Overview

The Law and Justice Foundation of NSW is an independent, research focussed organisation. We undertake high quality applied social research and analysis to identify the legal and related needs of the community and ‘what works’ to address these needs, to inform policy development and service delivery. The Foundation has established a reputation for rigorous and policy-relevant work that is relied upon nationally and globally.

The Foundation works actively with government and all parts of the legal assistance sector (including Legal Aid Commissions, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, and Community Legal Centres) and the broader justice system to inform policy and support the planning and delivery of effective legal assistance services.

The Foundation’s research program involves innovative social research across a range of themes, including:

• Population level surveys of legal need, pathways and barriers to meet these needs, and vulnerabilities of different communities
• Identifying and using legal service delivery data, official (including Australian Bureau of Statistics) and other data to understand legal needs and how they can be met effectively
• Exploring how legal services can most effectively collaborate with each other and connect with other human services to best reach priority clients
• Monitoring and evaluating services to assess how they can most cost-effectively meet the needs of disadvantaged clients in various geographic, socio-economic and service environments.

The Foundation now wishes to recruit a Senior Researcher to join its well-respected team. This is an exciting opportunity to apply your evaluation skills in the justice sector.

Working arrangements: Fixed term contract -two years with potential for permanent role. Full time or part time. Flexible working hours available. This role is based in the Foundation’s CBD offices.

Salary: Dependent on qualifications and experience.  Salary range $110K to $130K plus super.

Responsible to: A Principal Researcher

Role

The role is to participate in and lead various investigative and evaluative research projects within the Foundation’s research program. The exact nature of the role will vary depending on the seniority of the researcher and research projects underway.

Skills/Selection Criteria

Essential requirements

The Senior Researcher role requires a post-graduate qualification in the social sciences, law, or other relevant discipline and demonstrated experience in undertaking social research, evaluation and analysis, such as in an academic, public-sector, not-for-profit organisation or applied research organisation. It requires at least 5 years’ relevant experience.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a command of the Core Competencies required of Foundation research staff (by level) as outlined on the Foundation’s website under employment (www.lawfoundation.net.au), but in particular, should demonstrate appropriate experience and expertise in the following:

• leading and contributing to planning, design, conduct, writing and management of evaluations and research studies in collaboration with other research staff
• conducting data analysis, including descriptive and multivariate analysis and applying appropriate statistical tests to data from large administrative datasets and ad-hoc surveys
• leading and participating in data collection, coding and data quality processes
• participating in the internal review of research plans, papers and reports
• composing research reports to a publishable standard
• communicating research findings via high quality oral presentations
• providing ad-hoc advice on evaluation design and research findings to stakeholder organisations
• preparing costed project proposals in response to tenders, monitoring the progress of projects against resources and timelines, and maintaining client relationships
• working with staff to develop and maintain research skills and capabilities
• establishing and fostering relationships and networks across community, legal, academic and other areas of applied social research

Desirable criteria

The candidate should preferably have knowledge, skills and experience, or a willingness to develop these in:

• The delivery of legal and/or other services to disadvantaged people
• The operation of the legal assistance sector