Pre-Doctoral Research Assistant in Economics and Public Policy

Location: Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG

About the Blavatnik School of Government

Our vision is of a world better led, a world better served and a world better governed. We are a global school committed to improving the quality of government and public policymaking worldwide, through three routes: teaching current and future leaders; generating research with impact; and engaging with governments and practitioners.

What we offer

The School is a collaborative, friendly, and dynamic department based in an award-winning building in Oxford. We host regular events and talks with well-known guest speakers – all of which are open to staff. On the social side, we have regular coffee/cake mornings for staff, a family-friendly Halloween event, and Christmas and summer parties.

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ wellbeing and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including:

• An excellent contributory pension scheme
• 38 days’ annual leave
• Family leave schemes and a comprehensive range of childcare services
• Cycle loan scheme and discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans
• Membership to a variety of social and sports clubs
• Opportunities for hybrid working (typically 60% of working hours on-site and 40% remotely)

More information about working at the School can be found on our jobs page. 

About the role 

The Blavatnik School of Government is seeking a Research Assistant to work with Dr İrem Güçeri on a portfolio of projects in Economics and Public Policy. In the first instance, the Research Assistant will support research on:

• Tax policy using large administrative datasets, in particular from the UK’s HM Revenue and Customs.
• Innovation policy using large company-level patent portfolio information.

The post will give the Research Assistant a unique opportunity to work with multiple teams and gain experience in: (i) working with large administrative datasets on policy issues surrounding tax and investment policy; (ii) designing research projects and writing academic papers; (iii) guiding public policy through research.

This post is fixed term for 12 months on a full-time basis 37.5 hours per week.

About you

You will be required to hold a Bachelor’s degree in economics, finance, public policy, or other degree with a quantitative focus and possess sufficient specialist knowledge in economics to work within established research programmes. Demonstrated interest in public policy will be essential.

Application process

Please upload a supporting statement that outlines how you meet the selection criteria in your own words, along with your CV and the details of two referees as part of your online application.

The closing date for applications is at 12 noon (UK time) on 17 March 2026

Interviews are scheduled to take place week commencing 30 March 2026

Advert information