Research Assistant In Social Cognitive Science

Job Description:

London Met's Communications Team is looking for talented student writers and content creators to contribute to our website and communications. This is a great opportunity to gain experience in journalism, content writing, and digital media while getting paid for your work.

Key Responsibilities:

• Write engaging news stories about university events, research, and student life
• Conduct interviews with staff, students, and alumni
• Attend events and produce written summaries
• Create video content for social media (if applicable)
• Assist in developing expert opinion pieces with academics

Who We're Looking For:

• Strong writing skills and an eye for storytelling
• Ability to write in a clear, engaging, and accurate style
• Interest in journalism, communications, or digital media
• Reliable and able to meet deadlines
• Basic video editing skills (desirable but not essential)

N/a

This is for. journalism students

The Research Assistant will undertake a range of duties, including:

- Assisting in preparing and specific research materials.
- Assisting in data collection, data analysis, under supervision.
- Documenting results and contributing to publications as required.

This role requires a keen interest in qualitative research, data manipulation, and a spirit of pursuing precision in handling data.  

About this project:

The 20% Value Added Tax (VAT) on private schools have been introduced by the Labour government and taken effect since Jan. 2025. It has been argued that the change of sector for private school students to state schools may result in better social cohesion (Green, 2024).  

Through initial observations of many online discourses (e.g., mumsnet, reddit, comments under relevant news sections), despite the absence of formal studies, there is clear evidence that emotions are running high on both sides of the debate.  Discussions sparked by this policy have been more divisive than cohesive. 

Our study set to explore the online discourse in a systematic way, to investigate how this policy impacts social discourse. 

We are looking for one student research assistant, to help with preparing research materials, extracting data, analyzing data and contribute to writing up, under supervisions.   

About this role:

This project is a qualitative project, involves in webscraping, data clearning, content analysis, under supervision. Therefore, we look for someone who is interested in data manipulation, confident in content analysis, an understanding of care / precision needed in handling data. 

This role is funded at an hourly rate of ?13.85 / hour, for 25 hours.  

Application materials (please read carefully):

Please write a maximum 500 words personal statement on why you are suitable for this role. In addition, we?d like to see your overall grades, your grades for the following modules: cognitive & biological psychology, as well as research methods. 

Interested? 

Please email us:

Dr. Yanbo Hu: y.hu@londonmet.ac.uk

Dr. Sebastian Cordoba: s.cordoba@londonmet.ac.uk

Please see JD 

Please see JD

Please note hours will be varied each week - upto 42 hours March-July 2025.

The Youth Insight Project at Queen Mary, University of London is an innovative initiative that highlights the role of creative methodologies in research while fostering youth participation and community engagement. This project connects young people from east London with cutting-edge academic research, allowing them to contribute to the development and analysis of research across diverse fields. By integrating young people as active co-creators of knowledge, the project demonstrates the transformative potential of creative methods in both academia and social change.

The initiative focuses on fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and promoting youth-driven research through participatory and peer-led methodologies. By connecting young participants with leading academics, the project underscores the significance of creative methodologies as tools for addressing complex social issues and facilitating social change.

We are recruiting for Youth Insight Researchers to join the project and help to develop new toolkits for academics who are interested in involving young people in their research projects.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Attending training sessions to learn about the research projects and develop your skills as a Youth Insight Researcher
• Agreeing a schedule with the academic whose research project you are placed on (up to 30hrs from April-July 2025)
• Attending planning sessions, workshops or meetings with the project team
• Contributing your reflections and ideas on how participatory and peer research with young people is undertaken by the research project you are placed on
• Writing up your reflections to an agreed template, which suits your skills and the project outcomes
• Being punctual, staying in communication with the project team, and acting in a professional manner with all project staff and participants

What?s on offer?

As a Youth Insight Researcher, you will have the chance to:

• Gain experience working with academics on research projects 
• Share your insights and ideas about youth participation and peer research
• Develop skills of observation, reflection, written communication, project and team working
• Enhance your CV with real-world experience from a recognised academic and cultural institution

Details of the Work:

• You will be a Youth Insight Researcher working in the QM Centre for Creative Collaboration
• You will be paid via QTemps by submitting your timesheets

Important Dates:

You must be available for the following training dates to apply:

March 12th 2pm-5pm

March 19th 2pm-5pm

April 2nd 2pm-5pm

April 9th 2pm-5pm

You can apply for this project if you are:

• Age 18-25
• A current student at Queen Mary
• A recent graduate of Queen Mary
• A young person from east London

To apply, please let us know

• Your age
• If current QM student ? your course and what year you are in
• If recent QM grad ? what you studied and what you are doing now
• If young person from east London ? what are you doing now

The please tell us about any skills or experience you have of:

• Being part of a participatory or peer research project
• Being part of any other youth projects or workshops
• Planning or conducting interviews
• Writing about your ideas and experiences (essays, blogs, reviews etc)
• Working to deadlines