Research Assistant Job - London - Central | Higher Education

Job Description

Research assistance to conduct a literature review. In my recently published book Good Governance in Nigeria: Rethinking Accountability and Transparency in the 21st Century (Cambridge 2023) I draw on my ethnographic research on Nigerian political practice to theorise the value of face-to-face politics and its' role in popular notions of good governance and accountability as accessibility. My future work will take forward this conceptual work on accessibility with the aim of making contributions to literatures beyond my immediate interlocutors in development studies and African politics, to wider political science literatures.

The proposed research assistance will produce an initial mapping of key literatures on proximate themes. The main question will be: how have politics scholars studied face-to-face interactions between citizens and politicians / elected officials? In what ways have these practices been conceptualised in different bodies of scholarship?

Practically this will involve:

Exploration of pre-selected literatures where there is already scholarship on face-to-face interactions between citizens and elected officials/politicians: linkage politics; constituency service and the literature on the Afrobarometer survey which includes a question about in-person visits to local representatives.

Searches based on more exploratory key words: “in-person politics”; “personal contact”, “face-to-face politics” (as time allows).

The research assistant will conduct literature searches to compile a list of relevant readings. Once key readings are identified the assistant will read selectively, pulling out key quotes / definitions and summarising key readings.

The output will be an annotated bibliography using the Zotero shared library function. The work will be conducted over 5 days (35 hours) between 3rd-14th July. The hours can be spread flexibly over that time to fit around other commitments.

Qualifications

Undergraduate and masters degree in social science discipline

At least first year PhD

Skills

Essential:

Experience carrying out literature reviews in politics, political sociology, or political anthropology. An ability to think about literatures the connections between different literatures across methods, theme, geographical region.

Experience using referencing software of any kind (Zotero, Endnote, Mendeley)

Experience of creating and maintaining systematic notes on literature (via any medium, Word, Zotero, Notion, pen and paper etc.)

Familiarity with literature search tools: Google Scholar etc.

Desirable:

Experience using Zotero

Familiarity with literatures on: politics and the state in the global south; clientelism; ethnographies of politics, constituency service.

Ability to think creatively about how conceptual debates connect to different literatures.

Apply

MORE JOBS LIKE THIS

Researcher

Research lead on the REIEF project Black placemaking in London

Qualifications

Completing a PhD in Geography

Skills

Project management

Report writing

Interviewing

Podcasting

Research Assistant

The Centre for Sustainable Business (CSB) is seeking two part-time research assistants to contribute to a research profile mapping project. This initiative aims to map existing publications, research undertaken, and future research interests of academics at King's Business School (KBS). The objective is to facilitate information sharing and collaboration while providing strategic directions for CSB to carry out work that benefits the academic community.

The research assistants will assist with both online and offline research, including extracting online information and corroborating it with offline interview/survey data collected from KBS academics. They will also be responsible for producing research reports.

The job is flexible and very suited to PhD students working on or interested in areas of Business Studies and Digital Methods.

Qualifications

MA in Business Studies or Informatics/Digital Humanities; ideally a PhD student in this area

Skills

Skills Required:

A background or strong interest in the research areas

Experience in carrying out primary and secondary research

Excellent written and oral communication skills

Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines

Desirable Criteria:

Experience assisting collaborative research projects

Familiarity with web scraping techniques and tools

Experience or interest in stakeholder liaison

Ability to work independently and proactively to the standards required

Invigilator For Oral Exams

The invigilator is responsible for maintaining discipline and good order during the oral exam preparation.

They are required to ensure that bags etc are deposited alongside a wall, or at another place far away enough for students to take out any potential aid. Furthermore, they will need to ensure that candidates do not bring to the desk any notes, books or any other aid, except a pen to take notes. The invigilator also ensures that electronic devices are put away and that mobile phones are only used to check the time. Ten minutes before the end of the assessment, the invigilator should announce the time remaining to the candidates and at the end of the preparation time, the invigilator should instruct candidates to cease writing and go to the exam room.

The invigilator reports to the relevant Language Director and will get more detailed information prior to the exam date.

Qualifications

Doctoral candidates

Skills

Excellent organisational skills

Excellent communication skills

SEE ALL JOBS