Research Assistant

About us

UCL is one of the world’s leading multi-disciplinary universities. We operate in a global context and are committed to excellence, innovation and the promotion of global understanding in all our activities: research, teaching, learning, enterprise and community engagement. Founded in 1826, UCL was the first university in England to admit students regardless of race, religion or gender. It continues to thrive on the creativity and diversity of its community which today comprises more than 13,000 staff and 18,300 undergraduates and 20,600 postgraduate students from 150 different countries across the globe. UCL is consistently ranked within the world’s top ten universities (QS World University Rankings).

The Department of Political Science at UCL is a leading international centre for political research. It offers a uniquely stimulating environment for the study of all major fields of politics, as well as public management and public policy. Over 150 people make up the Department of Political Science including academic, teaching, and research staff, professional services, and MPhil/PhD students (for an overview of our research, see https://www.ucl.ac.uk/drupal/site_political-science/research). More details about the Department of Political Science and UCL can be found below and at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/political-science/ and https://www.ucl.ac.uk/about/.

BreaktheBias project seeks to address one of the most challenging problems of international human rights law – the issue of unequal access to human rights justice. Everyone is said to have a right to have their claim heard in court and receive redress. But the reality at international level does not appear to reflect this. Of all successful claims made before the European Court of Human Rights, only 15% are made by women. The rest are made by men (53%) and anonymous applicants or organisations.

In a similar vein, individuals who can afford a lawyer before UN Treaty Bodies seem to be more successful in having their claim declared admissible and proceed to the merits stage than claimants who appear on their own. And we know almost nothing about how many elderly or disabled victims of human rights violations actually end up in court. Whilst current scholarship has blamed such disparities on inconsistencies in adjudication and on the opacity of rules regulating access to international justice, the examples raise questions of systemic fairness and potential inequality in accessing justice for different groups of claimants.

In an era of increasing inequality and loud expressions of racial, ethnic, gender, and other prejudice, this project investigates how our current structures and practices – as international lawyers – create and perpetuate inequities for less powerful groups.

About the role

The Department of Political Science is seeking applications for two part-time Research Assistants (25% FTE). The positions are part of the BreaktheBias Project, funded by UKRI and led by Professor Veronika Fikfak.

The Research Assistants will be responsible for data collection from different national case law databases as well as the European Court of Human Rights, qualitative analysis and interviews in selected jurisdictions.

Depending on their knowledge and experience, their focus will be on human rights litigation in the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, or other jurisdictions.

They will assist with mapping out the domestic legal pathways and will be involved in tracing barriers to justice.

The Assistants will work closely with other members of the team.

They will be encouraged to present their work at academic conferences and workshops.

The positions are available as soon as possible from April 2026, for 24 months. The work may be adapted to the RAs availability and may be concentrated in specific time periods (eg summer months).

The salary for the Research Associate position will be £39,148 (incl London Allowance) per annum pro rata, based on a full-time equivalent salary (0.25 FTE).

About you

The Research Assistants will work closely with Professor Veronika Fikfak and the other members of the team.

The duties of the position will include:

▪ Data collection from different judicial/case law human rights databases, qualitative data analysis.

▪ Mapping out different actors enabling/preventing access to justice and interviewing these actors.

▪ Knowledge and understanding of the processes before international human rights systems (courts and tribunals). The systems included in the project are: European human rights system, Inter-American human rights system, UN Treaty Bodies, African Human Rights system, and certain decisions of domestic courts.

Essential and Desirable Skills:

▪ The post holder will be expected to have a Masters in law. Human rights experience is recommended. Current PhD candidates in human rights are especially invited to apply.

▪ Knowledge of European Human Rights system and experience from domestic jurisdictions that interact with these systems would be a very important asset. (Relevant jurisdictions include: UK, Denmark, France. A good understanding of domestic human rights case law and relevant judicial structures would be desirable).

▪ Knowledge and understanding of the processes before domestic and other international human rights systems is desirable.

▪ Knowledge of relevant foreign languages – especially French and Danish is also an asset.

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents we also offer some great benefits some of which are below: 41 Days holiday (including 27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days) Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE) Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan On-Site nursery On-site gym Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service Discounted medical insurance

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/

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