UCL DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY
Research Assistant
Job Title:
Research Assistant
Department:
Department of Political Science/School of Public Policy
Grade:
Grade 6b
Salary:
£28,338- £ 29,881 per annum (inclusive of London Allowance)
FTE:
100% (36.5 hours per week)
Responsible to:
James Melton, Principal Investigator
University College London (UCL) is a multi-faculty college of the University of London with a population of over
17,000 students, from more than 130 different countries. Degree programmes are provided in Arts and
Humanities, Social and Historical Sciences, Architecture, Building, Environmental Design and Planning, Laws,
Life Sciences and Clinical Sciences (including Medicine), Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and Engineering
Sciences. UCL is among the world’s top universities, as reflected in performance in a range of rankings and
tables. The Department of Political Science is recognised as a centre for excellence in the field, ranked 6th in
the UK in the 2008 RAE.
The School of Public Policy was established in 1997 to provide the bridge between UCL's world-class research
and the policy-making community in Britain and internationally. In 2005 its core staff and teaching
programmes formed a newly created Department of Political Science within the School, and for all practical
purposes the two entities are now identical. Britain’s only department to specialise in graduate teaching and
research, it offers a uniquely stimulating environment for the study of all fields of politics, including
international relations, political theory, comparative government and public policy-making and administration.
The Post
The School of Public Policy, UCL wishes to appoint one full-time research assistant to work with Dr James
Melton on Constitute, a new web application that aims to provide free, online access to virtually every
constitution written since 1789. The goal of the project is to improve constitution-making processes by
providing access to the contents of other countries’ constitutions to the individuals involved in those
processes. The web application will be hosted on ConstitutionMaking.org and is presently funded by
Google Ideas and the Indigo Trust.
The successful candidate will work in the Department of Political Science’s well-known Constitution Unit.
The candidate’s primary responsibility will be formatting and adding XML tags to the Comparative
Constitutions Project’s collection of constitutional texts.
The appointment is full-time (100% FTE or 36.5 hours per week) and available from the 24th of June 2013.
Key Responsibilities
The successful candidate will be expected to undertake research duties in connection with the project as
directed by Dr James Melton, which include the following:
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Develop a working knowledge of the Comparative Constitutions Project’s survey instrument
Clean and format constitutional texts
Add both structural and content-related XML tags to constitutional texts
Identify and correct errors in quantitative data on constitutions
If not already possessed, acquire the computer skills necessary to accomplish the aforementioned
tasks
Attend fortnightly meetings held by the Constitution Unit
Contribute to the intellectual environment at the Constitution Unit by participating in seminars,
writing occasional blog posts, and contributing to the Constitution Unit’s newsletter
Other tasks as required by the Principal Investigator
Job descriptions cannot be exhaustive and so the post holder may be required to undertake other duties
which are in line with the scope, spirit and purpose of the job as requested by the line manager.
As duties and responsibilities change and develop the job description may be reviewed and be subject to
amendment in consultation with the post holder.
Person Specification
Essential
 A Master’s degree in political science, law, or a related field at merit or distinction grade;
candidates not possessing this qualification but with a first-class undergraduate degree in one of
these subjects may be considered
(NOTE – this is an entry-level research position, and candidates holding a PhD will not be
considered; however, the position could suit somebody who is currently working towards a PhD)
 Demonstrable knowledge of constitutional/institutional design
 Familiarity with the structure and contents of codified constitutions
 Motivation and proven experience of working under own initiative
 Experience of organising and planning own work, and meeting deadlines
 Highly advanced English language skills
 Good organisational skills and a flexible approach to working as part of a team
Desirable
 Prior experience with Perl, Python, R, Stata, or similar programs
 Knowledge of XML and/or Regular Expressions
 Experience working with large data sets
 Foreign language skills (e.g. Spanish or French)
 Training in social science research methods and/or statistics
Salary
This full-time appointment is available from the 24th of June 2013 and is funded from a research grant with
limited funding which currently runs until the 6th of April 2014 in the first instance. The salary for research
assistants is Grade 6B of the UCL pay scale at point 24 (£28,338 per annum including London Allowance).
Application process
Applications for this position must be submitted online at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/vacancies/adverts/joblist.html. Your application should include:
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a UCL application form that contains a personal statement outlining your reasons for applying and
explains why you think you are a strong candidate for the position
(NOTE – it is recommended that you write your personal statement in a word processor and paste
it into the personal statement box on the application form)
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details of two referees including names, contact details
you may upload a cover letter and CV if you wish, but there is no guarantee that these will be read;
initial shortlisting decisions will be based on the information provided on the application form only
Please note that referees will only be contacted if you are shortlisted. Please indicate whether we can
contact your referees without further permission from you
CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 5pm, 10th May 2013
It is anticipated that interviews will be held during the week starting on 27th May 2013
Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr James Melton – [email protected].