Student Casual – Research Assistant – Social Policy – Grade 5 – 907073

The School of Social Policy and Society is seeking to appoint a part-time, casually contracted Research Assistant to support the development of an external grant application to the NIHR Research Programme for Social Care (RPSC).

The post holder will undertake time-limited, discrete research tasks that are essential to strengthening the conceptual, legal and methodological foundations of a proposed study examining how English Local Authority learning disability policy addresses intimate lives, sex and relationships. This role is designed as a developmental opportunity for a student interested in social policy, social care, disability studies and applied research. The Research Assistant will work under the close supervision of the Principal Investigator, who has co-led a previous policy analysis in this area for an NIHR-funded project.

Main duties:

• Conducting a focused literature and document review on the legislative, statutory and historical foundations of local learning disability strategies in England.
• Identifying and summarising relevant legislation, statutory guidance and policy documents that govern the development of local learning disability strategies.
• Assessing whether local authorities are under a statutory duty to produce and maintain learning disability strategies and the legal implications of this.
• Undertaking a case study analysis of a local learning disability strategy to pilot and refine an existing five-step critical policy analysis framework.
• Supporting qualitative document analysis, including coding policy documents (e.g. using NVivo or similar software), under the guidance of the Principal Investigator.
• Assisting with the early development of a stakeholder database to support planned co-production workshops with people with lived experience, practitioners and policy professionals.
• Preparing clear written summaries of findings to support grant development and methodological design.

Required knowledge, skills, qualifications & experience:

Essential criteria:

• Demonstrable interest in social policy, social care, learning disability and/or autism research.
• Experience of conducting literature reviews or documentary analysis.
• Ability to summarise complex policy or legal material clearly and accurately in writing.
• Strong organisational skills and ability to manage time effectively within a short-term project.
• Ability to work independently while following guidance and meeting agreed deadlines.

Desirable criteria:

• Studying social policy, sociology, disability studies, public health, social care, or a related discipline.
• Familiarity with UK social care, health or disability policy.
• Experience of qualitative data analysis and/or use of NVivo or similar software.
• Interest in co-production, participatory research or stakeholder engagement.

For any informal queries, please contact Beth Jay.

The University of Birmingham restricts all students to working up to 20 hours per week during term time for a maximum of 13 consecutive weeks. 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.

Regarding the use of AI in applications, we review hundreds of applications and shortlist candidates based on their unique perspective, motivations and potential. Cover letters generated through, or edited by, AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT or CoPilot) are easy to identify. They produce generic answers and will not score highly enough to progress. You may use AI tools for research, but all written content in your application must be your own work. Authenticity and originality are key to standing out in this process. Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we're unable to contact all applicants individually. You can check the progress of your application by logging into the Worklink jobs portal using the same email address you used to apply. If you haven't heard back within six weeks of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful.

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