Research Assistant (War Studies)

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 ‘(Re)conceptualising Slavery in War’, working for the KCL co-lead of the strand. They will support conceptual research on the relationship between slavery and war across history and different academic disciplines. The research assistant will be part of a cohort of early career researchers working collaboratively to deliver a range of research outputs and events across the four Centre research strands.

Key responsibilities include: conducting research, conducting literature reviews, database searches, summarising sources, and case study reports; helping to design and facilitate expert workshops and professional events; creating informative and/or visually compelling materials for workshops and other research activities; contributing to reports and other written outputs; contributing  to communications outputs; coordinating work within the research strand; 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 2.5 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: war studies, military history, strategic thought, political theory, just war theory, slavery studies
• Working knowledge of major datasets and classifications of war and armed conflict
• Excellent knowledge and understanding of conceptual/descriptive research methods in social science
• Experience conducting literature reviews, database research, and case studies
• Experience designing and/or supporting expert workshops and/or professional events
• Experience creating informative and/or visually compelling materials for workshops or other activities
• Excellent writing, research and organisational skills.

Desirable criteria

• Experience using reference management software
• Experience as active contributor to a research group
• Experience conducting research on more than one of the following: war studies, military history, strategic thought, political theory, just war theory
• Demonstrated interest in the conceptual analysis of war and/or slavery
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the role of slavery and/or war in global economic history.

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.

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