Research Assistant

Coram's Impact and Evaluation team is seeking an experienced researcher or evaluator to work within our team to deliver research and evaluation projects.We welcome applications from mixed-methods, quantitative and qualitative researchers who have knowledge of a range of research methods and evaluation approaches, including those with skills in participatory research. You will need experience of leading or supporting research or evaluation projects as well as being motivated, supportive, well-organised and willing to learn.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who already has applied research or evaluation experience. We want to recruit someone to our team who has a passion for using their skills to develop high-quality evidence on a range of projects that improve policy and practice for vulnerable children, young people and their families.

Working at Coram

As a valued member of Coram you will be entitled to a range of employee benefits including:

• 25 days annual leave, plus additional paid leave between Christmas and New Year's Day.



• Enhanced maternity, paternity, shared parental, and adoption pay


• Flexible working around the core hours 10am-4pm



• Staff are signed up to one of two pension schemes.


• Opportunity to join our various staff networks including our equity, diversity and inclusion forum.


Alongside our staff benefits, we will support your ongoing development to build your skills, experience and career, including five days of Continuous Professional Development per year with a dedicated budget for external training.

About the application process

Coram is an equal opportunities employer and we believe diversity is a strength. Our aim is to make sure that Coram reflects the communities that we serve. We are actively working towards our organisation being a place where everyone can thrive and make their best contribution to our mission. We know that the more perspectives, voices, and experiences we can bring to this work, the better. Therefore, we are very committed to encouraging candidates from all sections of the community. This includes those from global majority groups, those that identify as LGBTQ+, those with disabilities, and those with neuro-diversity. If applicants feel comfortable, we would encourage them to draw on lived experience in their personal statement as part of their application.

We will make any reasonable adjustments at the interview stage for applicants invited to interview to support them in their interview.

Given Coram's history with children's social care, including adoption and fostering in England, we will provide a guaranteed interview for those that meet the essential criteria and tell us in their application that they are care experienced.

Being care experienced means you will have spent time living with foster carers under local authority care, in residential care (e.g. a children's home), looked after at home under a supervision order, or in kinship care with relatives or friends, either officially (e.g. a special guardianship order) or informally without local authority support.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and will require the successful applicant to undertake an enhanced check from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

We are looking for someone to join Coram's ambitious and growing Impact and Evaluation team as a Research and Evaluation Officer. In this role you will use your research and evaluation skills to help improve the lives of vulnerable children and young people.

About Coram and the team

Coram is the UK's first and longest continuing children's charity helping vulnerable children and young people since 1739. Today, Coram is a group of specialist organisations that help more than one million children, young people, families and professionals every year.

We are soon to launch the Institute for the Future of Children with the ambition of being the UK's leading centre dedicated to improving the life chances of children. Our team, Coram's Impact and Evaluation team, will sit at the heart of the Institute.

The Impact and Evaluation team currently includes 12 permanent researchers and a Research Coordinator. We conduct a range of research and evaluation projects to support the improvement of policy and practice for vulnerable children, young people and their families. Our work includes qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research, implementation and process evaluations and impact studies. Our team works in partnership with local authorities, central government and third sector organisations, while also working across Coram to help other teams evaluate their effectiveness and impact. We strive to deliver high quality work and outputs which include the voice of children and young people throughout.As a team, we aspire to be child-centred, rigorous, grounded in experience, embedded in practice, collaborative and impactful.

We are committed to encouraging candidates from all sections of the community we seek to support, recognising the value this will bring to our work.