research associate

Salary: £32,817 per annum
 FTE: 1 (35 hours/week)
 Term: Fixed Term (36 months)
 Closing date: Wednesday, 17 March 2021
Applications are invited for the post of Research Associate to work on the inter-disciplinary project entitled "The entrepreneurs who made Glasgow: the city and its businesses 1861-1901".
The project takes some of the factors that are key to understanding city centres in the 21st century and apply them to Glasgow's historical data in order to build a more holistic understanding of the 19th century city. The project will collect large scale data from historical sources i.e., valuation rolls, town directories, and censuses in order to identify business premises, ‘work from home’ entrepreneurs, and demographic details of individuals over time and space. In doing so a detailed picture of Glasgow's spatial, economic and social development during this period will be created. The project team comprises Professor Graeme Acheson (University of Strathclyde), Dr Linda Perriton (University of Stirling), and Dr Eoin McLaughlin (University College, Cork). The post is funded by the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2020-382) and the project funding is held by the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.
This is an exciting opportunity for a postdoc researcher to establish a long-term research presence working across business history, social and economic history, and geography. Working under the general supervision of senior colleagues, the postholder will be involved in the data collection, organisation, and management of the project and will be required to attend project meetings in Glasgow, and to access records held in institutions in Edinburgh and Glasgow. However, most work can be done remotely, and the project team is open to discussions of flexible working from other UK locations.
To be considered, you will need to evidence your skill, enthusiasm, and motivation to fill this core role on the project team. You will have a track record in the creation of large databases from archival sources. You will have a PhD, or be near completion, in a quantitative social science discipline or digital humanities, such as Economics, Economic History, Economic Geography, Business History, or in big data. You will need to be able to demonstrate competence in performing data linkage, advanced database management and data cleaning, and – ideally – in spatial modelling using GIS software (e.g. ArcGIS, QGIS, GeoDa) and statistical (STATA, R) software for the analysis of data.
As a Research Associate, you will play a significant role in the delivery of the research activities as part of the team, collect and collate data, and write up the results of the research and contribute to the production of reports and publications. You will manage and prioritise your own workload and ensure that all activities are completed to deadlines and you will input as a team member to administrative activities and assist, where required, with relevant activities. You will have knowledge of appropriate research methods, have an ability to plan and prioritise your own workload, with general supervision, and you will have an ability to work within a team environment.
Please note this is a fixed term post of 3 years duration.
 
Informal enquiries about the post can be directed to Professor Graeme Acheson, Head of Department (graeme.acheson@strath.ac.uk).
 
Formal interviews for this post will be held on Thursday, 1 April 2021.