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From Tom and Prue - in case people haven't seen this by another track. Best wishes from both of us.

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Salary:  RA1A Point 10 (£25,699)

Fixed-term: Two years 9 months



Applications are invited for a Research Associate to work on an ESRC funded project entitled Regenerating Identities: Subjectivity in Transition in a South Wales Workforce funded under the ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme.  Candidates should possess a PhD in a social science discipline, possess demonstrable competence in qualitative data collection using narrative methods and be familiar with psychosocial methods.  Informal enquiries should be made to Professor Valerie Walkerdine on [log in to unmask] or Professor Peter Fairbrother on [log in to unmask]



Job Title:                    Research Associate



Department:               School of Social Sciences



Duration:                    Two years and nine months



Salary Details:           RA1A Pt 10



Hours of Work:          Full-time



Responsible to:          Principal Investigator



Date of

Appointment: 1 November 2004



Closing Date for

Applications:              



Main Function

Of Post:                      The successful candidate will be responsible for the day to day management of the project and for the collection of the majority of the data and will have key responsibility in relation to analysis and writing-up.



Job

Description:                

·        To ensure the effective operation and completion of the project;

·        To undertake literature reiviews;

·        To prepare, plan and carry out interviews with members of the public;

·        To undertake appropriate analysis of the data;

·        To draft materials for the final report;

·         To undertake any other duties appropriate to the grade as allocated by the Principal Investigator.







Person

Specification:

Essential

·        A PhD in a social science discipline (eg sociology, anthropology, critical psychology, cultural studies)

·        Possess demonstrable competence in qualititave data collection using narrative methods

·        Familiarity with psychosocial methods and a practical engagement with and understanding of psychoanalysis essential

·        Familiarity with and competence in narrative and discourse analysis and understanding of post-structuralism essential

·        Enough maturity and empathy to work with redundant workers and others in a challenging and depressed community in a sensitive way and yet the skills to liaise with stakeholders such as local trade unions and the Welsh Assembly

·        Willingness to liaise with an Australian research project, including some time to be spent in Sydney.

·        Demonstrated competence in report writing and/or writing for publication

·        Ability to liaise with research admin staff to keep an ongoing check on the project budget

Desirable

·        Some familiarity with data analysis software such as NVivo would be useful

·        Some familiarity with debates in the field of neoliberalism/globalisation and subjectivity would be helpful but not essential



The Project:                



The research brings critical psychological approaches to identity and subjectivity into dialogue with sociology to investigate the transformation of worker identity as an aspect of community regeneration. The workers in the ex-steel community of Ebbw Vale in South Wales have undergone a forced transformation of work identity following the closure of the steel works in 2001. This is happening in a political and economic context which signals the end of jobs for life, the break-up of traditional communities centred around work and the rise of the market and consumption as markers of identity. The research addresses the assumption of a stable and resilient self to underpin the fragmentation of identity affiliations by examing the narrative and discursive production of workers' identity narratives. The 4 phase study begins by re-analysing sociological interviews of redundant steel workers, phase 2 interviews them plus women and young people, phase 3 links the research with a project in Australia and phase 4 brings the results into dialogue with the sociologists and policy makers to understand the implications for approaches to community regeneration.