Organisation/Company KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
Research Field History Literature
Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) First Stage Researcher (R1)
Country United Kingdom
Application Deadline 18 Nov 2025 - 00:00 (UTC)
Type of Contract Other
Job Status Full-time
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
Offer Description
About us
The Research Assistant will join the newly launched Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War(CRSW) , within the School of Security Studies, King’s College London. In partnership with the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham, CRSW will systematically investigate the slavery–war nexus across history and into the future, using novel interdisciplinary methods that span the social sciences, humanities, and data sciences. By reshaping knowledge and creating innovative tools and early warning systems, CRSW aims to support the global goal of eliminating forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking.
About the role
The Research Assistant will support the research strand ‘(Re)conceptualising Slavery in War’, working for the KCL co-lead of the strand. They will support conceptual research on the relationship between slavery and war across history and different academic disciplines. The research assistant will be part of a cohort of early career researchers working collaboratively to deliver a range of research outputs and events across the four Centre research strands.
Key responsibilities include: conducting research, conducting literature reviews, database searches, summarising sources, and case study reports; helping to design and facilitate expert workshops and professional events; creating informative and/or visually compelling materials for workshops and other research activities; contributing to reports and other written outputs; contributing to communications outputs; coordinating work within the research strand; and actively participating as a member of the research team.
This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a 2.5 year fixed term contract.
About you
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
- MA degree in war studies, conflict studies, international security or related field.
- Experience conducting research on at least one of the following: war studies, military history, strategic thought, political theory, just war theory, slavery studies
- Working knowledge of major datasets and classifications of war and armed conflict
- Excellent knowledge and understanding of conceptual/descriptive research methods in social science
- Experience conducting literature reviews, database research, and case studies
- Experience designing and/or supporting expert workshops and/or professional events
- Experience creating informative and/or visually compelling materials for workshops or other activities
- Excellent writing, research and organisational skills.
- Experience using reference management software
- Experience as active contributor to a research group
- Experience conducting research on more than one of the following: war studies, military history, strategic thought, political theory, just war theory
- Demonstrated interest in the conceptual analysis of war and/or slavery
- Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the role of slavery and/or war in global economic history.
Downloading a copy of our Job Description
Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.
Further information
We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.
To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.
Grade and Salary: £39,076 - £42,819 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance
Close Date: 18-Nov-2025
Contact Person: Dr Jack McDonald
Contact Details: Jack.mcdonald@kcl.ac.uk
