Lecturer in Social Science

King's College London

About us

Established in 2025, the Methods Centre in the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy is dedicated to advancing research with novel and interdisciplinary methods. It aims to sustain methodological innovation and foster collaboration across and beyond established boundaries between qualitative and quantitative methods, analogue and digital devices, and explanatory and interpretive approaches.

About the role

The Methods Centre in the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy seeks to appoint a Lecturer in Computational Social Science to strengthen our research capacity and leadership in this area. We are looking for candidates who combine methodological expertise in cutting-edge computational techniques, including Artificial Intelligence, with an understanding of pluralistic and interdisciplinary social science research.

The successful candidate will be responsible for undertaking high-quality research in this area individually and collaboratively through grant applications and dissemination. They are expected to build research collaborations within the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy and beyond, including with non-academic partners. They will also be responsible for developing relevant teaching and training provision in the area of computational social science together with colleagues. They will work with the Methods Centre Director and the Faculty Research Team to locate new research and funding opportunities. A commitment to collegiality is essential.

The postholder will play a key role in the institutional and intellectual development of the Methods Centre and undertake other administrative Centre duties as required.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 2 years.

About you

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

Essential criteria

  1. PhD Degree in computational social science or another relevant field

  2. Excellent knowledge of computational social science

  3. Understanding of pluralistic social science research and interdisciplinarity

  4. Experience of designing and/or delivering modules in the relevant area

  5. Commitment to methodological innovation to address social science questions

  6. Experience with diverse data across social sciences, including born-digital data

  7. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

  8. Collegiality and willingness to work as part of a team

Desirable criteria

  1. Experience of grant applications

  2. Developing record of high-quality publications in the relevant field, appropriate for career stage

  3. Experience of research impact

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

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

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 person specification section of the job description. 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.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant’s own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment. Further guidance on the use of AI in recruitment can be found here.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

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

Interviews are due to be held in early October 2026.

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