Poor Law Research Assistant

A Century of Struggle: Pauperism and the New Poor Law in Wales 1834 – 1930 is a collaborative research project led by The National Archives in collaboration with Aberystwyth University and Nottingham Trent University. The project aims to provide, for the first time, a detailed picture of the totality of the New Poor Law in Wales. It is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) (award reference: UKRI1432).The post holder will be responsible for executing a programme of work on poverty and the poor law in Wales from 1834 to 1930 as agreed with the funder, The Arts and Humanities Research Council.This post will be focused mainly on the archives held in various north and mid-Wales Archive Services and the National Library of Wales, with regular visits to The National Archives in Kew. This post is a fixed term appointment for three years.Principal duties: will include collecting (digital imaging) and/or sampling sources and a substantial element of transcription of handwritten, typed or printed primary source material. The post holder will capture the views and life stories of Welsh paupers, the wider poor and their advocates; and the same of the parochial, union, and central poor law authorities, as well as statistical and operational data. They will undertake analysis of materials collected including coding/geocoding, linguistic/corpus analysis, qualitative, and quantitative analysis as required. They will also have substantial volunteer liaison and management experience of working with volunteer editors (and their development) in the production of historical New Poor Law data sets. They will take on a full range of public engagement activities including public presentations (solo and in collaboration with the research principal and co-investigators), and social/other media engagement. The post holder will be responsible for academic engagement activities including proposing and delivering conference research papers. They will also contribute to the episodic reporting of outcomes to the Arts and Humanities Research Council. They will author or co-author articles and other outputs named in the original grant application at the discretion and direction of the Project Lead including the co-authoring with the research principal and co-investigators, the major historical project book named in the grant as agreed with the Arts and Humanities Research Council.A combination of onsite and home working is available, and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for necessary meetings/work.This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department.For full details and to apply, please click the 'Apply' button on this page.Person Specification:Essential CriteriaEducated to PhD or equivalent (in experience/publications) in a relevant discipline.Demonstrable detailed knowledge of the relevant poor law related archival collections at both The National Archives and local/county archives and the ability to deal with the complex palaeography these original 19th and early 20th century archival documents present.Significant experience of authoring written outputs including writing books (either as a solo or co-author), writing peer reviewed articles, and writing/compiling research resources.Demonstrable experience of creating historical datasets from a varied archival series, coding/geocoding the same and presenting the data in paper and in online environments.Excellent interpersonal, communication and negotiation skills, and therefore able to interact well and build effective relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders.Demonstrable ability and experience to engage and persuade stakeholders (e.g. archive managers, volunteer managers, and volunteers).Demonstrate excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage your own time (either when working independently and within a team) to handle a varied and demanding workloads, prioritise different task demands and meet challenging deadlines.Significant experience advising, managing, or working with volunteers.Desirable criteria The ability to read Welsh documents would be an advantageExperience of advising, managing, or working with volunteers to create research data sets, including quality assessment of compiled data, identifying deviations from required protocols, and providing sensitive, feedback to volunteers, will be an advantage.Closing date: Tuesday 16th December 2025 at midnight