Reporting to Professor Linda Mulcahy, the post holder will work at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies on a Nuffield Foundation funded project, ‘Developing a mixed funding model for free and early legal advice’. The legal advice sector supports the most vulnerable in society, but its funding model is widely agreed to be in crisis, impacting access to justice and wider wellbeing and life chances. This project will facilitate evidence-based national debate about creative and supplementary funding models for the sector, going beyond a focus on increasing legal aid funding for individual cases to encompass the broader role of the sector in educating the public, preventing disputes, and providing advice in areas outside legal aid. Research will explore international funding models that are under-developed in a domestic context, involving an examination of overseas schemes to assess their potential for application in England and Wales. The project consists of four key stages: (a) interviews to assess priorities and systems for fund distribution; (b) a comprehensive review of overseas schemes; (c) pause and evaluation; and (d) six in-depth case studies, informed by stakeholder engagement workshops. The outcome will include an open access database, policy briefings, a project report with recommendations, and broad dissemination of findings. The postholder will collaborate with a research group including the PI, an economist, a law and economics post-doctoral fellow, and an advisory board. Applicants should have a relevant PhD/DPhil, experience in socio-legal studies or social sciences, and skills in research management, report writing, and communication. This full-time, fixed-term position lasts 24 months from April 2025 to March 2027, based at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, OX1 3UQ. Applications require a CV and cover letter. The closing date is midday on January 20, 2025, with interviews likely in early February.