Researcher: Addressing the Legacy of Violence through Facilitated Dialogue

About us

The Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (Glencree) is an independent, non- governmental organization that works with individuals and groups to transform violent conflict, promote reconciliation, build sustainable peace, cultivate positive relationships, and works towards more inclusive, equitable, and diverse societies.

Glencree, founded in 1974 as a direct response to the violence happening predominantly in Northern Ireland. Through working with politicians, women, youth, victims/survivors, former combatants, security force personnel, community, and religious leaders Glencree has built a strong reputation for its practical contribution to peacebuilding and the Northern Irish peace process.

Glencree is located, and carries out much of its work from its beautiful and historic residential Centre in the Wicklow Mountains just 25kms from Dublin City Centre.

Project Background

Building on Glencree’s work with politicians, victims and survivors, former combatants and security forces Glencree started a ‘Legacy of Violence’ Programme in 2015. This formed the basis of a Peace IV application and Glencree was awarded funding by the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) for a project entitled ‘Addressing the legacy of violence through facilitated dialogue’ to run from 2017-2021.

The Programme will be focused around, but not limited to, the experiences of four ‘victims and survivors’ groups and their communities. Through a process of private and confidential facilitated dialogues, it examines themes and issues, which remain as obstacles to deeper understanding and the promotion of positive relations. The four key groups along with other relevant parties have co-developed their own process and pace of engagement. The learning accrued through the project will be of assistance to ‘Victims and Survivors’ groups, other interest groups, academics, policymakers, and practitioners in ascertaining how to productively engage with Northern Ireland’s contentious past and this learning will be shared through publications, roundtables and an end of project Symposium.

The Role:

Job Title: Researcher (Legacy of Violence Project)

Duration: This post is a fixed term contract until December 31, 2021

The post is a part time post 3 days per week (21 hours excluding breaks.)

Salary scale €30,774- 34,866 pro rata depending on experience

The Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation’s ‘Legacy of Violence’ Project is supported by the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).

Key responsibilities of the post.

Contribute to the ongoing research programme, using appropriate methodologies (e.g. desk based, quantitative, qualitative, and participatory) to examine the effectiveness of the Peace IV project and to highlight issues arising from the work.
Record, document, analyse and report the outcomes of various research programme activities.
Conduct interviews and focus groups with identified stakeholders both remotely and face-to-face.
Ensure that the research adheres to high ethical standards, that data is managed responsibility and is GDPR compliant.
Document and report on ethnographic field notes during, after dialogue events, and after social interactions in and around dialogues.
Undertake literature reviews and document searches where necessary.
Transcribe and/or oversee the timely and accurate transcription of research interview notes ensuring correct anonymization and destruction of recordings when complete.
Undertake data coding where appropriate and ensure data quality assurance procedures.
Analyse, interpret and evaluate research findings for the final evaluation report and project impact assessment.
Write briefing papers (2020), analyse data and write the final evaluation report (2021), and write two peer reviewed articles (2020 and 2021).
Disseminate research findings maintaining due regard for co-operation and consultation of participants.
Collaborate in planning of research related workshops.
Be responsible for data and project management as it relates to research programme activities of the Peace IV programme.
Be a constructive part of the LOV team and the wider Glencree staff team project team involved in the project life cycle until December 2021.
Attend team meetings.
Attend relevant preparatory meetings in planning for dialogues to build rapport with participants

The knowledge, experience and skills required to undertake this role are:

Essential
Educational/professional qualification	· Masters award or equivalent in social sciences or a relevant field
Inter-personal skills	· Ability to develop and maintain relationships across a range of stakeholders · Experience of engagement empathically, in a research context, with people/communities who experience marginalisation or trauma
Research knowledge and skills	· An ability to plan and design research and evaluation projects/activities/tools · An ability to undertake literature reviews and desktop research · An ability to employ a range of research methodologies suitable to social research · Knowledge of ethical standards and ability to apply them to research design
Research experience	· Experience of conducting research and evaluations · Experience of conducting qualitative research and analysis · Experience of drawing conclusions from research and evaluation analysis and research and evaluation findings · Substantial experience of using research software packages for data collection and data analysis
Communication skills and experience	· Experience of drafting and editing research and evaluation reports and articles for academic and non-academic audiences
Knowledge of peacebuilding and conflict with specific regard to Northern Ireland	· A strong knowledge of current issues in relation to the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement · Knowledge of themes related to the legacy of violence, including issues related to (i) victims and survivors and (ii) transitional justice issues as they relate to conflict and peacebuilding on this island
Confidentiality	· Experience of observing confidentiality in research or other relevant context
Project management including organisational management and financial reporting	· Experience in methodical approaches to project management and experience of financial reporting
Team work	· A track record of working collaboratively in a range of team settings
Mobility	· Access to private transport, clean driving licence and willingness to travel to fulfil the needs of the post are essential.

Desirable
Educational/professional qualification	· PhD award or equivalent in a relevant discipline (e.g. peacebuilding, politics, sociology)
Research	· Experience of conducting research in the field of peace building, conflict resolution or transitional justice
Ability to work on own initiative	· Evidence of an ability to work independently under tight deadlines
Communications	· Evidence of IT experience, specifically use Windows environment and range of software in MS Office · Evidence of familiarity with web and social media based dissemination strategies for research-based outputs, for academic and non-academic audiences. · Prior published material (e.g. articles, evaluation, impacts assessments)

How to apply:

Please send a CV, cover letter and sample of your academic writing to researcherpost@glencree.ie.

The closing date for applications for this post is 23^rd of September 2020. No applications received after that date and time will be considered.

Interviews for the post will be held in the week beginning the 28^th September 2020 (social distancing procedures and protocols will be in place for your protection.)

Please note that because of the volume of applicants that Glencree receive for advertised posts you will receive an acknowledgment of you application, but if you have not received correspondence within 2 weeks of the closing date, you are not being considered for the post.