Demos is looking to recruit a full-time researcher for an initial period of 7-8 months, until February/March 2016, with the possibility of extension beyond this period, based on our review of capacity and workload for 2017.
The researcher will be working across its Citizenship and Public Services and Welfare Programmes. We currently have many interesting research and evaluation projects in train, and this position will help us with the additional research capacity we need to deliver them.
These programmes represent the core of Demos’ work – as such, the Researcher will have the opportunity to carry out research and assist with practice evaluations across a diverse and wide range of policy areas from health, housing and poverty to immigration, integration and education.
We are looking for a candidate with the ability to work on many policy areas, so research experience and policy interests in any of these or other related areas would be a bonus – as would the ability to gain policy knowledge quickly. Candidates with quantitative research experience would be of particular interest given the data-orientated nature of some of our larger projects.
The primary responsibilities for this position to be:
- Project-based public policy research, including desk-based research and qualitative field work (interviews, focus groups, site visits) and/or quantitative analysis
- Drafting policy reports, proposals, blogs and other written outputs for policy or media audiences
- Organise project-relevant events, including seminars and roundtables
We are looking for a candidate who has:
- Proven research skills, plus experience of conducting research beyond an undergraduate degree – e.g. at post-graduate level, or experience working for a charity, think tank or business (essential)
- Excellent writing skills – including the ability to write to publishable standards in a variety of styles such as articles for the press and website and detailed policy reports (essential)
- Familiarity with policy areas relevant to Demos’ broad remit (essential)
- An understanding of politics and policy-making processes in the UK (essential)
- Ability to work independently in a highly-pressured environment and to tight deadlines (essential)
- Experience of working in a think tank environment (desirable)
- Experience of undertaking quantitative analysis and/or qualitative field work (desirable)
Salary: circa £24,000 to £28,000 pa
Contract: Temporary (7-8 months), full time, with a possibility of extension