Job Description
Position Details
School or Department: College of Life and Environmental Sciences
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Grade/Band: Grade 6
Hourly rate: £16.69 per hour plus holiday entitlement
Casual contract from: 28/04/2025 - 07/07/2025
Advert closing date: 03/04/2025
Number of positions available: 2
Please note that this vacancy may be taken down early depending on the number of applications received. We advise you to submit your application promptly.
Our offer to you
People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.
We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.
The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.
Background
A team from across the University, led by the School of Government, has secured seedcorn funding to create a new research agenda that brings together insights from literature and practice on 'democratic resilience' and 'climate resilience'. Climate resilience and democratic resilience are intimately interlinked: one is not possible without the other, yet there appears to be little research that brings these concepts and ideas together. Bringing them together is urgent, given the need for governments to work with the public to act on and respond to climate change at a time when democratic spaces are under threat.
We are looking for a research assistant who can assist with literature searches and review, support the drafting of a working paper on democratic resilience and climate change, support the formation of a UoB-wide working group to guide the project, assist in convening an internal workshop to discuss the findings, outline a policy brief, and identify a strategy for pursuing funding for a scaled-up project, assist in the organisation of a joint BISCA-CEDAR webinar to discuss findings with stakeholders and assist in the recording of a podcast episode for the CEDAR People Power Politics podcast.
Role Summary
Two Research Assistants will be recruited for this post. They will be working together and in collaboration with the project leads to achieve the duties listed below. The role will include responsibilities for research, outreach, and logistical support to ensure this pilot project is delivered:
1. Research (about 70% of the role): reviewing relevant literature and supporting the writing of outputs
2. Outreach (about 15% of the role): Coordinating internal outreach to organise UoB-wide working group; Support external outreach through podcast and policy-oriented outputs.
3. Logistical support (about 15% of the role): Helping with the organisation of a workshop and webinar
The distribution of responsibilities is indicative and might vary over the duration of the post depending on the project's needs. RAs will be able to schedule their work patterns flexibly, in coordination with the project leads.
Main Duties
1. Undertake literature searches and review literature
2. Contribute to the planning and writing of a working paper
3. Support the convening of a University-wide group to contribute to the project
4. Assist in the organisation of a workshop, a webinar, and podcast (including possibility of hosting the podcast)
5. Contribute to the writing of outputs
6. Work closely with other RA and meet regularly with project leads
Person Specification
1. Degree or equivalent in relevant subject area, e.g. Political Science, International Development, Geography, Climate Change
2. Experience of literature search and review
3. Experience in organising and supporting workshops and webinars
4. Ability to analyse information and communicate effectively
5. Ability to access and organise resources successfully
6. Capacity to work independently and as part of a small team
7. Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly
For any informal queries, please contact Joshua Panteli (j.panteli@bham.ac.uk)
Valuing excellence, sustaining investment
We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.
The University of Birmingham restricts all students to working up to 20 hours per week during term time. If your application is successful and your course does not follow the usual academic term timetable (e.g. PGT, PGR or PhD student), you and your supervisor must formally agree vacation periods if this role exceeds 20 hours per week. In addition to this, please be aware if you are an International student you will be required to apply to the Registry for the appropriate Authorised Absence.
You are only eligible to apply to this role if you are a current University of Birmingham student. If you are not a University of Birmingham student your application will not be considered.
To work you will need to carry out a right to work check. These checks will need to be completed prior to work commencing.
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