Digital Researcher

The Digital Scholarship Researcher will work with the Head of Emerging Technologies Research within the Research, Grants and Academic Engagement (RGAE) department, and colleagues across The National Archives (TNA) to develop and deliver excellent research that enables new insights into our expertise and collections. The RGAE department engages in a range of exciting interdisciplinary research, embedding collaboration and digital methods and outputs at its heart, and the Digital Researcher role plays a key part in enabling and conducting this activity. The Digital Researcher will work collaboratively to identify new research areas of interest to TNA and will enable and conduct excellent research that brings new insights into our expertise and collections, and how we disseminate this work. They will work with colleagues across TNA and with external collaborators to advise on the development of strong research funding applications. They will promote research at TNA and develop strategic
relationships with the internal and external research community., This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department., If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
+ Contact The National Archives via careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
+ Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
+ UK nationals
+ nationals of the Republic of Ireland
+ nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
+ individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
+ Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service
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We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

You have a passion for innovation and cross-disciplinary collaboration. With a good understanding of digital cultural heritage research, you have an enthusiasm for collaboration and actively seek new opportunities for engagement and research that address technology, collections and the communities that together produce and curate them.
This is an excellent opportunity for someone who brings digital research experience to deliver innovative research and create new insights into cultural heritage collections, research and engagement activities. This role would suit a researcher with knowledge of digital humanities, digital scholarship, computer science, data science, or research development in a higher education or heritage context would be welcome.
It is important to us that our organisation is more diverse, so we encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and identities. We’re especially keen to hear from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates who are currently underrepresented., + Postgraduate qualification, or equivalent experience, in digital, computing or data research in cultural heritage or academia.
+ Experience in managing, structuring, and analysing large scale data and the results of computational experiments.
+ Knowledge of using, or willingness to experiment with, Artificial Intelligence in research, focusing on working with text i.e. text mining, Natural Language Processing, Large Language Models.
+ A collaborative approach with experience of multidisciplinary work and excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including documentation of research or data resources, co-authoring research papers or technical reports, and giving presentations or classes on technical subjects.
+ Demonstrated enthusiasm for and proven ability to acquire and assimilate new computational ideas and techniques on the job and apply them successfully.
+ Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to prioritise, work independently and manage own workload, including planning and execution, and to work well as part of an agile and busy team.
Desirable criteria:
Experience in at least one of the following fields: working with cloud services for research, visualization of large and complex data, cultural heritage data standards such as IIIF, text mining, natural language processing and/or large language models.

The National Archives (TNA) is the official archive of the UK government and for England and Wales, making available to the public a vast collection of historical records dating back over 1,000 years. TNA is also an Independent Research Organisation (IRO), meaning we are eligible to lead UKRI-funded research. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research into all aspects of our collections and activities is at the heart of what we do, as we become a digital archive by instinct and design and seek to generate new knowledge with our collections. We work with vast data collections and a range of national and international university, heritage and industry partners on areas including digital research in humanities and social sciences, computer science, archival and information science, and heritage science and conservation.
Our RGAE department is charged with conducting, enabling and promoting world-class research, often delivered in collaboration with external partners including experts from academia, heritage organisations, other government departments and industry. Digital research is a growing focus for us, experimenting with emerging technologies to develop tools for the exploration, investigation, remediation, and preservation of our collections and their re-use. We embrace opportunities to innovate with computational approaches in all aspects of our work in line with our Research Vision, our Digital Strategy and our corporate strategy, Archives for Everyone.
Our Research Vision centres around a desire to enable computational access to large-scale digital objects such as born-digital collections, maps, and datasets. This is a long-term aim which will encompass emerging technologies, cloud infrastructure, and opening our data through computational interfaces, and we are at the beginning of that journey. This role will focus on data, exploring methods for extracting content from our collections and representing it within cultural heritage data standards, such as IIIF.
Within the beautiful surroundings of Kew, a 10-minute walk from Underground and Overground stations. A combination of onsite and home working is available, and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time. TNA boasts a collegial working environment and the excellent Civil Service benefits package. This includes flexible working, an on-site gym, wellbeing resources and an opportunity to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme. Putting people at the forefront of our organisation, we are committed to enabling professional development and training for all our colleagues. You would be joining a friendly and passionate team who welcome new and creative approaches and are dedicated to influencing the future of archives and research.

Alongside your salary of £38,322, The National Archives contributes £11,101 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development.
Any move to The National Archives from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk