Overview
Research Associate of Slavery in War (Information Science / Data Management) – Strand, London, WC2R 2LS
About us
The Department of Digital Humanities is a global leader in researching digital culture and society, and in exploring the use of advanced technology-related methods in humanities research.
Since our founding in 1992, we have spearheaded new intellectual possibilities among computing, the humanities and the social sciences. We are the largest and most prestigious department of our kind worldwide, ranked first in the UK (along with the Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries) in the latest Research Excellence Framework.
In 2025, the King’s College London and University of Nottingham will launch the new Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War, funded by the Leverhulme Trust for up to £10 million over ten years. For more information please see the announcement of this initiative.
The Centre will be the first to systematically investigate the slavery–war nexus across history and into the future, using novel interdisciplinary methods that span the social sciences, humanities, and data sciences—including forecasting techniques, survivor narratives, and Earth Observation data. By reshaping knowledge and creating innovative tools and early warning systems, the Centre aims to support the global goal of eliminating forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking.
This attempt requires a large, interdisciplinary team working within a cross-cutting framework to connect vast amounts of data and answer many fundamental questions with innovative methodological approaches. The Centre will reshape knowledge of how slavery in war can be analysed, forecasted and tackled, shaping in the process a new interdisciplinary field of study and a step-change towards the global goal of eliminating forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking.
About the role
You will bring information science and data management expertise into the new Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War. The new Centre for Research on Slavery in War is structured around four interconnected research strands—(Re)conceptualising, Understanding, Forecasting and Tackling—and aims for far-reaching insights that transform global responses to modern slavery in conflict settings.
The role is based within the Understanding strand, in the Department of Digital Humanities in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The Understanding strand will map the distribution, prevalence and forms of slavery across diverse conflict zones in the modern world, building a new analytical paradigm to understand the phenomenon of slavery in war. Key research questions include: how has slavery manifested in war? How can diverse datasets be synthesised and analysed to research and address slavery in war? By working across the Centre’s datasets and using data analytics and machine learning, this Centre strand will build a blended data resource that can help to gauge the prevalence, forms, and distribution of slavery in wars.
You will work collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary team, as well as undertaking independent research. You will use approaches, methodologies, and techniques appropriate to the research. Specific projects will be identified in line with your expertise and skills, as well as Centre need, and are expected to include, at varying points in the role:
- Development of data management workflows to allow historians and political scientists to code instances and types of enslavement in armed conflict.
- Reviewing and analysing existing evidence and data to inform processes.
- Developing data dictionaries and controlled vocabularies to enable data collection that examines and delineates the terminology describing conditions under which slavery emerges during and after conflicts, and its diverse manifestations and impacts.
- Scoping activity and requirement analysis with stakeholders in the different centre strands and collaborating institutions.
- Communication between the technical team and domain experts (historians and political scientists).
- Collaborate closely with King’s Digital Lab to co-create data pipelines, terminologies, and products.
- Engaging with theoretical and definitional insights, including from other Centre strands, to support data analysis.
- Data integration and management across a range of datasets.
- Manage linguistic and semantic complexity in multi-lingual, diachronic datasets.
- Writing outputs, including academic articles and regular data management guidelines and reports.
- Contributing to workshops, conferences, and other engagement and dissemination activities.
- Tailoring resources for different stakeholders and contexts.
You will have the opportunity to use your initiative and creativity to identify areas for research, develop research methods and extend your research portfolio within the thematic area of slavery in war. You will have a public-facing role and represent the team externally. There will be opportunities to work collaboratively with people who have lived experience of slavery, trafficking, and exploitation in conflict settings.
This work is international in scope and covers a wide range of different substantive issues and approaches connected to slavery in war, as well as various different forms of exploitation and contexts. Applications are therefore welcome from researchers who wish to bring a particular perspective, lens, or approach to the work of the Centre.
This is a full time (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an a fixed term contract until 31st October 2027.
Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.
About you
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
- PhD qualified in relevant subject area (especially data science, library/information science or digital humanities)*
- Capable in dataset scoping, data audit and database analysis
- Ability in requirement analysis on behalf of Centre stakeholders and collaborating institutions
- Ability to build data dictionaries and controlled vocabularies
- Knowledge and understanding of developing workflows for historical data capture and entry.
- Project or other experience of effective communication and liaison between the technical team and domain experts (historians and political scientists)
- Understanding of the linguistic and language complexities of dealing with data from multiple historical periods and language roots
- Ability to conduct individual and collaborative research projects. With demonstrable experience in writing up research work for academic publication and the ability to effectively communicate research and data clearly to both public and academic audiences.
Desirable criteria
- Capacity to continually update knowledge and understanding in their field or specialism
- Ability to translate knowledge of advances in the subject area into research activity
- Experience with historical, humanitarian, or conflict-related datasets
- Experience in inter-disciplinary teams
- Conceptual familiarity or experience with AI enhanced workflows
Downloading a copy of our Job Description
Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.
*Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.
