Research Associate in the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine

Location: Strand Campus

Contact details: Mr Dilesh Shah , [email protected]

Job description

Available for 26 months from the  1st July 2022 to the 31st August 2024 this post is open to applicants with knowledge and experience of research relevant to care workers in precarious positions such as woman, LGBTI2S people, Migrant Status and minority ethnic people.  

The research project is part of the ESRC Trans-Atlantic Platform for Social Sciences and Humanities and is entitled, En Route to Recovery: Diversity and Vulnerbility in care work during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic and will be based in London. This is a highly innovative cross-sectoral project offering many opportunities for the post holder to develop research skills and options for working in a range of arenas. The project will bring together working relationships with the University of Helsinki (Finland), Lakehead University (Canada) and University of Cape Town (South Africa).  

The overall project will work with people in socially stigmatised and/or economically precarious positions in Finland, Canada, UK and South Africa, who work / have worked in  formal care.The UK element of the research (on which the post holder will work) will involve exploring how young (aged under 25) and older (aged over 55) care workers have experienced their work through the pandemic, and how they see their futures. It will collaboratively examine their ideas of how to ease risks and develop opportunities to deliver and receive care better in the future. Thus it aims to explore how human sustainability and resilience could be improved in post pandemic times through lessons learnt from the crisis situations experienced in different national contexts. Methodologies to be used will include narrative interviews and recording of self-selected accounts of events, experiences and feelings by care workers. An important element of the research is to compare the findings from the 4 different countries. Ideas, findings and interpretations will be exchanged online with researchers in the other 3 projects during the research period.  

The candidate will report to Prof Linda Mckie based at KCL. The postholder will be required to undertake literature reviews, conduct fieldwork in the UK and participant engagement activities in the field (when conditions permit or if not online) and online, analyse qualitative data using appropriate software, as well as disseminate results verbally and in writing to a range of audiences and stakeholders. The postholder will work with and support the Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator. This will include a collective responsibility for maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with participants over time, and for working with colleagues and participants to develop improved approaches to the delivery and experience of care. 

This post will be offered on a part-time, 80% FTE, fixed-term contract for 26 months.