so im looking to be a research assistant for a person/team currently working in a project or a project that is about to commence. are these jobs advertised anywhere specific? will they be visible on regular jobs websites like guardianjobs etc?

thanks!

Assuming you're in the UK, your best bet is jobs.ac.uk.

In theory this site has a sister site which would carry RA type posts:
www.findauniversityjob.com/
but there's hardly any researcher jobs on there right now!

*Link removed by Reenie - sorry!*

Actually from your post title it sounds like you want a PhD place (in which case findaphd.com is where you should look). But from your post it sounded like you wanted an RA job, hence my first reply.

The two are regarded (and funded) differently in the UK. It's not uncommon for people doing RA work to then go on to do PhDs.

I should have said i was looking to be a research assistant as PART of a PhD. Im not looking to do a PhD myself-i want to participate in one as part of the team doing it. i hope that makes sense

Not entirely! A PhD is a research degree undertaken by an individual. While that person will no doubt get help at times from their colleagues, other people don't really 'participate' in them. Do you perhaps mean that you want to be part of a senior person's research group/project/programme? In which case, yes, a research assistant role would be the thing to apply for.

ohh really? my uni careers advisor said that participating in PhDs was a common thing for people to do. i was surprised when i first heard it but i took her word for it seeing as shes the expert. yes thanks, iv already looked into research assistants at universities-thats not a problem. iv found plenty of those in recent weeks. Its just that when my advisor mentioned that i could spread my search to current PhDs too, i thought id give it a go! Thanks for the direction, il be looking into the links youve provided above :)

She may have meant that some people who are employed as RAs then undertake a PhD alongside their job (sometimes using material generated from their RA job). It's a way of doing a PhD while getting a proper salary. Or she may have meant that you could consider a PhD as an alternative to an RA post.

Hope this helps

Spuddy,

Take a read of my blog about PhDs. I think you don't fully understand what a PhD is.

A PhD is an individual project taken to make an original contribution to the field the person chooses to work in, generating new findings in that field. The blog will explain more.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)