Research Fellow in Slavery and War (Forecasting and Data Science) (Fixed term)

In 2025, the University of Nottingham and King’s College London will launch the new Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War, funded by the Leverhulme Trust for up to £10 million over ten years.

The Centre will be the first overarching and integrative attempt to understand the relationships between slavery and war. Structured around four interconnected research strands—(Re)conceptualising, Understanding, Forecasting and Tackling—the Centre’s programme aims for far-reaching insights that transform global responses to modern slavery in conflict settings.

This role is one of seven new roles being recruited into the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham as part of the new Centre, alongside further role recruitment at King’s College London.  The Centre is based within dedicated Leverhulme Centre space in Highfield House and the expectation is the role holder will work in person in Highfield House for at least 60% of the working week (e.g. minimum three days for full time roles).

The Rights Lab is the world’s largest, leading group of modern slavery researchers. Our challenge-led, team-based approach to research fosters interdisciplinary collaboration. We are committed to ensuring our work is relevant, timely, responsive, accessible, and actionable. 

The role holder will conduct primary and secondary research and contribute to the development of new approaches, methodologies, and techniques appropriate to the research. Specific projects will be identified in line with the role-holder’s expertise and skills, as well as Centre need. The role-holder will have the opportunity to use their initiative and creativity to identify areas for research, develop research methods and extend their research portfolio within the thematic area of slavery in war. 

Candidates should have a PhD in a relevant field and experience or demonstrable interest in working as part of a research team. You will be at a relatively early stage of your academic careers. Funder (Leverhulme Trust) guidelines on the definition of ‘early career researcher’ for its own, separate fellowship scheme include: you have not yet held a full-time permanent academic post; you hold a doctorate by the time you take up the role; and you have not held postdoctoral positions to pursue your own independent research for more than three years. These guidelines are helpful indications of the Centre’s expectations of candidate career stage.

This is a full-time role, available as a fixed-term post commencing by November 1, 2025 (date to be negotiated) and ending August 31, 2028, with potential for continuation.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an on-campus interview day at the University of Nottingham, to be scheduled for a day between September 15 and September 25. Interview invitations will be made in the week commencing September 1. The interview day will include opportunities to meet with current ECRs based in the Rights Lab, informational sessions, and a campus tour, as well as your formal interview, and a recruitment task.

Please contact Professor Zoe Trodd (Zoe.Trodd@nottingham.ac.uk) if you have further questions about this role. Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted.

To help you succeed, we published Candidate Guidance to provide support on the application and interview process.

Discover our benefits, visit Your Benefits website.

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