The School of Population Health & Environmental Sciences, King’s College, is looking for a Research Assistant with a background in social science or humanities to work on our exciting new project, “Imagining a better world with new technologies: shaping utopias and dystopias in translational medicine”.
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Department/Division: School of Population Health & Environmental Sciences
Faculty: Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
Grade/salary: Grade 5, £32,100 – £36,699 per annum
inclusive of £3,500 London Weighting Allowance per annum
Hours of work: Part time (18.75 hours per week)
Period of appointment: Fixed-term contract for 1 year
Responsible to: Chair in Sociology of Health (Judith Green)
Campus: Guy’s Campus
Application Deadline: 26th September 2019
Start date: October 2019
Role purpose
The School of Population Health and Environmental Sciences is seeking a part-time Research Assistant to assist with a one-year project entitled “Imagining a better world with new technologies: shaping utopias and dystopias in translational medicine”. The post holder will assist with the co-ordination of the project which looks to think critically about the social and political implications of technologies such as genetics, artificial intelligence, and robotics in health. More specifically, this qualitative research project will compare the futures being imagined within the university and research community, with the futures that seem desirable (or not) for young people in Lambeth and Southwark: this project draws on young climate change activists’ reminder that they “are the future” and widens the lens to strategic questions at the intersection of science, health and society.
In order to make this comparison, this project uses the concepts of utopias and dystopias to engage young people in arts-facilitated world-making conversations about the kind of society they want to live in. The post-holder will help organise these arts-facilitated workshops, followed by three public events which engage people of all ages in the local community with questions about techno-futures in health. The post holder will also help co-ordinate a sci-fi film club and other research activities. This will include assisting with an initial literature review on imagined futures in health, ethnographic observations of these events and other research activities, and analysis.
The post is funded by an internal seed-funding pot for King’s College London, which aims to bring different disciplines together across the university to work towards a larger research grant. The post holder will therefore work as part of a multi-disciplinary team spanning the social sciences, humanities, and sciences. Whilst they will work most closely with the Chair in Sociology of Health and the Research Associates (all medical sociologists and anthropologists), they will also be expected to co-ordinate meetings and events across disciplinary boundaries.
Role profile
The person appointed would have an undergraduate and Masters degree or equivalent in a relevant subject (i.e. at least one of these degrees should be in a social science or humanities subject). They would also have some experience of research in health or social care. They would have excellent organisational skills, and the ability to communicate with a range of partners including medical researchers, community centres, schools, and young people. They would demonstrate the ability to think critically and may even have a prior interest in the intersection of technology and health.