£17.33 per hour plus £2.09 holiday pay
Advertising End Date
26 Mar 2026

Role & Department Overview

We are recruiting a Research Assistant to support the launch of the Integrity theme, which will be centred on HackaCon: The AI-Generated Conversation Hackathon.

HackaCon

This is a first-of-its-kind remote hackathon inviting participants to create convincing AI-generated audio of an incriminating conversation between two target speakers. This red-teaming exercise will explore the fraud, misinformation, and evidential risks posed by synthetic conversational audio. The event will double as a research data collection exercise and an engagement initiative, with expected interest from finance, cybersecurity, intelligence, justice, and the wider public. You will help make this real.

Pay Rate: £17.33 per hour plus £2.09 holiday pay

Start Date: 6th April 2026

End Date: 11th Decemeber 2026

Interview Date: 31st March 2026

Job Description

Job Description

You will:

·         build and maintain a WordPress site using a dedicated HackaCon domain;

·         manage hackathon advertising, submissions, queries, certificates, prizes, etc.;

·         support data organisation and post-event processing;

·         assist with wider Integrity theme admin and activities (e.g. FACTOR Summer School, DiSH CPD, other launch events).

Person Specification

Person Specification

You:

·   are confident with WordPress, domains, and light technical troubleshooting (including, where necessary, working with tech support to identify solutions and overcome challenges);
 
·   are highly organised and unfazed by inboxes that breed overnight;
 
·   communicate professionally with industry and public stakeholders;
 
· can handle sensitive/ethically framed material with care;
 
·  work independently and meet deadlines without theatrical collapse.
 
Experience with AI/audio tools, event coordination, or digital engagement would be advantageous.
 

Working in this role will help develop the following skills and experience:

 

  • Collaboration
  • Creativity
  • Curiosity
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Exercising Professional Judgement
  • Flexibility

 

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.

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