Post Title: |
Research Assistant / Research Fellow (Post-Doctoral Researcher). |
Post Status: |
1 year (12 month) |
Department/Faculty: |
Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences and Philosophy. |
Reports to: |
Dr Pablo Gracia, Department of Sociology |
Location: |
Trinity College Dublin, 3 College Green, Dublin 2. |
Salary: |
Research, Appointment will be on the IUA Post-Doctoral Researcher Scale PD1 depending on experience and in line with current government pay policy. |
Closing date |
Monday, 5th September 2022, 1 pm (Irish time) |
The successful applicant will be expected to take up post in October or as soon thereafter as possible.
Post summary
The Department of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) seeks to appoint an outstanding and strongly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher in Applied Social Sciences with excellent methodological skills in quantitative methods and/or mixed methods to lead research on young people’s digital lives and well-being in Ireland. The successful candidate will join Dr Pablo Gracia’s research team at TCD to work on an exciting EU project examining how teenagers’ digital engagement and online experiences impact their well-being across demographic and socioeconomic groups in Ireland.
Sociology is a member of the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy, one of 24 Schools within Trinity College. The Department’s principal research clusters are: ‘Inequalities, Education and Families’; ‘Migration, Integration and Diversity’; ‘Social Networks and Digitalisation’; ‘Power, Conflict and Resistance’. Combining advanced quantitative and qualitative methodologies to study real-world problems, our research is internationally recognised by leading several priority research themes within the Trinity Research in Social Science (TRISS); 'Identities in Transformation', within the Trinity Long Room Hub (TLRH); ‘Trinity Research in Childhood Centre’ (TRiCC); and 'Inclusive Society'. The Department has a long-standing collaboration with one of Ireland’s premier research institutes in socio-economic analysis, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). Sociology TCD staff has successfully obtained Horizon 2020, NORFACE, and IRC funding, among other top-level grants.
The successful applicant will work as part of a multi-disciplinary group of social scientists by doing fieldwork with Irish schools, designing questionnaires, arranging the data validity, conducting analyses, writing and submitting scientific research to journals, and preparing project reports. You will join a highly stimulating academic community at the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy of TCD. As part of the team led by Dr Gracia at TCD, you will join DIGYMATEX, a €3.5 million project funded by the European Commission (H2020) on digitalisation and young people’s well-being. As part of this international project, you will be integrated into an international network of 12 EU partners, collaborating with leading psychologists, sociologists, health researchers, economists, business scholars, and computational scientists.
Informal queries: please contact Dr Pablo Gracia, (graciap@tcd.ie) Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, TCD;.
Research
- Leading fieldwork in Ireland by meeting the project objectives (i.e., sampling schools and families, contacting participants, arranging the questionnaire design and implementation, working on data storage, and measurement validation);
- Cleaning and analysing the primary data collected;
- Writing and submitting articles to high-impact scientific journals;
- Participating in media, public, and academic dissemination related to the project;
- Engaging in writing project reports;
- Contributing to getting new external funding for the research team’s project.
Qualifications
Excellent academic record and have completed a Ph.D. in (but not limited to):
- Sociology
- Social Research / Social Policy/ Social Work
- Psychology
- Education
- Demography
- Economics
Skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills using English language.
- Leadership abilities and interpersonal skills.
- Good organisational skills.
Personal attributes
- A proactive teamwork attitude.
- Commitment to own professional development.
- Career driven, enthusiastic and motivated.
Application procedure
Candidates should submit the following documentation via e-mail to the address iversl@tcd.ie indicating exactly “[Digymatex] application” in the subject line:
A motivation letter clearly indicating how the applicant's profile and skills fit the requirements of this position (max. 2 pages);a full curriculum vitae; names, affiliation, and contact details of three referees with their e-mail addresses included;
At least 1 example (maximum 3) of academic materials (written in English) showing the candidate’s relevant analytical, writing, and empirical skills.
School of Social Sciences and Philosophy
The School of Social Sciences and Philosophy was formed in 2005 and comprises the Departments of Economics, Philosophy, Political Science and Sociology. With over 45 full-time academic staff, the School has an international reputation in research and is committed to the dissemination of its knowledge and expertise to the benefit of the wider community. The School is home to the unique undergraduate degree in PPES (Philosophy, Political Science, Economics and Sociology). It also contributes to undergraduate degrees in Economic and Social Studies (this includes Business, Political Science and Sociology), Philosophy, History and Political Science, Law and Political Science, Political Science and Geography, Sociology and Social Policy, European Studies and to the TSM (Two Subject Moderatorship) programmes in Economics, Philosophy and Sociology. Over 100 graduate students are conducting research across the four disciplines.
Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin
Trinity is Ireland’s leading university and is ranked 108th in the world (QS World University Rankings 2020). Founded in 1592, the University is steeped in history with a reputation for excellence in education, research and innovation.
Located on an iconic campus in the heart of Dublin’s city centre, Trinity has 18,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students across our three faculties – Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Engineering, Mathematics and Science; and Health Sciences.
Trinity is ranked as the 17th most international university in the world (Times Higher Education Rankings 2020) and has students and staff from over 120 countries.
The pursuit of excellence through research and scholarship is at the heart of a Trinity education, and our researchers have an outstanding publication record and strong record of grant success. Trinity has developed 19 broad-based multidisciplinary research themes that cut across disciplines and facilitate world-leading research and collaboration within the University and with colleagues around the world. Trinity is also home to 5 leading flagship research institutes:
- Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI)
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN)
- Trinity Translational Medical Institute (TTMI)
- Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute (TLRH)
- Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN)
Trinity is the top-ranked European university for producing entrepreneurs for the past five
successive years and Europe’s only representative in the world’s top-50 universities (Pitchbook Universities Report).
Trinity is home to the famous Old Library and to the historic Book of Kells as well as other internationally significant holdings in manuscripts, maps and early printed material. The Trinity Library is a legal deposit library, granting the University the right to claim a copy of every book published in Ireland and the UK. At present, the Library’s holdings span approximately 6.5 million printed items, 400,000 e-books and 150,000 e-journals.
With over 120,000 alumni, Trinity’s tradition of independent intellectual inquiry has produced some of the world’s finest, most original minds including the writers Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett (Nobel laureates), the mathematician William Rowan Hamilton and the physicistErnest Walton (Nobel laureate), the political thinker Edmund Burke, and the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson. This tradition finds expression today in a campus culture of scholarship, innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship and dedication to societal reform.