Position Available: PaCCS Placement with the Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner

Fixed term: 3 months between January & May 2020.

UKRI’s Partnership for Conflict, Crime & Security Research (PaCCS) is seeking a research student to undertake a placement, spending three months working with Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) to undertake a review of research being carried out into slavery and trafficking to establish to what extent research has had an impact, and suggest ways to obtain more impact from it.

 This placement is part of the PaCCS programme Transnational Organised Crime: Deepening & Broadening Our Understanding. The candidate will have access to IASC’s offices in London, with a point-of-contact there acting to provide support and supervision. Much of the work can be conducted from the researcher’s home-base, but the successful candidate will be expected to travel to speak to stakeholders as and when required. The successful candidate will report to Dr Tristram Riley-Smith (Associate Fellow at Cambridge’s Centre for Science & Policy and PaCCS Research Integrator) but will work very closely with IASC. 

The job will initially entail discussions with relevant stakeholders; reading through academic and non -academic literature (identified in consultation with the IASC supervisor and others); collating and analysing the results; drafting a report which can be shared with the PaCCS community and other interested parties (written in a way that is easily understood by policy audiences). This report will be the key output of this placement and will be used by IASC and PaCCS to inform policy thinking and, if appropriate, future research calls in this area. There will be a requirement to present findings to IASC and this could extend to policy-makers and practitioners in Government and the Third Sector. The candidate will be required to work with the IASC team to support the planning of outputs following/surrounding the report’s publication.

Mandatory Competencies: the successful candidate will have strong academic grounding in either Arts, Humanities, Social or Behavioural Science, with demonstrable research interest of one or more of the PaCCS themes (Conflict, Crime and Security). The candidate will have strong analytical skills, strong oral and written communication skills. The post is best-suited to those studying towards a PhD where the PaCCS funding (in the form of a Student Maintenance Grant) would allow – with the support of UKRI and the necessary approval of the researcher’s university – three months to be “taken out” to work on this placement. Those who are engaged in post-doctoral research are also eligible to apply. Exceptional candidates between a Masters and a PhD will also be considered.

Desirable Competencies: it would be very helpful if the successful candidate exhibits knowledge and understanding of issues surrounding Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. it is also desirable to be able to demonstrate evidence of team-working and a commitment to work across relevant disciplines. The candidate should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the link between research, policy and operations. 

COMPENSATION: A Student Maintenance Grant of £3,550 is provided to cover the 3 months + eligible travel & accommodation costs incurred during the placement up to a limit of £2,400

Before any successful Placement commences, we will require the written approval of your University Supervisor and Research Office. At this early stage, please confirm they have been consulted and agree in principle to this application. We value diversity and we are committed to equality of opportunity. We have a responsibility to ensure that the grant-holder is eligible to live and work in the UK.

The full posting details, and information about how to apply, can be found here.

REFERENCE: PaCCS Placement (OIASC).                   CLOSING DATE: 30 October 2019