Postdoctoral Researcher on Methodology and Ethnography

About Us

King’s College London is one of the UK’s leading research universities, renowned for its commitment to academic excellence & societal impact. The African Leadership Centre (ALC) is a dynamic unit based within the King’s School of Global Affairs (SGA) that delivers postgraduate teaching, doctoral training and academic research. The ALC focuses on the intellectual study of leadership within the fields of development, peacebuilding and security with attention to Global South contexts. It also works on pressing global challenges including climate change, sustainability, and governance. The Centre is committed to building a community of thought, policy and practice leaders and spaces for critical intellectual dialogues, debates and knowledge creation on its themes of focus. The ALC also has a base in Africa, with a sister Centre that is in Nairobi. This postdoctoral role is part of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship on justice in critical minerals governance across Australia, Chile and Ghana led by Dr Clement Sefa-Nyarko.

About The Role

This role will support the methodological development of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship – Justice in Critical Minerals Governance & Energy Transitions – focusing on Hermeneutical Ethnography, Visual Embodiment Methodologies, and participatory research approaches.

The project addresses the urgent need to understand & integrate justice into global energy transitions, particularly in the governance of critical minerals. The project responds to deep contestations over the meaning & purpose of justice in the shift to net zero emissions, which have led to policy gaps, community grievances, and disruptions in global supply chains. At its core is a pioneering methodology – Hermeneutical Ethnography – which enables the collection, co-creation, and interpretation of verbal and non-verbal expressions, including silences, symbols, & stories. This approach facilitates a deeper exchange of meaning between communities and researchers, allowing aspirations and lived experiences to shape justice frameworks that are both empirical and conceptual. The project will apply this methodology in mining communities across Ghana, Chile, and Australia, focusing on Lithium and other critical minerals essential for clean technologies. By capturing the voices and silences of those most affected by extractive industries, the project aims to build a bottom-up, data-driven framework for justice that informs national policies and global climate agendas. It will explore how environmental degradation, livelihood loss, and socio-political tensions can be mitigated through inclusive governance and strategic partnerships. Ultimately, the overarching Fellowship seeks to elevate justice to the same level of urgency as scientific and technological innovation in climate action. It will generate distinctive empirical data and foster interdisciplinary expertise, ensuring that the post-2030 UN Sustainable Development Agenda fully accounts for justice in energy transitions.

The postholder will work within the African Leadership Centre, Global Institutes, School of Global Affairs at King’s College London, contributing to the design & implementation of this bottom-up knowledge systems that centre community voices and silences in critical minerals governance. The role involves collaboration with international partners in Ghana, Chile, and Australia, and supports training and mentoring of a small research staff across the project. The postholder is responsible for developing and refining research methodology, training research staff, and supporting interdisciplinary collaboration. The postholder will work in collaboration with Dr Sefa-Nyarko and  the wider Fellowship team and partner institutions.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per-week), and you will be offered a fixed-term contract for 3 years, but starting off with an initial 1 year contract renewable for up to the 3 years.

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