- Department of Sociology, 42-43 Park End Street, Oxford, OX1 1JD
- Research Grade 6 £35,681 - £41,636 per annum
- Full-time
- Fixed-term (15 months)
- Vacancy Reference 182978
For the full range of responsibilities and selection criteria, and to apply, please view the job description on the University of Oxford jobs website.
The Department of Sociology is seeking a Research Assistant who will play an active role on the Nuffield Foundation funded project titled “Evaluating the Fundamental British Values initiative of the DfE”.
In 2014, the Department for Education launched an initiative instructing all schools to promote “Fundamental British Values”. These comprise: democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. The policy aimed to promote a shared “Britishness” and prevent violent extremism. However, some questioned its effectiveness and feared its potential to alienate minorities.
Despite the controversial nature of the policy there has been little academic research on its efficacy. The research team will conduct a quantitative review of the large-scale, long-term, intended, and unintended consequences of the FBV initiative.
Reporting to the Principal Investigator, Dr Ozan Aksoy, and working in collaboration with Dr Burak Sonmez (UCL) as Co-Investigator, the postholder will play an active role in the research team in conducting a quantitative review of the large-scale, long-term, intended, and unintended consequences of the FBV initiative through analyses of secondary data (e.g. the Census and various surveys) and as novel experiments.
The successful candidate will work, in collaboration with the PI and CoI, towards collecting, analysing, and visualising online experimental and secondary data to evaluate the Fundamental British Values educational policy. The research team uses R and/or Stata, and online platforms and tools such as Prolific and Qualtrics. The experiments will involve factorial and conjoint designs.
The successful candidate will also help organise two project workshops, liaising with stakeholders and the advisory board which include prominent academics and professionals; and help draft project reports.
This is a fixed-term position for 15 months and available from January 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter.
The closing date for applications is 12:00 midday UK time on Monday 24 November 2025 with interviews taking place on Thursday 11 December 2025.
You will be required to upload a CV, supporting statement and details of two referees as part of your online application. Your supporting statement should clearly set out the extent to which you meet each of the selection criteria of the post.
For the full range of responsibilities and selection criteria, and to apply, please view the job description on the University of Oxford jobs website.
