Research Assistant

About us 

The Research Assistant will join the newly launched Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW), within the School of Security Studies, King’s College London. In partnership with the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham, CRSW will systematically investigate the slavery–war nexus across history and into the future, using novel interdisciplinary methods that span the social sciences, humanities, and data sciences. By reshaping knowledge and creating innovative tools and early warning systems, CRSW aims to support the global goal of eliminating forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking.

About the role 

The Research Assistant will support the research strand ‘Forecasting Slavery in War’. They will support innovative strategic foresight activities and contemporary conflict analysis, focusing upon a wide range of political, military, technological and humanitarian issues. Key responsibilities include: conducting literature reviews, database searches, and case study reports; conducting research on new methods and technologies within foresight and futures research; creating and maintaining datasets in Excel; helping to design and facilitate strategic foresight workshops; contributing to the development of future-crafting methods and activities; creating informative and/or visually compelling materials for workshops and other research activities; contributing to reports and other written outputs; helping to update websites and contribute to communications outputs; and actively participating as a member of the research team.

This is a full-time post (35 Hours per week), and you will be offered a three-year fixed-term contract.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

 Essential criteria

• MA degree in war studies, conflict studies, international security or related field
• Experience conducting research on at least one of the following: non-state armed groups; civil war and insurgency; modern slavery; future trends & threats; emerging technologies
• Experience conducting literature reviews, database research & case studies
• Experience creating and maintaining datasets in Excel (or equivalent)
• Experience designing and/or supporting expert workshops
• Experience with foresight and futures methods (such as scenario design, trend mapping, back-casting)
• Experience designing and/or updating websites
• Excellent writing, research & organisational skills

Desirable criteria

• Experience creating informative and/or visually compelling materials for workshops or other activities
• Experience conducting research on more than one of the following: non-state armed groups; civil war & insurgency; modern slavery; future trends and threats; emerging technologies
• Interest in quantitative methods for forecasting and trend analysis
• Experience as active contributor to a research group
• Demonstrated interest in fictional narratives and imaginaries as source of knowledge and influence

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff & unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse & inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds & communities.

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