The dynamic research culture and environment at Birmingham City University allows you to join up with leading experts and make a true impact in your field of knowledge.
If you’re considering possible next steps to take after completing a PhD, a research assistant role could be for you. But firstly, what does a research assistant get up to?
A research assistant is a paid role set up to support research at a university. The position of a research assistant is to support other researchers, academics and project leads with executing intended research project results, developing new ideas and contributing towards enhancing knowledge in a particular subject area.
Assistants bridge the gap between theory and practice and are very important contributors towards research impacts and distribution of knowledge.
What are the key responsibilities of a research assistant?
1. Contributing to teaching
Research assistants may contribute to teaching and be involved in the assessment of student knowledge, including assisting in the supervision of student projects and in the development of student research skills and questions. If you have studied a postgraduate research degree yourself, you will be in a great position to offer advice and support!
2. Supporting research projects
This could include undertaking literature reviews, going through academic articles, journals, and other research materials to understand the status of the research project. Your efforts can be significant in making breakthroughs, moving the research project forward in innovative and exciting ways.
3. Presenting research ideas
You could be making presentations at internal university conferences, or national and international conferences about your own or joint research on the project you are supporting. This is a skill you will have finessed in your PhD study and is a great chance to show it off!
4. Engaging with project participants
This may include working with members of the postgraduate research community to promote project and support participation. You could be working with members of the community to gather new data.
5. Working on publications
A research assistant may contribute to the production of research reports, publications and open access materials to make the research ideas widely accessible.
6. Conducting primary research
Methods of primary research will vary depending on the area of research you are supporting, but this could include interviews and workshops to collect qualitative data from participants in the study.
7. Analysing research
Research assistants can lead the management and analysing of qualitative data collected from a project’s primary research. Based on these outcomes, you may generate original ideas and draw conclusions.
8. Problem solving
You will need to use initiative to find solutions to problems as they emerge in a research project and work collaboratively to refine and create original research methods. The role will give you space to continually update your knowledge and understanding of your specialism, and apply this to future work.
9. Forming new ideas
Using your creativity, you may identify new areas for research, interpreting research data to draw conclusions on outcomes and consider how to push the work forward.
10. Networking and collaborating
Making joint decisions and working as a team to produce excellent research, you will be working on projects with project investigators, co-investigators, research fellows and likely postgraduate researchers too. Through establishing networks internally and externally, you will facilitate knowledge exchange to make a change in the world.
A research assistantship is an ideal next step after completing your PhD, as it provides an opportunity to further develop your academic expertise through valuable contributions toward impactful, interdisciplinary research.
This position will also provide an opportunity for you to develop your research portfolio, opening doors for future academic or industry-based careers.