Leeds Social Sciences Institute (LSSI) Post Graduate Research Student Placement Opportunity
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a PGR student to work with the Leeds City Council’s Financial Inclusion team.
The proposed project is an opportunity to work with policymakers at Leeds City Council who are aiming to develop a longer term approach to the Healthy Holidays Programme and will be able to achieve this through strengthening its evidence base.
Healthy Holidays is an initiative designed to tackle the issue of food insecurity, and ensure children and low income families are able to access a healthy meal and fun activities during the school holidays. The Council has supported and provided funding for Healthy Holiday programmes since 2018 and has recognised the importance of this work at a cross-directorate level. This work has also brought together support from the third sector and private sector and is an example of how the city is coming together to tackle food insecurity and support families out of poverty.
Details of the placement
The research study would involve a review of previous evaluation and monitoring reports, extracting key issues and highlighting any areas which can be improved. In 2019 the programme produced 3 evaluation reports, one for provision by third sector organisations, one for school provision and one for Community Hubs. All three evaluations contained facts and figures on the number of children supported on the scheme and meals provided but also included a wealth of positive feedback from children, parents, volunteers, school teachers and people involved in the projects. This ranged from children improving in confidence and making friends, being more settled when going back to school to parents engaging with wider services such as job shops and benefits advice. The anecdotal evidence from these reports highlighted how the programme is doing more than tackling hunger during school holidays.
Once a review of the evaluation reports has been carried out, the next phase of the placement would be to develop and recommend indicators that can be used to produce a framework to capture the wider impacts of Healthy Holidays in order to help the Council and partners in the development of this programme.
The placement is part time and the number of working hours per week can be flexible, the start date is ASAP and the duration is 12 weeks.
Skills required
- Qualitative and quantitative analysis and report writing skills
- Experience of producing evaluation frameworks
- Ability to work independently and meet deadlines
- A high level of interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with relevant stakeholder groups
Benefits and skills developed for the student
An opportunity to work directly with policy makers across the local authority and practical experience of developing evidence based policies that impact communities. The anticipated output is the development of an evaluation framework that will help capture the wider impacts of Healthy Holidays.
When
130 hours in total beginning ASAP for 10 – 12 weeks. Weekly hours flexible and to be agreed.
(NOTE TO DTP STUDENTS: This placement is part-time. You will need to either negotiate full-time for 10-12 weeks (3 months) or agree to extend the length of the placement on a part-time basis).
Where
The project will primarily be office based within Leeds City Centre, between Merrion House and Leeds Community Foundation. The student will be supervised by the Financial Inclusion team and will be based at Merrion House.
How to apply
If you are interested, please send your CV, one page Cover Letter and confirmation from your supervisor to h.e.crow@leeds.ac.uk
Deadline
Apply by 5pm on Monday 3rd February 2020.
Contact
Hannah Crow
Leeds Social Sciences Institute (LSSI) Coordinator
Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) Manager
Social Sciences Building | Room 11.15
University of Leeds | Leeds LS2 9JT
0113 34 38468
LSSI website: www.lssi.leeds.ac.uk
LSSI Twitter: UoLSSI (@UoLSSI)