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 Three-year Research Associate, School of Social Policy, University of Kent

An exciting opportunity for someone with qualifications at postgraduate level and relevant experience and interests to advance their academic career by joining a major international project on attitudes to welfare and to the future development of welfare states in six European countries funded by NORFACE and led by Professor Peter Taylor-Gooby and Dr Heejung Chung. People’s current aspirations, ideas and assumptions will be important drivers of change and persistence in European welfare states, and of the extent to which conflict and solidarity surround change. This project uses innovative methods (deliberative democratic forums, a qualitative cross-national focus group survey) to develop understanding of people’s aspirations for the Europe their children will inhabit.

The project will contribute to theoretical work on the main cleavages and solidarities driving social policy in different European welfare states and to more practical consideration of the parameters of acceptable policy change. It will supply new findings relevant to the politics and sociology of welfare and provide data for reanalysis and as a base-line in future studies.

The researcher will be expected to contribute to all activities of the University of Kent project which is the lead partner in a European Consortium, including Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Germany and Slovenia. We have no presumptions about disciplinary background but require experience of relevant methods, some knowledge of welfare policy debates and enthusiasm for comparative research.

The successful applicant will be joining a large and active research-led School (ranked consistently in the top 3-4 in the country) with a strong tradition of cross-national European research and with many opportunities to engage with other post-docs and researchers. There will also be opportunities to engage with comparative researchers in the Politics and International Relations School and in other areas. The successful candidate will be provided with the opportunity to contribute to publications, conference presentations and other engagement activities, and to enhance their skills by attending career development workshops and networking opportunities.

Details and online applications at: https://jobs.kent.ac.uk/

Reference: SS0901      Closing Date: 9^th November 2014.