Research Assistant or Research Fellow

School/Department School of Water, Energy and Environment
Based at Cranfield Campus, Cranfield, Bedfordshire
Hours of work 37 hours per week, normally worked Monday to Friday. Flexible working will be considered
Contract type Fixed term contract
Fixed Term Period For 11 Months
Salary Full time starting salary is normally in the range of £32,810 per annum, pro rata. (Research Assistant if close to submitting PhD) or £35,559 per annum, pro rata (Research Fellow)
Apply by 18/09/2022

Role Description  

About the Role

Your role will be to contribute to assessing the adequacy of existing structures and processes for minority ethnic communities’ equitable access to digital services in health, housing and energy sectors and how they may need to be improved upon in the future in the face of increasing digitisation and sharing of data across different organisations and sectors.

You will work on an EPSRC-funded (£3.4M) project, Protecting Minority Ethnic Communities Online (PRIME ). The project aims to broaden understanding of online harm and how it can be mitigated through new systems, tools and processes by focusing on Minority Ethnic (ME) communities' experiences of digitalised services, particularly in the areas of housing, health and energy. We will draw on knowledge, methods and skills from social policy, cyber security and privacy, data mining and machine learning; human computer interaction, applied linguistics and educational technology. Working closely with National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence online (REPHRAIN (https://www.rephrain.ac.uk ) the PRIME consortium includes researchers from Heriot-Watt, Glasgow, York, Cranfield, and Open Universities, and it will engage with a wide range of individuals from ME communities, community organisations, public agencies and energy suppliers to identify and categorise the nature of the harms experienced, and assess the adequacy of existing systems and processes to counter them.

About You

You would have received (or close to receiving) a PhD in social science and humanities (such as political science, sociology) or organizational management and innovation or governance of digital data, with excellent skills to collect and analyse qualitative data via expert interviews and workshops and co-produce research outputs to improve the design of harm-mitigating structures and processes. With excellent team-working and inter-personal skills, you will have peer reviewed journal publication record. Further information can be found by visiting the project webpage .

In return, you will have exciting opportunities for career development by collaborating with a vibrant, multi-disciplinary team, and to be at the forefront of world leading research and education, joining a supportive team and environment.

About Us

As a specialist postgraduate university, Cranfield’s world-class expertise, large-scale facilities and unrivalled industry partnerships are creating leaders in technology and management globally. Learn more about Cranfield and our unique impact here .

Cranfield Energy and Sustainability is one of eight themes at Cranfield University offering world-class and niche post-graduate level research, education, training and consultancy. Providing a sustainable, secure and affordable energy supply is fundamentally important to our lives. Cranfield is advancing the potential solutions in energy and power to ensure our future needs are met.

As one of the three centres within Energy and Sustainability, Centre for Energy Systems and Strategy (CESS) pioneers multi-disciplinary approach by bringing together energy and power systems modelling, digital tools (peer to peer trading, AI), social, policy and regulatory aspects of energy transitions, with a focus on simulation and modelling.

Our Values and Commitments

Our shared, stated values help to define who we are and underpin everything we do: Ambition; Impact; Respect; and Community. Find out more here .

We aim to create and maintain a culture in which everyone can work and study together and realise their full potential. We are a Disability Confident Employer and proud members of the Stonewall Diversity Champions Programme. We are also committed to actively exploring flexible working options for each role.  Find out more about our key commitments to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Flexible Working here .

Working Arrangements

Collaborating and connecting are integral to so much of what we do. Our Working Arrangements Framework provides many staff with the opportunity to flexibly combine on-site and remote working, where job roles allow, balancing the needs of our community of staff, students, clients and partners.

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact Nazmiye Ozkan, Head of Centre for Energy Systems and Strategy, on (E): [email protected]

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further details on E: [email protected] .

Please quote reference number 4212.