Job Description

“Living successfully in a world of systems requires more of us than our ability to calculate. It requires our full humanity — our rationality, our ability to sort out truth from falsehood, our intuition, our compassion, our vision, and our morality.”

Donella Meadows, Dancing with Systems

About us

Careful Trouble is the umbrella name for Careful Industries and Promising Trouble, two social enterprises working together to make sure more people have the chance to shape, inform and create new technologies. Careful Industries is an independent research studio; we work with clients to understand and anticipate the social impacts of technologies and create equitable policies and governance solutions. Through Promising Trouble, we work in partnership to run pilots and programmes that put community power at the heart of technology and innovation. 

We are a remote first team, and all team members work across both organisations. Our staff come together for team development events at least twice a year. Attendance at these meetings may involve travel within the UK. 

Our Values 

• Care is the organising principle for everything we do: care for and about people and the planet, combined with a rigorous and diligent approach to investigating uncertainty. 

• We are constantly learning, always curious, and strive to be inclusive and accepting.

• We champion careful innovation and feminism for the 99%.

• We are wayfinders not competitors.

• We ask good questions, seek useful answers, and listen closely

• We are impatient for change, but careful in our actions 

• We use our power to state the unsaid and make space for others

• We look after each other so we can make careful trouble together.

Our work

Careful Trouble is currently seven people and we collaborate with a small network of freelancers and associates. We are currently advertising for this role and another, which will grow the team to nine. 

We undertake complex research projects that embrace uncertainty and sometimes include many local and international stakeholders and collaborators. Our work moves between the exploratory and speculative and the practical and immediate, and - as a small independent organisation - we also need to work within budgetary constraints and deadlines. 

2023 will be our second full year of operation: we are still growing and developing our processes and ways of working. We are collaborative and purpose oriented. This is what we got up to in 2022. 

About this role

The Policy Researcher will contribute research and analysis across a wide range of projects and play an important part in our policy development and influencing work. This is a new role, working across both organisations on a range of projects. 

Through Careful Industries, the topics our research and foresight activity covers is varied: in the last twelve months we have delivered work for clients on topics as diverse as Safety Tech governance, the social impacts of using Web3 humanitarian contexts, the importance of diverse and representative data in genomic medicine, and the future of the creative industries. We are also refining the development of policy positions and proposals from our foresight work. 

Our slate of projects for Promising Trouble is rooted in community power and ownership, and we have two flagship programmes. Our Community Tech programme is working to position technology created outside of the market and the state as an essential building block for the UK’s local innovation economy, and our Very Affordable Broadband work brings together practical, community-owned pilots in south London with health and broadband policy.

As a small but highly effective team of researchers, we are collaborative-by-default: from developing proposals through to creating final reports and recommendations, we work iteratively and use workshopping and co-writing techniques to constantly refine and improve our outputs and develop shared understanding and insight. We do challenging work that can have high levels of impact and influence, and we’re looking for a Policy Researcher to support our growth and development.

The Policy Researcher will: 

• be the first port of call for the Careful Trouble team and our partners when we need to understand relevant government policies and legislative issues relating to technology and social justice, in the UK and - as relevant - further afield

• bring a policy perspective to all of our work, as needed

• help develop achievable and actionable policy recommendations

• work across a portfolio of projects 

This will be achieved through a number of research methods, including:

• Analysing relevant policy developments and developing research-informed policy positions  

• Compiling and conducting literature and grey literature reviews 

• Data gathering and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data

• Identifying trends and shifts in relevant policy areas

• Supporting participant recruitment for qualitative research

The ideal candidate will have: 

• Experience of delivering and contributing to high-quality research at the intersection of technology and society, ideally in a non-academic setting 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to summarise complex information clearly and accurately

• Statistical literacy and experience of gathering, analysing and interpreting quantitative data 

• Great attention to detail and organisational skills 

This role requires flexibility and adaptability and specific tasks and responsibilities may change according to the needs of the organisation. We will always strive to maintain a healthy work life balance and work together to achieve this. 

The Policy Researcher will report into the Head of Research at Promising Trouble and also be an accountable and collaborative team member, supporting  Careful Trouble. We operate a matrix management approach and our Head of Operations leads on pastoral care for all staff members. 

While the role is mainly focused on policy research and analysis, there is some scope to tailor it to suit the skills and ambitions of the individual that is recruited. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Note: At the moment, our meetings and events are all online-first; over time we may do more hybrid and/or in person events, and we will address how to support these events as the need arises. 

Research  

This role will work across a portfolio of projects at the intersection of technology and society. Different projects may require different methodologies, and the nature of our work means that we all need to be able to context switch quickly and move between different-but-related topics from day-to-day while maintaining high levels of quality and rigour. As a guide, the Policy Researcher will need to:

• Build reading lists and repositories that help the rest of the research team get to grips with new research projects.

• Carry out desk research, including literature reviews and scoping studies based on academic publications and grey literature.

• Develop and maintain up-to-date knowledge of relevant policy and practice to support and inform our projects and policy positions. 

• Build a policy calendar and keep an eye on relevant events, committees, Parliamentary processes, speeches and developments. 

• Conduct background policy research and analysis to support existing projects and proposals for new work.

• Write accurate, well-evidenced and concise briefing notes and presentations that synthesise findings. 

• Support qualitative research processes by assisting with participant identification and recruitment, participating in the delivery of workshops, and assisting with relevant administrative duties including preparing documentation (information sheets, consent forms, incentive administration), liaising with external service providers, reading and anonymising transcripts.

• Prepare for and support the facilitation of presentations and workshops to share research findings and recommendations with a range of audiences.

Horizon Scanning 

• Engage in information gathering about relevant technological, social and political trends from a range of traditional and non-traditional sources.

• Keep an eye on the international critical tech and wider policy landscape and share emergent patterns with the rest of the team. 

Influencing and relationship building

• Work with colleagues to identify and build relationships with organisations and individuals to support the development and delivery of our policy positions and our influencing work.  

• Assist in disseminating Careful Trouble’s research activities in formats including events and online content, to increase the organisation’s visibility and enhance its reputation.

• Attend relevant conferences and events, and represent the organisation externally as needed.

Information management 

• Ensure bibliographies and references are accurate and up-to-date

• Work with colleagues to manage and check data and resolve queries to ensure all data collated are accurate

• Ensure data and information are collated, stored and analysed in compliance with all company policies, internal working practices and external regulatory requirements.

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Excellent research and information management skills 

• An interest in critical technology studies and awareness of the most pressing policy issues at the intersection of technology and society

• Clear written and verbal communication skills 

• Statistical literacy and the ability to accurate compile, analyse and interpret statistical data as needed 

• Able to resolve difficult problems, use analytical judgement, and to produce accurate, evidenced, and high-quality work

• Comfortable with digital tools and remote working. We use Google Workspace, Slack, Miro and Zotero on a daily basis

• Ability to prioritise and work across multiple projects and programmes

• Excellent interpersonal skills

• Great attention to detail and excellent analytical skills

• Self-motivated and able to work independently. 

Desirable

• Research experience in a policy-focused environment

• Understanding and experience of how policy-making and influencing happens.

Reporting lines

The Policy Researcher will report into the Head of Research, Promising Trouble. We operate a matrix management approach and our Head of Operations leads on pastoral care for all staff members. As Policy Researcher, you may be responsible for supervising / managing other staff or freelancers.

Package

Salary between £34,000 and £38,000 depending on experience

Full Time (we work a 4-day week*, 32 hours as standard - salary is 100%, not pro rata)

Fixed-Term Contract 12 Months with potential to extend, dependent on funding

Remote First Company and Flexible Working

5 weeks holiday plus Bank Holidays and 4 days climate leave

Remote Working Allowance £1,500 (to include Laptop).

*We are moving to a flexible 4-day working week, a full time contract is 32 hours. Core hours are 10am-4pm and must include Mondays and Tuesdays.