Are you looking for a new challenge and want to join a successful and rapidly growing organisation? Do you have a passion for working with young people and exploring new ways to change young people's lives at a national scale through government policy? If so, we want to hear from you.

We are recruiting for several Research Assistants (RA) positions within our education team in BIT, including:

• Four Grassroots Project Research Assistants (Fixed-Term Contract - 6 Months running from 2nd January 2024 - 9th July 2024) + one week of paid training in December 2023 (w/c 11th December). 

• Must hold a current UK driving licence and have access to a car

• You will require a clean DBS result

• Remote work with frequent travel

• Must be based in one of the following:

• West and East Midlands: Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester or surrounding areas

• London and South East: Greater London or surrounding areas

• North West and Yorkshire: Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield or surrounding areas

• One Welsh-speaking Research Assistant (Fixed-Term contract - 7.5 months running from 15th November 2023 -9th July 2024 )

• Must be based in South Wales or surrounding areas and must be fluent in Welsh and English, with the ability to translate text between the two. 

What does the role involve?

We are looking for a number of research assistants to join the Education team. You will be working full time on a large and prestigious study testing a new anti-bullying intervention in more than 100 secondary schools. 

You will be helping to deliver the intervention to schools in one or two regions of England. Your responsibilities will include:

• Arranging and conducting fortnightly visits to each school to meet with a group of 11-15 year olds (to help them tackle conflict in their school); 

• Building a rapport with these young people and developing an atmosphere of trust and honesty, where they feel safe and empowered to discuss their school;

• Adapting to pupils’ needs and adhering to safeguarding procedures; 

• Reflecting upon each session to better understand what went well and what could be improved 

• Building and maintaining positive relationships with school staff and supporting each school’s progress throughout the programme;

• Monitoring pupils’ session attendance and reporting on this 

• Developing and suggesting practical ideas to make the study run more smoothly.

•  The Welsh speaking Facilitator will also be involved in translating some English materials/text into Welsh for Welsh-Speaking pupils

What makes a great candidate?

We are looking for people who understand what we do, share our values and are keen to learn and develop their expertise. We are looking for candidates with the skills listed below. We expect to provide training and development support in some of the areas.

• Managing projects. You can manage your own time to produce high quality work within a reasonable time frame. You can keep track of lots of different moving parts in a project to keep everything running smoothly. 

• [Preferred] Previous experience working with young people. You have previously led youth groups, after school clubs, sports clubs or similar activities. You have experience working with groups of young people and can deliver activities and manage behaviour confidently. 

• Strong facilitation skills. You can support a group of pupils to generate and develop their own intervention ideas. You ensure every voice is heard and steer pupils away from any intervention ideas that could cause psychological distress or marginalisation.

• Clear and convincing communications. You can explain complex topics in simple terms. You respond to questions and deal with problems quickly, efficiently and respectfully. 

• Managing and developing yourself at work. You demonstrate high self-awareness and regularly self-reflect. You are aware of the impact that your actions and words have on those around you. You are resilient and accept responsibility for decisions whether they achieve the desired outcome or not.

• Understanding school dynamics. You have a good grasp of how schools work, including the key issues teachers and other school staff members face. You can efficiently and effectively communicate with schools about the project and rapidly build positive working relationships that support project delivery. 

• A basic understanding of Excel. You know how to use Excel or Google Sheets to keep track of lots of complex information.

• [Preferred] Experience working with marginalised communities. 

Note: Please note that this role will involve travelling to and from schools within your region. Having a full, clean UK drivers licence and access to a car is essential. 

Who are we?

The Behavioural Insights Team is the world leader in applying behavioural science to public policy challenges in order to strengthen communities and improve lives. 

We design and rigorously test new ideas across a range of areas such as health, crime and education, to establish what works and what doesn’t. We have helped Tuberculosis patients take their medicine; reduced police susceptibility to cyberattacks; and helped organisations close their gender pay gap.

How to apply

We use a great platform called Applied to reduce bias in the recruitment process. You will need to answer a few work-based questions which will be anonymously marked by members of our team. Our selection is based on performance in these questions, rather than looking at your CV. 

Candidates with the top scoring answers will be invited to a structured interview where you get to meet some of the team. At the interview stage you will be asked questions that reflect the role and also to complete a work-based task, so you have the chance to demonstrate your skills. It’s at this stage we first see your CV. We always give all applicants feedback, no matter what stage your application reaches.

Key dates

Role closes: 9th October at Midday

Interviews will take place: w/c 16th October

These dates are subject to change (although we try to keep them the same!

Please note:

You will need to have the right to work in the UK in order to be able to undertake this role. We will ask all applicants short-listed for an interview to provide evidence of their right to work during the recruitment process.  If you do not have the right to work for BIT but are the most suitable person for the role we will explore with you whether sponsorship may be an option. However, this may not be possible for all roles.

Some of the personal data you provide to Applied when you apply for a role with The Behavioural Insights Team will be passed on to The Behavioural Insights Team for the purposes of (a) reviewing your application; (b) inviting you for interview; and/or (c) offering you a job and getting you set up as an employee/contractor. For full details on how BIT collects and uses your personal data please visit our website - https://www.bi.team/bit-global-recruitment-privacy-notice/ 

If your application is not successful, any personal data provided to us by Applied (including any personal data relating to equal opportunities monitoring as set out above) will be retained by The Behavioural Insights Team for no longer than 6 months after the application deadline has passed (other than in exceptional circumstances where we may need to retain your personal data for longer), at which point your personal data will be securely deleted. We only keep your information for that period in order to allow us to comply with relevant legal obligations.