Institute for Social and Economic ResearchThe Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), founded over 25 years ago, is a research department in the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Essex. It has a worldwide reputation as a multidisciplinary centre of quantitative social science research and as a producer of household panel data of the highest quality ('Understanding Society') and is home to the long-running ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change (MiSoC) and EUROMOD, the tax-benefit micro-simulation model for the European Union.
ISER now wishes to appoint a Senior Research Officer to support and expand its microsimulation unit, centred around its tax-benefit microsimulation tool, EUROMOD (www.euromod.ac.uk), and JAS-mine, a Java platform for dynamic microsimulation modelling (www.jas-mine.net).
The post is partially funded by a project aimed at measuring and characterising economic insecurity and its barriers, namely job security, wage security and social security.
Duties of the RoleA major focus of the role will be to contribute to an expanding library of dynamic microsimulation models, and in particular work on the integration of tax-benefit calculators within dynamic microsimulation models. This will allow the simulation of complete life-course trajectories for individuals and their families, accounting for population changes (including ageing and migration), and the effects of policies.
In developing these models, the successful candidate will also undertake empirical work - with the potential to publish at the highest level - analysing individual life-course trajectories, including educational choices, transition to adulthood, entry in the labour market, household formation and dissolution, fertility, health status, labour market transitions, and retirement.
Applicants will be expected to produce research outputs for publication at acceptable levels of volume and academic excellence and disseminate the result of research and scholarship through appropriate Knowledge Exchange activities (such as at relevant national and international conferences and scholarly publications not intended for the REF).
A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the Senior Research Officer job pack.
Qualifications and Skills requiredThe successful candidate should hold a Masters or Doctoral level degree in a relevant social science or quantitative discipline or possess equivalent professional experience or practice. You should also have experience of working with micro-data and high-level skills in complex data management (statistical analysis and programming in Stata, R or similar software package). Experience with programming languages (such as Java, Python, C++, etc.) is desirable.
Applicants at this level are expected to have evidence of a developing research agenda and experience of contributing to small research programmes or defined areas of larger projects, and of developing research objectives and proposals.
This is a fixed-term, full-time appointment until 16 May 2021, which is the end date of the research project.
At the University of Essex internationalism is central to who we are and what we do. We are committed to being a cosmopolitan, internationally-oriented university that is welcoming to staff and students from all countries and a university where you can find the world in one place.
Please see the further detail link below for a full job description and person specification which outlines the full duties, skills, qualifications and experience needed for this role plus more information relating to the post. We recommend you read this information carefully before making an application. Applications should be made on-line, but if you would like advice or help in making an application, or need information in a different format, please telephone the Resourcing Team (01206 876559).
*Further detail: Senior Research Officer job pack *More information: Working at the University