Research Assistant, Calleva - Bioarchaeology

Job Description

We are a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre. We use the Museum's unique collections and our unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 16 million visits to our website.

Today the Museum is more relevant and influential than ever. By attracting people from a range of backgrounds to work for us, we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things.

We employ 900 staff in a variety of roles, all united by our vision of a future where people and planet thrive. We need everyone to have the passion and drive to help us with our mission to create advocates for our planet and inspire millions to care about the natural world.

Diversity and inclusion matter to us.

Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. Diversity is one of our core values and we strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. All new staff who join us learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion to the Museum and how to contribute to creating an inclusive environment.

We know we have more to do, but we are committed to ensuring that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected.

About the role

The Centre for Human Evolution Research (CHER) is looking to recruit a Research Assistant (RA) to support research and administration within the group. This is a fixed term full-time position with an end date of 31 December 2025, funded by the Calleva Foundation. The main roles of the RA will be to assist with organisation and participate in archaeological excavations in North Africa and to provide support with data collection, project archiving and database management, publications, and public outreach. The RA will also contribute to collection based research projects relating to human origins and to the collation, analysis and archiving of research data sets.

About you

• Post graduate qualification with a substantial human osteology component
• Expertise in human osteology
• Recent experience of archaeological excavation including human burials
• Experience working with fragile archaeological materials
• Experience of archaeological illustration and photography
• High degree of competence in Microsoft Excel, Outlook and Word
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Flexible with a proven ability to work well within a team structure. Well organised with effective time management skills and an ability to undertake multiple tasks through to completion, sometimes working to tight deadlines
• Strong attention to detail, with ability to undertake methodical tasks to a high-level of accuracy

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work
We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.

Find out more here

What we offer

• 27.5 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays (full time equivalent)
• Generous defined contribution Natural History Museum Pension Scheme (employer contribution 4 - 10%)
• Season ticket, bicycle and rental loan
• Life insurance
• Free admission to our exhibitions and many other paid exhibitions at museums, galleries and institutions across London and the UK.
• Staff discount at our Museum shops and cafes
• We offer a wide variety of training initiatives and opportunities to build skills. Investing in staff development is important to us, and we are ambitious about helping staff to grow and fulfil their potential.
• Affordable membership to the Civil Service Sports Council which offers a range of benefits including an extensive list of special offers and reduced entry fees at a selection of cinema chains, theme parks, theatres, retailers and supermarkets. It also provides entry to up to 300 English Heritage sites and other national treasures. For more details, visit https://www.cssc.co.uk Membership to our Sports and Social Association (for a small fee), which includes access to our in-house gym and clubs such as football, softball, table tennis and tennis and classes in Middle Eastern dance, yoga and Tai Chi