Research Assistant School of Applied Social Studies

at  University College Cork

POSITION SUMMARY

The School of Applied Social Studies’ mission is ‘to provide an educational environment which promotes a culture of critical, intellectual and practice enquiry in the social sciences based upon participation, inclusion and diversity’. The School offers undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and continuing professional development programmes in social policy and professionally accredited programmes in social work, youth and community work and early years and childhood studies. The School is a research active academic unit with a strong commitment to both applied and more theoretical research. We have a strong research profile which focuses on justice- and inclusive-orientated research. The quality and quantity of research undertaken is evidenced by the large number of publications disseminated from research findings. The School has been awarded research funding from a variety of high-calibre sources including the Irish Research Council (IRC), the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), the Dept. of the Taoiseach, the Higher Education Authority (HSE), the HSE, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. The School’s research agenda is strongly aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Research Assistant will work with the PI and partner organisation Civiq on INSPIRE (Intersectional Space of Participation: Inclusive, Resilient, Embedded), a Horizon Europe-funded project (2024-2027) that aims to strengthen intersectional inclusion within participatory deliberative processes in governmental policymaking: INSPIRE: a new project to promote co-design of more inclusive democratic spaces | CoP CC on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (europa.eu) INSPIRE is co-designing and analysing spaces of participation with several disempowered groups through a series of seven local pilots across consortium countries which test our intersectional assemblage-informed approach, using creative and inclusive analogue and digital methods. The focus of the Research Assistant’s work will be the Irish pilot which aims to develop foster discursive engagement and dialogue between a group of women from migrant backgrounds, their wider community, and local and central government, in order to build and test a participatory space for these women within the development of the County Kildare Open Local Government Partnership (OGP) plan. The pilot will use a number of participatory and inclusive methods to engage participants, including storytelling sessions, coproduction workshops, interviews, focus groups and a digital platform to identify the factors and conditions that contribute to inclusive, resilient and embedded participation.

• If the Research Assistant is based in Cork, they will be required to make a number of (funded) overnight trips to Kildare during the course of the pilot.

Project Title: INSPIRE (Intersectional Space of Participation: Inclusive, Resilient, Embedded)
Post Duration: 18 Months
Salary: €31,462 - €41,443 (IUA Research Assistant Salary Scale)
For an information package including further details of the post see https://ore.ucc.ie/.
Informal enquiries can be made in confidence to Dr. Catherine Forde Senior Lecturer, School of Applied Social Studies. Tel: + (0) 21 4902450; Email: c.forde@ucc.ie
Applications must be submitted online via the University College Cork vacancy portal (https://ore.ucc.ie/). Queries relating to the online application process should be referred to recruitment@ucc.ie, quoting the job-title and project name.
Candidates should apply, in confidence, before 12 noon (Irish Local Time) on Monday 23rd September, 2024.

PLEASE NOTE THAT AN APPOINTMENT TO POSTS ADVERTISED WILL BE DEPENDENT ON UNIVERSITY APPROVAL, TOGETHER WITH THE TERMS OF THE EMPLOYMENT CONTROL FRAMEWORK FOR THE HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR.

UCC is committed to creating and fully embracing an inclusive environment where diversity is celebrated. As a University we strive to create a workplace that reflects the diversity of our student population where people from a wide variety of backgrounds learn from one another, share ideas, and work collaboratively. UCC is committed to being an employer that recognises the value of diversity amongst its staff. We encourage applicants to consult our policies at https://www.ucc.ie/en/edi/policies/ and initiatives at https://www.ucc.ie/en/edi/implementation/ and we welcome applications of everyone, including those who are underrepresented in the protected characteristics set out in our Equal Opportunities & Diversity Policy.