Research Fellow in Science and Technology in Society

University of Birmingham - College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049 with potential progression once in post to £48,822

Hours: Full Time

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract up to August 2029

This is an exciting opportunity for a social researcher to contribute to Co-AIMS, a major EPSRC-funded multidisciplinary programme exploring how AI-empowered autonomous machines and systems can transform manufacturing productivity and sustainability in the UK, whilst also empowering people. Working with Prof. Fern Elsdon-Baker, the successful candidate will undertake sociological research with a diverse range of stakeholders, including employees, trade unions, employers, policymakers and wider publics, to holistically examine the societal dimensions of AI adoption in manufacturing. They will also support co-creation and engagement activities, working collaboratively with academic, policy and industry partners to foster inclusive and responsible innovation.

Main Duties

The responsibilities may include some but not all of the responsibilities outlined below.

• Develop research objectives and proposals for joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Analyse and interpret data
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
• Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars etc
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods
• Undertake management/administration arising from research
• Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration
• Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities as part of project delivery and of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader
• Collect research data; this may be through a variety of research methods, such as academic and policy literature reviews, semi-structured research interviews, focus groups, public perceptions surveys and ethnographic field site visits
• Disseminate research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof for publication, or presentation for example at seminars and conferences

Person Specification

• A PhD relevant to the research area (or near completion), or equivalent PhD level qualifications.
• High level analytical capability
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly
• Experience of undertaking semi-structured interviews/focus groups and experience of data analysis using relevant software (e.g. coding in NVivo)
• Desirably experience of, or an interest in, quantitative national level survey based research methods and approaches
• Desirably experience of, or an interest in, ethnographic approaches to field site visits
• Desirably experience of, or an interest in, co-creation or participatory research methods and approaches