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Research assistant in ethics and equity in structural engineering

Details


1121968


UCL


04/01/2027


Other - See Job


Part-time; 7 hours per week


Not Applicable

Pay


£21.33


£3.99

Description

Role

Unitemps are recruiting for a Research assistant in ethics and equity in structural engineering. This is a part-time role at 7 hours per week. This role has a start date of January 4th 2027 and a projected end date of July 19th 2027. Payment is set at £21.33 per hour + £3.99 holiday pay. This role is UCL remote (home based) working.
 

The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at University College London (UCL) undertakes research on construction, project management and the built environment. The School is seeking a part-time Research Assistant to support the British Academy/Leverhulme-funded project ‘Equity in structural safety: uncovering bias mechanisms in design codes’, led by Dr Irene Josa.

The project examines how the rules and models used in structural design may incorporate assumptions that leave some groups less protected than others. It brings together engineering ethics, Science and Technology Studies, building regulation and disaster risk research to investigate where these inequities might arise.

The Research Assistant will support a scoping review and analysis of academic literature, design standards, official reports and professional guidance. Their work will help build the evidence base for a journal article, a short policy brief and an open repository of research materials. The role would suit someone with experience in literature reviews and qualitative analysis who is interested in the social and ethical dimensions of engineering.

Duties and responsibilities

Purpose of the role

The Research Assistant will contribute to research examining how structural design codes and modelling conventions may incorporate assumptions that leave some groups less protected than others. Working closely with the Principal Investigator, they will combine a scoping review and qualitative document analysis with critical discussion of the findings, helping to refine the project’s analytical framework for understanding potential mechanisms of inequity.

Main duties

  • Conduct a focused review of relevant literature and documents. Assist with refining the review protocol, searching academic and grey-literature sources, screening documents and organising the reference library. Sources will include research publications, structural design standards, official reports and professional guidance.
  • Contribute to discussions of the conceptual and analytical framework. Critically engage with relevant ideas from engineering ethics, equity and Science and Technology Studies, and discuss how these can inform the interpretation of structural design codes and modelling conventions. Help clarify concepts and identify questions that require further examination.
  • Undertake qualitative analysis of the evidence. Extract relevant information and carry out inductive coding to identify assumptions, recurring patterns and potential mechanisms through which inequities may arise. Refine the codebook through comparison of sources and discussion with the Principal Investigator, allowing analytical categories to develop from the evidence.
  • Interpret and synthesise emerging findings. Prepare short analytical memos that connect findings across sources, consider alternative explanations and identify gaps or limitations in the evidence. Contribute to the initial grouping of findings into potential mechanism families and identify examples that could inform the project’s case vignettes.
  • Maintain clear research records and prepare materials for further synthesis. Keep the evidence matrix, codebook and record of analytical decisions up to date, ensuring that interpretations can be traced to their sources. Prepare an organised handover of research materials to support subsequent development of the mechanism typology, article and policy brief.

Supervision

  • Weekly meetings with the Principal Investigator will cover both progress and substantive research discussion, including interpretation of difficult sources, emerging themes and implications for the analytical framework. The Principal Investigator will retain overall responsibility for the conceptual direction and final synthesis.

Skills and experience

Essential

  • A Master’s degree in a relevant discipline, or current doctoral study with relevant research training. Relevant disciplines may include sociology, Science and Technology Studies, engineering ethics, public policy, built-environment studies, or civil and structural engineering.
  • Ability to critically assess concepts and evidence, develop reasoned interpretations, and contribute constructively to interdisciplinary research discussions.
  • Experience of conducting a scoping or systematic literature review, including literature searches, screening and data extraction. Experience gained through a dissertation or research project is relevant.
  • Experience of qualitative research methods, particularly document analysis, thematic analysis or qualitative coding.
  • Ability to read critically across academic, technical and policy sources and produce clear, well-referenced analytical summaries in English.
  • Strong organisational skills and attention to detail, including the ability to maintain accurate research records and manage an agreed workload.
  • An interest in ethics, equity and the social dimensions of engineering, and the ability to work independently on agreed tasks while discussing questions and findings with the supervisor.

Desirable

  • Knowledge of engineering ethics, Science and Technology Studies, social inequalities or the governance of technology.
  • Familiarity with structural engineering, building regulation, design standards or infrastructure risk.
  • Experience with reference-management software such as Zotero, and with organising qualitative evidence in spreadsheets or research software.

Location
UCL remote working

Additional information

This job will close for applications at 11.59pm on Monday November 9th. Interviews will be held shortly after.

*Please note to be eligible to work within this role, you must have the right to work in the UK, be physically based in the UK and be able to travel to our London based office for a RTW check (if required).

*If you have a full-time contract of employment with UCL, you are not able to work through UCL Unitemps at the same time.

Unitemps reserves the right to close this advert for applications prior to the date specified above, if a high volume of suitable applications are received so pleased don't delay applying.

Unitemps payroll is monthly, one month in arrears, please see the payroll dates here.

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