Job: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Judging Values and Participation in Mental Capacity Law at Birkbeck

The post is for a fixed-term Postdoctoral Researcher for 2.8 years who specialises in socio-legal studies and mental capacity law, to join the AHRC-funded project, Judging Values and Participation in Mental Capacity Law, located at the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London. This exciting project is undertaking a socio-legal, philosophical, and policy examination of current judicial deliberation in mental capacity decisions, and is led by Dr. Camillia Kong (ICPR), with co-Investigators Professor John Coggon (Bristol), Professor Penny Cooper (ICPR), and Dr. Michael Dunn (Oxford).

You will:

• Ideally be able to demonstrate specialist expertise and academic training in mental capacity law, judicial deliberation, and/or or socio-legal approaches that will support a philosophical and policy-oriented programme of work
• Possess expertise in, or experience with, empirical studies, with a focus on the application of qualitative methodologies in legal research in particular

• Have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to work collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary research team

• Have the ability to work independently to manage academic research and associated activities, including the ability to work towards deadlines

• Possess a growing international research profile, demonstrated by academic publications in leading national and international journals, or be able to show clear potential to be able to produce such publications

You will be responsible for:

• Conducting and assisting in interviews with judges and legal advocates, as well as undertaking qualitative data analysis for the project
• Contributing to legal and philosophical analysis to be conducted within the project, depending on your specific skills and disciplinary background
• Collaborating closely with project investigators in contributing to the ambitious programme of mental capacity law research around central project themes which span from legal jurisprudence, judicial deliberation, value theory, and legal policy
• Advancing this programme of work by initiating and developing independent research papers for journal publication around central project themes
• Contributing to project network activities, including symposiums with advisory group members, strategic meetings with international collaborative partners / centres, and the project conference
• Representing the Judging Values project at external conferences, meetings, and seminars
• Contribute to the intellectual life at the ICPR by attending relevant meetings and seminars
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the necessary experience and/or training

Grade 7 of the College’s London Pay Scale which is £37,912 rising to £43,333 per annum