Salary: £36,024 - £44,263
FTE: 1.0
Term: Fixed
Term till 30th June 2026
Closing Date: Tuesday,
30 April 2024
Challenging Justice Inequalities for Children in Conflict with the Law
The Children & Young People’s Centre for Justice and the Schools of Social Work & Social Policy, Law and Education are inviting applications for a Research Associate to work on a Nuffield Foundation-funded project entitled: ‘Challenging Justice Inequalities: Co-producing change with children in conflict with the Law’. The project is co-directed by Dr Nina Vaswani, Principal Investigator (CYCJ), Prof. Yvette Taylor (Education), Dr Michelle Donnelly (Law) and Dr Robert Porter (CELCIS).
This is an excellent opportunity for an early career researcher to work on a multi-disciplinary and participatory project that aims to create real world impact. The researcher will be part of a Faculty with thriving teaching and research cultures and will have opportunities to engage with other researchers doing work in relation to children, young people, intersectionality, rights and justice. To be considered for the role, you will be educated to a PhD level in an appropriate discipline, or have a Master’s degree and relevant professional experience. You will have experience of coproduction or participatory research with children and young people, and a clear ability to engage with children and young people. You will have an ability to plan and organise your own workload effectively and an ability to work within a team environment. You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to listen, engage and persuade, and to present complex information in an accessible way to a range of audiences.
Please note that this is a fixed term appointment until 30th June 2026 and the successful candidate will be required to be registered in the PVG Scheme. The post will commence in July 2024.
The Project
Children in conflict with the law experience significant disadvantage, including poverty, exclusion, discrimination, and other adversities, such as loss and trauma. These experiences affect how children participate in or are treated by the justice system. Many minoritised or vulnerable groups are over-represented in justice systems or are actively criminalised. Although children in conflict with the law often face many interrelated disadvantages, there is minimal research in Scotland, or the UK, that takes an intersectional view of childhood, or considers how intersecting inequalities affect experiences of (in)justice.
This project will work collaboratively with children in conflict with the law to enhance understanding of the interaction between poverty and the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 (including: age, disability, gender identity, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation). A diverse group of 10 justice-experienced children will be recruited to form a Young Advisory Group.
We are seeking a Research Associate to work closely with the project team and the Young Advisory Group to facilitate fieldwork and to co-produce an innovative programme of peer-led research, involving a wider group of 50 children in conflict with the law. We are committed to embracing diversity in recruitment process and expect the successful candidate to uphold the project and university values in relation to diversity and inclusion.
While the post is based in CYCJ, the post holder will work closely with the co-investigators who work across different departments at the University of Strathclyde. The successful candidate will have a PhD in a Social Science subject and/or a Master’s degree and relevant professional research experience. Knowledge of research relating to children and young people and/or protected characteristics is essential. Experience of researching with marginalised children and young people using co-production or other inclusive and participatory methods is essential. Experience of undertaking academic research, using a variety of methods, writing for publication, and presenting research to a wide range of audiences is also expected.
The successful candidate will be expected to engage in face-to-face fieldwork and work some non-standard hours in the evenings and at weekends to accommodate engagement with children. The successful candidate will also be expected to obtain membership of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme and will be subject to all associated background checks.
Informal enquiries about the post can be directed to Nina Vaswani, Senior Research Fellow (nina.vaswani@strath.ac.uk).
Formal interviews for this post will be held on Friday, 10 May 2024.