We are looking for an original and creative thinker who can use their knowledge of the inner workings of the internet and related social issues to join us as a Researcher and explore emerging trends and innovations in this field.

Nesta is a global innovation foundation. We back new ideas to tackle the big challenges of our time. Our mission is to spark and shape new ideas that improve how the world works for everyone. We use our knowledge, networks, funding and skills - working in partnership with others, including governments, businesses and charities. We are a UK charity but work all over the world, supported by a financial endowment.

This role will sit in the explorations team, but the Researcher will work on the EU Engineroom project (part of the Next Generation Internet initiative, the European Commission’s ambitious new flagship programme focused on building a more human, democratic and resilient internet by 2025). Engineroom focuses on both developing a vision for the future of the internet, as well as identifying the technologies and topics that would likely underpin it. We do this through ambitious foresight and futures research, and through the employment of novel data science methodologies.

You will primarily work on this exciting new strand of work, with topics that could range from AI and distributed ledgers to algorithmic accountability and platform cooperativism. Candidates are not expected to be experts in all areas of the internet, but will need to be fast learners with a keen interest in developments in this space. This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the agenda of the flagship Next Generation Internet initiative, have a real impact on policy making on a European level, and devise content as well as various creative outputs for the project. Though focus is primarily on research, this position will also involve events organisation, media outreach and dissemination activities.

Educated to degree level, you will have a relevant postgraduate degree in fields like STS and internet studies, economics, political science, law, computer science or data science. Candidates with less traditional educational backgrounds but with relevant experience will also be considered. You will need experience of successfully working in a fast-paced research or think tank environment, getting up-to-speed quickly with new subject areas, flexibility in approach to work to fit project demands, and juggling light-touch short-term and larger in-depth pieces of research. We’re also looking for strong writing skills and experience of writing high level reports and research papers, as well as more public facing outputs (blogs, articles, etc).

For the full Candidate Specification please see the relevant link on our website