Post Doctoral Research Associate in Policing

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Open University

  • Career category: Research/ Data analysis
  • Job type: PhD
  • Experience level: 0-2 years
  • Organisation type: Research
  • Remote option: Not Specified
  • Right to work requirements: Anyone can apply
  • Remuneration: GBP 38,784 GBP-GBP 46,049 GBP / yearly
  • Work schedule: Part-time/ Pro-rata
  • Length of contract: Temporary/ Fixed-term
  • Deadline: 20/07/2026
  • Location: United Kingdom
GBV / VAWG PSEA/ Safeguarding
Change your career, change lives
The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education.

About the Role
We are seeking to appoint a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to join the 'Creators & Consumers' project, an innovative research programme examining perpetration and policing responses to deepfake-enabled violence against women and girls (VAWG). 

The role is based within the School of Policing in the Faculty of Business and Law and the Centre for Protecting Women Online (CPWO), a Research England-funded centre dedicated to addressing technology-facilitated harms against women and girls. The successful candidate will work closely with Dr Hannah Guy and Dr Nelli Stavropoulou across the CPWO's Policing and Human Behaviour research streams. 

The successful candidate will contribute to a range of research activities, including qualitative data collection and analysis, impact evaluation, and the development of practitioner-facing resources. The role offers an exciting opportunity to work on a high-profile interdisciplinary project with strong potential for real-world impact across policing, safeguarding, and violence prevention.

About You
Essential Criteria:
  • A completed PhD ('completed' is defined as having the certificate in hand at the point of application, not submitted your thesis awaiting amendments) in Policing, Criminology, Sociology, Psychology, Cybercrime, Digital Harms, Violence Against Women and Girls, Social Policy, or another relevant discipline.  
  • Knowledge of and familiarity with one or more of the following areas: technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TFVAWG), online harms, image-based abuse, cybercrime, digital victimisation, policing, violence against women and girls, or related fields. 
  • Expertise in qualitative research, including sensitive data analysis, ethnographic methods and semi-structured interviews. 
  • Understanding of the ethical considerations associated with conducting research on sensitive topics and working with sensitive datasets. 
  • Evidence of research dissemination through academic publications, reports, presentations, or other outputs, commensurate with career stage. 
  • Experience in data management and IT software usage for research design and analysis (e.g. NVivo or similar). 
  • Experience in conducting evaluations and producing evaluative reports.  
  • Communication skills commensurate with the role and the ability to translate research findings into accessible, public-facing, or practitioner-facing outputs. 
  • Experience of working with a range of stakeholders, research collaborators, and external partners. 
  • The ability to work collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary team. 
  • The ability to plan, organise, and prioritise own work effectively. 
  • The ability to adapt to changing project requirements and respond flexibly to emerging research needs within the scope and direction set by project leads. 

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