Research Lead

Overview Location: Central London or Hybrid (see below)

About the Youth Endowment Fund

We exist to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to put this knowledge into practice.

Last year, 509 children were tragically admitted to hospital after being assaulted with a knife. Every child captured in these numbers is an important member of our community and society has a duty to protect them. Even when violence doesn't strike directly, we know that the fear of violence has a terrible effect on children's lives.

At the Youth Endowment Fund, we are working to create lasting change. To succeed, we must build a world-leading body of knowledge on the violence that affects young people and how it can be stopped. This means producing rigorous, relevant evidence - through synthesis, data analysis and in-depth research into young people's lives. But knowledge alone isn't enough. We must make it accessible and actionable: showing what works, how services need to change, and how the systems around them must adapt. And we must partner with the people who can make change happen - across policy, practice and local systems - to turn evidence into impact.

About the role

We recently started a new workstream of research into why violence happens, and which children are most vulnerable. We are working with experts across research, policy and practice to investigate:

• What are the risk and protective factors for violence?
• Why does violence happen? What are the underlying causes?
• How can we use this research to improve policy and practice, and keep children safe?

We are recruiting a Senior Research Manager to lead a portfolio of projects in this workstream. This will include research exploring how predictive tools and algorithms are used to assess risk of involvement in violence and guide support decisions. This joint programme with UKRI Safer Streets Mission will investigate whether these tools can help practitioners identify people at risk accurately, safely, and fairly-and whether their use improves outcomes.

Predictive tools are structured frameworks that aim to help professionals such as police analysts or social workers assess someone's likelihood of committing violence. They differ from "pure" professional judgement, where practitioners rely solely on their own assessment without a formal checklist or model. These tools have been used for years but are becoming both increasingly powerful and controversial as new approaches, including machine learning, emerge.

The Senior Research Manager will commission and oversee a research team to deliver two projects:

• A systematic review of existing research on predictive tools in violence prevention.
• Primary research on how these tools are currently used in England and Wales, including their practical and ethical implications.

The final report will assess predictive accuracy, impact, implementation, ethics, and equity. The Senior Research Manager will ensure methodological rigour and translate findings into clear, actionable guidance on whether and how these tools should be used.

The Senior Research Manager will also lead a range of related projects, such as:

• Commissioning new research into the causes, risk factors and protective factors for violence.
• Contributing to the development of accessible online tools (similar to our existing Toolkit ) which make this research accessible and help decision makers target support where it is most needed.

The Senior Research Manager will be part of YEF's Research team. The Research team is at the heart of our efforts to learn what works and put it into practice. We do this by developing the YEF's funding strategy and creating free, highly accessible research summaries and actionable recommendations for policy makers, commissioners and practitioners. We're a high-performing team which values intellectual rigour and getting to the truth, compassion for children, ambition about what we can achieve and humility about what we know. We love to discuss the latest developments in research methods, but we're not just interested in research for its own sake. We want research to lead to actual changes in outcomes for children.

Please note: We have launched a call for proposals for teams to do this work. You can read more about thishere.

Key Responsibilities

• Commission impactful research into predictive tools. This will include a systematic review of the existing research and new primary research. You'll provide expert scrutiny to ensure that the research is accurate, relevant and useful. You'll work closely with the appointed team to ensure the research design meets YEF and UKRI's objectives. You'll champion equity, ethics and legality throughout, ensuring the research examines fairness (including racial equity), unintended consequences and ways of mitigating bias.
• Ensure that there is effective governance of the joint YEF/UKRI project. You will set up and manage an effective steering group for the work, including YEF, UKRI and external representatives.
• Become YEF's expert on the use of predictive tools. You'll build strong relationships with academics, practitioners, and the people affected by predictive tools; convene expert advisors; and promote evidence-based decision-making. This will likely include close liaison with a range of government departments.
• Translate findings into clear, actionable guidance and resources. You'll ensure our recommendations are robust, accurate and useful for policy makers and practitioners.
• Lead a range of related projects in our causes and risk factors workstream. This could include commissioning new primary research and evidence synthesis or writing accessible summaries for practitioners.
• Work with our Change and Comms teams to interpret YEF research, ensure it is communicated accurately and accessibly, and ensure it has an impact on policy and practice. You may also speak directly to media outlets and at conferences to share our findings and promote YEF results.
• Respond to ad hoc requests as and when needed to support the Research Team and YEF on a range of projects.

About You You are this sort of person:

• You want to play a significant part in reducing the level of violence affecting young people. You care about having an impact. This might mean you've worked directly with young people at risk of becoming involved in crime, for organisations that fund or deliver relevant programmes, or have conducted research on this topic.
• You share our belief that an evidence-based approach is our best hope of preventing violence. You're fascinated by research, but you're not just interested in research for its own sake. You want to achieve actual changes in outcomes for children. You address questions with an open mind, curiosity, and a desire to learn from rigorous research.
• You have a background in violence prevention or a related field, including but not limited to criminal justice, youth services or safeguarding.
• You're a confident reader of research and have strong critical appraisal skills. You know when research can be trusted and when it can't and can confidently articulate your views on the strength of research. You might have gained this expertise through your academic studies, research or professional experience.
• You bring significant experience (typically at least three years) of working in a role that requires you to think about research. This could include a range of roles in policy, academia, funding or practice.
• You have delivered, or commissioned, high quality research projects. You are confident in appraising the quality of research bids and understanding different stages of research projects.
• You write in a way that people easily understand. You have that rare skill of writing in plain English. You have experience of translating complex research findings into plain writing that everyone can understand.
• You have excellent project and time management skills. You can work independently, quickly and to a high standard. You have experience of managing contractors or budgets.
• You are good with people. You're comfortable working with a wide range of people, including senior academics and other research experts, practitioners and policy makers, and children and their families. You're able to provide constructive challenge when required.
• You learn fast but remain humble. You like learning. You're very good at synthesising information. You know how much you don't know and that you can always learn more.
• You work well in a team. You care more that good things happening than who gets the credit. You support your colleagues to produce excellent work.
• You're committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. You believe and act in a way that celebrates and encourages a range of experiences, views and values. You have a track record of embedding EDI, mitigating bias and involving affected communities in research.

While it's not a criterion, we're especially interested to hear from applicants who have lived experience of youth violence.

It's also important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation . click apply for full job details