Research Associate - Community Engagement & Participatory Design

Research Associate - Community Engagement & Participatory Design

Advert Reference Number: 1990

Job Location: Milton Keynes, Remote/Hybrid

Department: IET Academic

Salary: £38,784 to £42,254 pro rata for part time hours

Closing Date: 20 October 2026

Weekly Working Hours: 18.5

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract

Fixed Term Contract: End Date: 31 July 2027

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About the Role

This post is based on campus in Milton Keynes (remote work with monthly on-campus catch-ups is available), with regular travel to Cardiff. The role requires familiarity and comfort with two-site delivery. The post is fixed-term, 0.5 FTE (18.5 hours per week), funded by the Open Societal Challenges award, and runs until 31st July 2027.

The Open University’s Institute of Educational Technology has been awarded funding from the Open Societal Challenges (OSC) scheme to deliver BELONG, a one-year citizen inquiry in heritage contexts. The project tests whether engaging underrepresented communities as citizen curators and co-designers can foster a sense of belonging and build research capacity in groups typically excluded from heritage and scientific institutions.

The Research Associate will deliver this pilot across two sites: Milton Keynes (in partnership with MK Museum and MK Living Archives) and Cardiff (in partnership with National Museum Wales). You will facilitate participatory workshops, coordinate data collection, and work with community members to co-design AI enhancement features for the nQuire citizen-inquiry platform.

The role runs for 7 months (October 2026 to April 2027) across two phases. Phase 1 (three sessions per site) focuses on heritage exploration and foundational data literacy. Phase 2 (three sessions per site) transitions participants into co-designers, who test digital tools and propose improvements. You will work collaboratively with museum partners, the research team, and community participants to build research capacity and generate evidence on inclusive community engagement.

The role offers excellent opportunities to develop expertise in participatory design, community engagement, and qualitative research with underrepresented populations. Early Career Researchers are encouraged to apply.

About the Team You Would Join

You will be part of the BELONG project team led by Dr Maria Aristeidou (PI, Institute of Educational Technology), Prof Christothea Herodotou (Co-I and nQuire academic lead) and Sarah Roberts (OU Wales). You will work directly with heritage partners at MK Museum, MK Living Archives, and National Museum Wales. The team is committed to co-ownership, flexibility, and genuine collaboration with community participants throughout the project.

You will also be a member of the Digital Participation, Social Justice and Equitable Learning programme in IET, which will include you in wider discussions in the field and knowledge exchange.

Key Responsibilities

The person appointed to this post will undertake duties to include:

• Facilitating participatory workshops with small groups (8 at each site) at both Milton Keynes and Cardiff sites (6 sessions per site over 6 months), using community-centred approaches that build research agency and are sensitive to varying levels of prior community attachment.
• Delivering data collection across Phases 1 and 2, including pre/post surveys, semi-structured interviews, field notes, and nQuire platform analytics.
• Supporting Phase 2 co-design workshops where participants explore digital tools and propose AI enhancements to nQuire. Documenting community-authored specifications that feed into the platform development roadmap.
• Conducting qualitative analysis of workshop transcripts, interview recordings, field notes, and participant artefacts. Producing cross-national comparison summaries and contributing to project reports and academic outputs.
• Travelling between Milton Keynes and Cardiff to deliver sessions (includes occasional overnight stays or weekend sessions to be agreed with the heritage partners), managing logistics, and liaisin…