£13.67 per hour + £1.65 holiday pay
Advertising End Date
03 Jan 2025
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  • Law School Research Assistant - Policy briefs and e-newsletter development

Role & Department Overview

The Law School are seeking to recruit two current Lancaster University postgraduate research (PGR) students on a flexible basis beginning in February 2024. The role forms part of a project which will enhance the visibility of the Law School’s research to policymakers.

Key objectives of the project include:
 
  • Producing 15 policy briefings showcasing staff research from across the Law School, to be hosted on the School’s website.

  • Creating a new ‘policy hub’ on the Law School website, to allow policymakers to easily access policy briefings associated with staff research.

  • Delivering a regular policy e-newsletter that can be circulated to key government departments and personnel, with links through to policy briefings and research projects on the Law School’s website. 
Preferred start date: 3rd February 2025
 
Expected end date: 30th June 2025
 
Weekly hours: 6 hours per week
 
Location: Remotely (in the UK) and on the Lancaster University campus

Job Description

To support this project, the research assistants will have a number of responsibilities, including: 

  • Meeting with members of academic staff in the Law School and gathering information about research to incorporate within policy briefings and policy e-newsletters. 
  • Developing policy briefing and e-newsletter narratives with Law staff.
  • Drafting policy briefing text and working with Law staff to finalise. 
  • Drafting policy e-newsletter text and working with Law staff to finalise. 

  • Creating text and layout design for ‘policy hub’ webpage on the Law School website. 

Person Specification

Essential 

  • Current Lancaster University postgraduate research (PGR) student, must be available between February and June 2025.

  • Excellent written communication skills (e.g., able to clearly explain research findings to non-experts in easy-to-read language).

  • Strong interpersonal skills (e.g., ability to work well and communicate effectively with a diverse group of people, including academic staff).

  • Strong organisational and time management skills (e.g., ability to effectively organise time to meet multiple deadlines).

  • Reliable (e.g., ability to adhere to agreed timelines).

  • Flexible, organised, and self-motivated (e.g., flexibility to work with different sources of information).

  • Excellent IT skills (e.g. MS Word, Teams, Adobe Acrobat). 

  • High standards of professionalism and attention to detail (e.g., maintaining confidentiality of research findings, as well as professional conduct).

Desirable

  • Knowledge and understanding of policy making.

  • Experience of engaging with policy makers.

  • Experience of translating research findings to non-academic audiences.
 
Key information

You must be available to work flexibly for the duration of the contract. Hours may vary each week depending on staff availability for meetings and development of policy briefings. A compulsory paid training session will be provided to support you in honing the skills required for the role. You will be supported in the role by the Law School’s Director of Research, Dr Siobhan Weare. The professional skills developed, and experience gained, from this role will be highly transferable to future research-related employment. 

Working in this role will help develop the following skills and experience:
 
  • Analysing
  • Collaboration
  • Exercising professional judgement
  • Multi-tasking
  • Research
  • Flexibility
  • Organisation
  • Planning and organising
  • Teamwork
  • Time Management
  • Verbal communication
  • Written communication
  • Knowledge Sharing
For further information, please contact Dr Siobhan Weare at [email protected]
 
You are required to submit a cover letter to support your application. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.
 

Please note: Unless specified otherwise in the advert wording, this role is only open to individuals living in the UK.

Under the terms of this work, we endeavour to provide the advertised number of hours however, hours are not guaranteed and that work may cease if there is a fall in demand. 

Adverts that display a closing date should be treated as a guide. We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so we advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment.

 
 

Apply

Help and advice on making applications can be found on the Lancaster University Careers pages. Visit www.lancaster.ac.uk/careers.

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