Research Associate - ‘Digitalisation, Skill Development And Firms In Creative Industries’

Location: Bush House, Strand Campus This full-time post relates to funding received from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded Productivity Institute. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will work full-time over 24 months on two complementary projects entitled ‘Digitalisation, skill Development and Firms in Creative industries’ focusing on original data collection and qualitative research in a sample of leading creative industry companies (in the games and broadcasting sectors). The research will investigate three questions: i) how do Firms in Creative Industries develop skills and knowledge in response to digital technologies (including predictive AI)? ii) how do firms handle the generative nature of digital technologies to develop unique capabilities and competitive advantages? iii) how do they reconcile the need for efficiency gains and strategic innovation while integrating digital technologies into new and/or existing organizational practices and routines? The project will be hosted by and managed at King’s Business School (King’s College London), one of the academic partner institutions of The Productivity Institute. The project  is one of a cluster of projects exploring human capital, innovation, and productivity (see www.productivity.ac.uk/research/themes/human-capital for more information). The Research Associate will be managed by the three Principal Investigators, Prof Damian Grimshaw and Prof Marcela Miozzo at King’s College London and Prof Beatrice D’Ippolito at the University of York. The RA will also join the network of RAs and other academics working on projects funded by the ESRC Productivity Institute. You should hold a PhD in innovation studies, organisation studies, employment studies, sociology, economics, or management and have a track record of conducting qualitative research at high standards and delivering presentations at academic conferences. This ESRC funded post will be offered on a fixed-term contract for 24 months. This is a full-time post. Key responsibilities Background research: company and industry profiles; skill trends; digital technology use and development; productivity data; Co-development of theoretical framework; Identification and selection of the sample of leading creative industry firms; Organisation of data collection (including securing company access, conducting interviews, collecting secondary data and documenting preliminary empirical findings); Management of data in accordance with relevant KCL/ESRC data protection and ethics requirements; Thematic analysis of primary and secondary data; Planning of all project meetings; Participating in national and international conferences and workshops to present the results of the project to academic, policy and practice audiences; and Drafting of final project report and journal articles for submission. The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.