TSRC project, funded by ESRC, by providing analyses of trends in the resources of third sector organisations.

The post is based in the offices of the Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham, and regular attendance is expected (at least two days per week).

Person Specification

• Degree in Social Science, or a related subject such as sociology, political science, social policy, statistics, geography, or planning, with a strong quantitative component; ideally completed or about to complete a PhD, but well-qualified candidates with good Master’s degrees and / or relevant research experience will be considered.
• Demonstrable experience of linking and managing large-scale databases
• Demonstrable quantitative analytical skills
• Demonstrable experience of use of appropriate statistical packages (e.g. SPSS, STATA (preferred)) and database software (Access).
• Ability to work collaboratively as a member of research team
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly to different audiences
• Ability to lead the planning and delivery of research programmes and/or specific research projects