Research Fellow

Location: Highfield Campus

Fixed Term for 6 months

The Department of Social Statistics and Demography at the University of Southampton is looking to recruit a talented and ambitious quantitative Research Fellow/Senior Research Assistant to contribute to a world-leading project on Survey Data Collection Methodology Survey Futures https://surveyfutures.net/. 

Survey Futures is a collaboration between nine universities and three survey organisations, in partnership with the National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Its objective is to deliver a step-change in survey research to ensure that it will remain possible in the UK to carry out high-quality social surveys of the kinds required by the public and academic sectors. The Director of the collaboration is Professor Peter Lynn (ISER, University of Essex) and the Deputy Director is Dr Olga Maslovskaya (University of Southampton).

Survey Futures aims to assess the quality implications of the most important survey design choices relevant to future UK social surveys, to provide good practice guidance and practical training materials, and to identify promising ways to improve the capacity and skillset of both interviewers and research professionals.

The researcher will support the activities of a phase 2 research project, which is part of the research strand 1 “Enhanced sampling frames and procedures”: “Under-represented population sub-groups in social surveys: Methods for respondent-driven sampling with probability-based seeds” led by Dr Maslovskaya (University of Southampton).

Working under the direction of Dr Maslovskaya, you will be part of a large multi-institution team of survey data collection methods experts in the UK. You will analyse probability-based NatCen online panel data collected using the respondent-driven sampling (RDS) method.

You will have a postgraduate degree in a Quantitative Social Science or equivalent professional qualifications and experience and a good knowledge and understanding of Survey Methodology. You will also have excellent knowledge of advanced statistical methods and experience in analysing large-scale datasets, as well as solid practical experience in the use of STATA, R or a similar software package, and good written and oral communication skills. 

The deadline for applications is the 20th July 2025. The position is tenable from the 1^st of September 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Informal inquiries are welcome and may be made to Dr Olga Maslovskaya via email: om206@soton.ac.uk.

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.

Closing Date: Sunday 20 July 2025

Interview Date: Monday 28 July 2025

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