Senior Research Officer, What Works Hub for Global Education (Post-Doctoral Researcher)

About the Blavatnik School of Government

Our vision is of a world better led, a world better served and a world better governed. We are a global school committed to improving the quality of government and public policymaking worldwide, through three routes: teaching current and future leaders; generating research with impact; and engaging with governments and practitioners.

What we offer

The School is a collaborative, friendly, and dynamic department based in an award-winning building in Oxford. We host regular events and talks with well-known guest speakers – all of which are open to staff. On the social side, we have regular coffee/cake mornings for staff, a family-friendly Halloween event, and Christmas and summer parties.

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ wellbeing and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including:

• An excellent contributory pension scheme
• 38 days’ annual leave
• Family leave schemes and a comprehensive range of childcare services
• Cycle loan scheme and discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans
• Membership to a variety of social and sports clubs
• Opportunities for remote working.

More information about working at the School can be found on our jobs page.

About the Role

The postholder will have an exciting opportunity to engage with the large community of researchers at the What Works Hub for Global Education, the CSAE, the broader Oxford academic community, and with other researchers at universities and international organisations working on similar areas, while also developing their own research portfolio. Oxford provides a vibrant environment for researchers in the social sciences. Many previous Oxford postdoctoral fellows have moved on to permanent faculty positions at leading universities in the US and Europe, or in leading public policy organisations.

The postholder will contribute to the WWHGE work in Pillar 3, research in implementation science in education. In addition to conducting independent research, the postholder will be expected as much as is feasible to work on research projects with, or relevant for our strategic partners, working closely with Stefan Dercon and Noam Angrist. The postholder will author and co-author academic articles, working papers, reports, policy briefs, and other outputs, summarizing and reporting on results of the research synthesis and evidence translation. They will coordinate, manage, facilitate and contribute to existing research projects within WWHGE and strategic partners, guided by Stefan Dercon and/or Noam Angrist. They will identify and implement novel independent and joint research, preferably with Oxford-based researchers, that is consistent with the focus of the project, including working with strategic partners.

The postholder will be expected to contribute to the broader development community, including as curated by CSAE, such as by attending seminars and workshops, some mentoring of students, and other activities consistent with further developing the vibrant research community on education and development at Oxford.

About You

You will either already hold or be close to completing a PhD degree in economics, education, public policy and/or development studies you will have a strong focus on research on education with a strong quantitative focus. You will have proven experience in the form of papers and projects of research in themes broadly linked to the post.

Along with your experience of conducting research on developing economies, with strong preference for experience in research on Africa and South Asia, you will have the ability to carry our independent quantitative research, with solid theoretical foundations, including strong writing skills and excellent skills in statistics/econometrics. Strong IT skills specific to the discipline, including the use of Stata/R and LateX.

You will have the ability to work effectively with colleagues as part of building and contributing to a research community. You will also have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, especially those necessary for working in policy circles and to communicate effectively to relevant academic and non-academic audiences using a range of media.

Application Process

You will be required to upload a supporting statement, CV and the details of two referees as part of your online application.

The closing date for applications is 12 Noon on Wednesday 15 January 2025

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