Job description

As an essential member of the Policy Institute, the Research Assistant will support the Experimental Government Team (XGT) in the scoping, delivery and research coordination of ongoing and new projects.

This is a new team, with an exciting programme of work ahead of it. You will be one of the first new members of the team, and be able to develop and shape our work over the coming years.

In this role you will work across two major randomised controlled trials;

• Testing the impact of a new curriculum delivered by police in schools


• Testing the impact of interventions that aim to improve adult numeracy.

Our ideal candidate will have one or more of the following: training in econometrics or quantitative data analysis in Stata or R; or in the administration of surveys.

Good organisational skills, and passion for learning how to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in society are essential.

About the team:

The Experimental Government Team works with organisations, including governments, charities and the government s what works centres to help change the world through evidence based policy, for example by;

• Developing interventions inspired by behavioural science to have a difference in the real world


• Improving the infrastructure and building blocks of evidence based policy


• Running randomised controlled trials


• Using data analysis to better understand our world and how outcomes can be improved.


• Build evaluation capability and capacity across many sectors


• Provide strategic guidance, partnership and incubation for new and existing evidence initiatives

We also advocate for evidence-based interventions, and work closely with members of the What Works Network to develop the evaluation ecosystem.

See more at: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/about/experimental-government-team

This post will be offered on an a fixed-term contract for 1 year

This is a full-time post

Key responsibilities

• Contribute to the smooth and successful running of a small, high-performing team conducting a range of research projects.


• Coordinate and administer research projects, including: maintaining project tracking documents; scheduling meetings, roundtables with senior stakeholders; developing recruitment and procedure materials; and preparing ethical clearance documentation.


• Undertake bespoke pieces of research, data transformation manipulation and analysis to support the team s work.


• Engage with policy colleagues and attend meetings in order to scope, plan and progress our programmes of work.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

Essential criteria

1. Training in generating robust evaluation and research outputs, with experience in quasi-experimental or experimental research designs**, or;**

2. Interest and training in a behavioural science (psychology, economics, political science, sociology) and an interest in its application.

3. Experience working independently on a research project

4. Excellent organisational skills

5. Exceptional written and oral communication skills

6. High level of accuracy and attention to detail

7. Proactive approach with initiative and drive

8. A good team player

9. Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office, Outlook, Word and Excel

Desirable criteria

10. Experience using either the R statistical software, or Stata and an interest in developing skills further

11. Experience with survey design and analysis