"Research Associate - Air Spaces: Getting the Measure of Air"

The University of Manchester - Humanities - Sociology

Location:	Manchester
Salary:	£37,694 to £39,906
Hours:	Full Time
Contract Type:	Fixed-Term/Contract

Placed On:	26th February 2026
Closes:	6th March 2026
Job Ref:	HUM-030897

Job reference: HUM-030897 Salary: £37,694 - £39,906 per annum, depending on relevant experience
Faculty/Organisational Unit: Humanities
Location: Oxford Road
Employment type: Fixed Term
Division/Team: Sociology
Hours Per Week: Full Time (1 FTE)
Closing date (DD/MM/YYYY): 06/03/2026
Contract Duration: Fixed term for 24 Months
School/Directorate: School of Social Sciences

About the Role:

We are seeking a dedicated and enthusiastic Research Associate to work on the project, 'Air Spaces: getting the measure of air' led by Professor Sophie Woodward in the Department of Sociology, University of Manchester.

The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between social, health, and atmospheric sciences and heritage studies. The project aims to:

• Develop an understanding of air quality that integrates different disciplinary approaches.
• Establish a conceptual framework of air inequalities, incorporating the relationship between domestic and outdoor air in multiple urban spaces.
• Evaluate current air quality measurement methods and develop ways of measuring and understanding air that is accessible to different groups/disciplines.
• Strengthen community approaches to air quality, supporting local efforts to articulate concerns and engage more effectively with academia and policy.

The Research Associate will play a key role in the creative and qualitative methods of the project, and the postholder will contribute to the design, and carrying out of qualitative walking interviews (with creative elements such as working with a sketch artist), and focus groups. The role will involve the generation and analysis, and interpretation of qualitative data, which will be analysed in relation to the quantitative data generated by the other research associate. As the project is interdisciplinary a key part of this role will be working with academics from multiple disciplines (social, health and atmospheric sciences and heritage studies) to both communicate disciplinary specific methods and data, as well as learn from the methods of other disciplines.

The postholder will lead on the dissemination of qualitatively generated findings and methodology. This will include communicating specialist and technical material to academic, policy, practitioner, and public audiences, and acting as lead author and co-author on research outputs such as journal articles, conference papers, and public-facing publications. The Research Associate will also contribute to knowledge exchange and stakeholder engagement activities, including with project partners, and support the organisation of project workshops and seminars.

In addition, the Research Associate will contribute to the management and delivery of the research project, including supporting project administration and liaising with external partners and members of the Advisory Group.

What you will get in return:

• Fantastic market leading Pension scheme
• Excellent employee health and wellbeing services including an Employee Assistance Programme
• Exceptional starting annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays
• Additional paid closure over the Christmas period

As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews:
Name: Sophie Woodward
Email: sophie.woodward@manchester.ac.uk

General enquiries:
Email: recruitmentservices.people@manchester.ac.uk