Reporting to Professor Linda Mulcahy, the post holder will be a member of the Access to Justice cluster at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. More specifically they will be working with a small team of experienced researchers who are undertaking an oral history of the law centres movement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  This project is being run in partnership with Queens University Belfast, the British Library and the Law Centres Network.  It is funded by the AHRC and this four year project is now in its final year. The audio recordings being produced by the research team are due to deposited in the British Library together with an archive of Law Centre annual reports and campaigning materials. 

 

The successful applicant will manage their own research and administrative activities, within guidelines provided by senior colleagues.  This will include (a) making digital copies of Law Centre Annual Reports and other documents prior to deposit with the British Library by 28 June 2024; and (b) assisting with administrative tasks, data management and other record keeping associated with transfer of documents and audio recordings to the British Library at the conclusion of the project; contribute to wider project planning, including ideas for new research projects; select, follow, and adapt specialist methodologies to confirm or refute theories, and identify suitable alternatives where information or research material is restricted and contribute to the design of research materials and make arrangements for data gathering and analysis.   This will involve assisting with coding and initial content analysis of research material and assisting with content summaries of the life story recordings prior to transfer to the British Library at the conclusion of the project.

 

Applicants should hold a first degree and Masters in law, the social sciences or humanities, together with some relevant experience; working toward a doctorate in a specialist discipline or other commensurate experience; Possess sufficient specialist knowledge in the discipline to work within established research programmes; ability to manage own research and administrative activities; excellent communication skills, including the ability to write text that can be published, present data at conferences, and represent the research group at meetings. Experience of working in a research team and contributing ideas and undertaking oral histories or using and collating an archive is desirable.

 

This post is full time and fixed term from 1 June 2024 until 31 December 2024.  The postholder will be based at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Manor Road, Manor Road Building, OX1 3UQ

 

Closing date for applications is midday on Thursday 2 May 2024.  Interviews will take place week commencing 13 May 2024