Research Lead - Local Violence Prevention

The Youth Endowment Fund

Research Lead Local Violence Prevention

Reports to:Head of Guidance and Reporting

Salary: £55,000

Contract: 2 years fixed term

Location:Central London, Hybrid

Closing date: Tuesday 15th July at 12pm

Interviews: Week commencing 28th July 2025

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, 244 people in England and Wales tragically died after being assaulted with a knife. Of these, 32 were children. 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

The Research Lead will lead the development of YEF s research, resources and recommendations in our neighbourhood focus sector.

We focus our efforts on seven essential sectors: education, policing, youth justice, youth sector, children s services, health, and neighbourhood. Neighbourhood refers to our work supporting local partnerships such as Violence Reduction Units (VRUs), community safety partnerships or the new Prevention Partnerships - and hyper-local approaches like our neighbourhood fund.

Their primary responsibility will be to develop a series of actionable and evidence-informed guidance and resources for use by local violence prevention partnerships. This will include self-assessment tools for partnerships to assess their effectiveness, tools for understanding the nature of local violence problems and how they could be solved, and resources to support partnerships to identify and safeguard vulnerable children. Creating these resources will require the Research Lead to collect insights and evidence from across YEF s work and develop YEF positions on fundamental questions about violence prevention. If successful, the Research Lead could have an outsized impact on YEF s strategy and mission.

These resources will support YEF colleagues to deliver our new Area Leaders Programme (ALP). This is a new programme which you will help form. It helps local multi-agency partnerships to find and implement the best ways to prevent violence. YEF is working directly with partnerships, providing high-quality professional development, tailored advice and support, system mapping, and a national community of practice. The ALP focuses on strengthening five key elements of effective violence reduction:

1. Building strong and accountable partnerships
2. Understanding local patterns of violence
3. Identifying and supporting children most at risk
4. Improving safety in high-risk places
5. Sharing best practice across agencies

Following a pilot in four areas in 2024/25, the programme will expand to 20 more areas over the next two years. This will lay the groundwork for wider national initiatives, such as the Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, and support implementation of the Serious Violence Duty. The Research Lead will develop resources and guidance for the ALP. As the programme is delivered iteratively, they will work closely with YEF programme leads and local partnerships to test, refine, and improve materials before wider rollout.

The Research Lead 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.

Key responsibilities

The Research Lead will develop a portfolio of impactful projects.

You ll lead the research team s work in our local neighbourhoods and partnerships priority sector. You ll become the YEF s expert in this area. You ll make sure we understand the key issues, stay on top of the latest research and are connected to the right people.

You ll ensure we produce accessible, evidence-based resources and guidance that local partnerships can use to develop more effective strategies. You ll work with YEF colleagues to test, refine, and improve materials before wider rollout

You ll set the YEF s research agenda for your sector. You ll make sure we invest in research that fills important gaps in knowledge and leads to important changes. You ll ensure that our strategy and decision-making are informed by the best available research. This is a great opportunity to influence large amounts of funding and direct it towards the most impactful projects.

You ll develop great relationships with experts and represent YEF in external meetings and events. You ll promote evidence-based policy and practice by speaking at conferences and events.

You ll lead the development of evidence-based recommendations in your focus area. You ll draw on research and expert insight to identify potential changes to policy and practice. You ll design and develop innovative and impactful resources which support the application of your recommendations.

You ll take on other responsibilities appropriate to your role. This could include leading the publication of YEF s evaluation reports or writing ad hoc briefings and evidence summaries for the Government and other partners.

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 know a lot about violence prevention, especially local partnerships and structures like VRUs or Community Safety Partnerships. You know the key ideas and debates, recent policy developments and key people. You re comfortable talking about this topic with experts. There are many ways to acquire this knowledge. You might have worked in a local authority or local violence prevention organisation, conducted research on them or learnt about them during a degree.

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 have at least three years experience working in a role that required you to think about research. This could include a range of roles in policy, academia, funding or practice.

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, children and their families, practitioners and policy makers. You re able to provide constructive challenges 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 happen 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.

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 . click apply for full job details