Postdoctoral Researcher

University of Essex - Department of Sociology and Criminology

Location: Colchester, Hybrid

Salary: £38,249 to £42,882 per annum.

Hours: Full Time

Contract Type: Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On: 28th August 2025

Closes: 28th September 2025

The Department of Sociology and Criminology is ranked 1st in the UK for research environment in sociology (Grade Point Average, REF 2021).

Duties of the Role: You will work closely with Dr Zsófia Boda on the ERC Starting Grant project: “Applied stereotypes, social networks and self-fulfilling prophecies: How stereotypes reinforce social inequalities”.

You will take a leading part in designing, organising, and administering a panel data collection in English secondary schools and bring your own research interests and expertise into the project. The initial phase of the project will also include interviewing and measurement development for the questionnaire.

You will analyse the newly collected data (and potentially other datasets) to answer research questions based on the ERC project and your own research interests. You will apply state-of-art methods of social network analysis, such as Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models (training will be available). You will produce high-quality academic articles and publish them in internationally recognised, reputable journals.

You will mentor and co-supervise PhD students affiliated with the project.

You will assist with project-related administrative tasks.

Qualifications and Skills: You should have a PhD (or be near completion) in Sociology, Psychology, Education, Statistics, or any related field. You should have a strong interest in empirical social research and a desire to better understand social inequalities.

You should have knowledge of, and ideally at least some experience in, both qualitative and quantitative methods, and an interest in applying mixed-method approaches. You should have some experience in social network analysis, or a strong willingness to learn and apply advanced social network methods. Experience in qualitative interviewing, questionnaire design, and survey data collection, especially in school settings, would be an advantage.

This appointment is offered on a fixed-term, full-time basis until 31 December 2028 due to temporary funding.

At the University of Essex, internationalism and diversity are central to who we are and what we do. We are committed to being a cosmopolitan, internationally oriented university that is welcoming to staff and students from all countries, faiths and backgrounds.

Please use the 'Apply' button to read further information about this role including the full job description and person specification which outlines the full duties, skills, qualifications and experience needed for this role. You will also find details of how to make your application here.

Our website http://www.essex.ac.uk contains more information about the University of Essex.