Post-doctoral Research Associate in Slavery and War (Concepts and Laws)

About us

In September 2025, King’s College London and the University of Nottingham will launch the new Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War, funded by the Leverhulme Trust for up to £10 million over ten years. For more information, please see the announcement of this initiative. The Centre will be the first overarching and integrative attempt to understand the relationships between slavery and war. Structured around four interconnected research strands—(Re)conceptualising, Understanding, Forecasting and Tackling—the Centre’s programme aims for far-reaching insights that transform global responses to modern slavery in conflict settings.

About the role

This role is part of the new Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War. The new Centre is structured around four interconnected research strands—(Re)conceptualising, Understanding, Forecasting and Tackling—and aims for far-reaching insights that transform global responses to modern slavery in conflict settings. The role is based within the (Re)conceptualising strand, which aims to conceptualise and critique the nexus of slavery/war through the lenses of political philosophy, theories of explanation, legal frameworks, and survivor experience. Key research questions include: what ideas, norms and values underpin slavery and war, and their relationships? How has international and/or domestic law linked slavery and war (if at all), and responded to slavery in war (including sexual slavery and forced marriage/conjugal associations)? How do survivors’ perspectives and stories reshape our understandings of war and slavery? How have understandings of slavery and war evolved over time and who/what has driven these changes? By creating a wide historical and geographical view that combines philosophy and legal frameworks with survivor testimony—first-person accounts by men, women and children who have experienced slavery in war—this Centre research strand will extend philosophical and legal scholarship on slavery and war, and clarify and advance concepts and definitions.

The role-holder will work collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary team, as well as undertaking independent research. They will use approaches, methodologies, and techniques appropriate to the research. Their main responsibilities will include i) conducting research using recognised and innovative approaches, methodologies and techniques within the research area; ii) gathering, analysing and illuminating data, evaluate and criticise texts and bring new insights to research area; iii) supporting the development of research objectives and proposals for own and/or collaborative research area; iv) contributing to writing up research work for publication, resulting in successful research outputs; collaborating with other members of the project team and engaging collaboratively with project partners and external contacts; v) proposing and developing new ideas in own research area. This is a full time post (35 Hours per week), starting in November 2025, and you will be offered a fixed-term contract until 30 October 2027.

About you

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

Essential criteria

• A PhD in a relevant field (including law, human rights, socio-legal studies)
• Experience researching in international human rights or humanitarian law
• Research background in slavery, human rights, war, conflict or related subject
• Experience interviewing victims-survivors of human rights violations and coding qualitative evidence
• A track record of publications
• Strong qualitative research and analysis skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex information with clarity
• Ability to incorporate feedback and to foster a collaborative, team-based research culture

Desirable criteria

• Experience working as part of multidisciplinary teams
• Proficiency in qualitative analysis packages (e.g. N-Vivo)
• Experience working with individuals who have lived experience of slavery, trafficking or exploitation
• Experience with transfer of knowledge and methods between areas or disciplines
• Knowledge on intersectionality and identity of victims-survivors