The Constitution Unit is launching a new 22-month research project – Democracy in the UK after Brexit – funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of its Governance after Brexit programme. Applications are now invited for a Research Assistant on that project. The post is for 33.75 hours per week (90% FTE).

The project will examine attitudes to democracy in the UK today, by running survey experiments and holding a citizens’ assembly. Further details are available here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/news/2021/jan/new-project-democracy-uk-after-brexit

The role

The successful candidate will work with Dr Alan Renwick (PI) and other members of the project team in assisting all parts of the research process. These will include:

• reviewing relevant scholarly literatures
• designing survey experiments
• devising, administering, and processing surveys of citizens' assembly members
• preparing materials relating to the UK constitution and democracy for the assembly
• coding assembly transcripts
• writing up findings.

The successful candidate will have:

• a First or high 2.1 Bachelor's degree in Political Science or a related field
• demonstrable knowledge of the key institutions and policy actors in British politics and an understanding of the key issues and arguments concerning the constitution and democracy in the UK
• well developed quantitative and qualitative research skills
• the ability to gather and organise complex material from a range of sources
• excellent written communication and organisational skills
• excellent interpersonal skills
• an open mind to debates about democracy in the UK.

The ideal candidate would also have:

• a Master’s degree in political science or a related field at Merit or Distinction level
• experience of conducting political research
• experience of working in an academic research centre or similar
• demonstrable understanding of the theory and/or institutions of deliberative democracy.

The post is funded until the end of October 2022 in the first instance.