Postdoctoral Researcher on Methodology and Ethnography

About Us

King's College London is one of the UK's leading research universities, renowned for its commitment to academic excellence and societal impact. The African Leadership Centre (ALC) is a dynamic unit based within the King's School of Global Affairs (SGA) that delivers postgraduate teaching, doctoral training and academic research. The ALC focuses on the intellectual study of leadership within the fields of development, peacebuilding and security with attention to Global South contexts. It also works on pressing global challenges including climate change, sustainability, and governance. The Centre is committed to building a community of thought, policy and practice leaders and spaces for critical intellectual dialogues, debates and knowledge creation on its themes of focus. The ALC also has a base in Africa, with a sister Centre that is in Nairobi. This postdoctoral role is part of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship on justice in critical minerals governance across Australia, Chile and Ghana led by Dr Clement Sefa-Nyarko.

About The Role

This role will support the methodological development of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship - Justice in Critical Minerals Governance and Energy Transitions - focusing on Hermeneutical Ethnography, Visual Embodiment Methodologies, and participatory research approaches.

The project addresses the urgent need to understand and integrate justice into global energy transitions, particularly in the governance of critical minerals. The project responds to deep contestations over the meaning and purpose of justice in the shift to net zero emissions, which have led to policy gaps, community grievances, and disruptions in global supply chains. At its core is a pioneering methodology - Hermeneutical Ethnography - which enables the collection, co-creation, and interpretation of verbal and non-verbal expressions, including silences, symbols, and stories. This approach facilitates a deeper exchange of meaning between communities and researchers, allowing aspirations and lived experiences to shape justice frameworks that are both empirical and conceptual. The project will apply this methodology in mining communities across Ghana, Chile, and Australia, focusing on Lithium and other critical minerals essential for clean technologies. By capturing the voices and silences of those most affected by extractive industries, the project aims to build a bottom-up, data-driven framework for justice that informs national policies and global climate agendas. It will explore how environmental degradation, livelihood loss, and socio-political tensions can be mitigated through inclusive governance and strategic partnerships. Ultimately, the overarching Fellowship seeks to elevate justice to the same level of urgency as scientific and technological innovation in climate action. It will generate distinctive empirical data and foster interdisciplinary expertise, ensuring that the post-2030 UN Sustainable Development Agenda fully accounts for justice in energy transitions.

The postholder will work within the African Leadership Centre, Global Institutes, School of Global Affairs at King's College London, contributing to the design and implementation of this bottom-up knowledge systems that centre community voices and silences in critical minerals governance. The role involves collaboration with international partners in Ghana, Chile, and Australia, and supports training and mentoring of a small research staff across the project. The postholder is responsible for developing and refining research methodology, training research staff, and supporting interdisciplinary collaboration. The postholder will work in collaboration with Dr Sefa-Nyarko and the wider Fellowship team and partner institutions.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 3 years, but starting off with an initial one year contract renewable for up to the 3 years.

Research staff at King's are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers , applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the [Centre for Research Staff Development]( // for more information.

Please note the start date will be in the first quarter of 2026.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

• PhD in research methodology, social sciences, or a closely related field (or near completion).
• Demonstrated experience in participatory, visual embodiment, and interpretive research methods.
• Track record of writing papers as evidenced by publications or submitted manuscripts in referred journals.
• Experience in designing and implementing qualitative (and quantitative) approaches to research.
• Track record of working collaboratively in interdisciplinary and international teams.
• Track record of doing research in diverse international settings.
• Proficiency in analytical and statistical software.
• Excellent networking and partnership-building skills.

Desirable criteria

• Experience working in African, Latin American, or Australian contexts, especially if fluent in Spanish or local languages relevant to critical minerals mining fields in Ghana, Chile or Australia.
• Knowledge of Hermeneutical Ethnography or similar methodologies such as visual embodiments methodology
• Experience in policy engagement or research dissemination.
• Project management skills, including experience in developing Monitoring and Evaluation tools and implementing them.
• Experience in training or capacity building for early career researchers.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ' How we Recruit ' pages.