Social Research Undergraduate Placement

Job summary

The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. Analysts play a key role in providing high quality evidence to support policy making and the Welsh Government more broadly.

Three posts are currently available and a reserve list will also be created. The three posts will be based in the Social Research and Information Division, specifically within the Housing Research, Corporate Research and Education and Skills Research Teams.

The Social Research and Information Division is a core part of the Welsh Government’s analytical function. The division comprises around 80 social researchers who work closely with policy and other analysts (e.g. statisticians, economists) to provide analytical advice and evidence to support key policy decisions in devolved areas such as education, health and the environment.

These posts are open to undergraduate students on a sandwich year placement between their second and third year of study. Welsh Government are looking for applications from diverse candidates who can demonstrate leadership qualities and bring fresh skills, lived experiences and perspectives to our work.

Follow the link below for more information.

Job description

The key tasks of the successful applicants will depend on which team they are placed with, but will include a combination of the following:

• Supporting with the management and quality assurance of research
• Assisting with research projects which use qualitative (e.g. in-depth interviews, focus groups – in line with the social model of disability) and quantitative methods (e.g. survey work, statistical analysis, monitoring and reporting information)
• Research design, analysis and synthesis
• Undertaking literature searches and reviews
• Liaising with analysts across the Welsh Government
• Providing administrative support for data collection exercises
• Preparing reports for publication on the Welsh Government’s social research webpages or for use internally
• Project management
• Administrative tasks, such as organising meetings, seminars and events, taking minutes and record keeping.
• Work with the analysts in the team to uphold GSR and GSS standards (such as ethical compliance) alongside relevant legal requirements (such as UK GDPR compliance) across all projects
• Coordinate stakeholder engagement meetings between senior members of the team and other relevant partners within Welsh Government
• Meet with senior analysts in the team on a regular basis to update on progress with tasks responsible for.

Person specification

Confirmation that the successful applicant has passed their second year of study will be required before the placement can start.

The placements will run from summer 2026 – summer 2027.

As part of the application process you will need to provide a 250 word response against each of the required Behaviours and Technical criteria stated at in this advert against ‘Stage 1’:

• Working Together (Assessed via application form and online interview)
• Delivering at Pace (Assessed via application form and online interview)
• Technical 1 - Broad awareness of how social research can be used to inform decisions in government, including what equality and diversity issues should be considered. (Assessed via a pre-prepared presentation at online interview)
• Technical 2 – Experience of design and/or delivery of quantitative and qualitative research (e.g. interviewing, focus groups, surveys, quantitative data analysis). (Assessed via application form and online interview)
• Technical 3 - Experience in the interpretation and / or communication of research (e.g. presentation of results, conclusions and/or recommendations). This could include presentation of research in written reports or essays and/or presentations. (Assessed via online interview)

As a minimum, students are required to have an understanding of the principles and skills needed to design and conduct social research. Students should be able to critically evaluate research methods, strategies and data used by social scientists and be able to (with support) undertake and present analysis. Although practical experience of undertaking research is desirable, experience of undertaking a complete independent research project as part of their degree course at the time of application is not required

As a guide, we recommend that you use the behaviours and technical criteria as headings and aim to write 250 words each. Using the “STAR technique” may help you to structure your evidence – information is provided in the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates pack. Please include how you considered your own or others’ lived experiences where relevant within the evidence provided.

For more information on Civil Service Behaviours and what is required for each grade, please refer to Success Profiles: Civil Service Behaviours.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Broad awareness of how social research can be used to inform decisions in government, including what equality and diversity issues should be considered.
• Experience of design and/or delivery of quantitative and qualitative research (e.g. interviewing, focus groups, surveys, quantitative data analysis).
• Experience in the interpretation and / or communication of research (e.g. presentation of results, conclusions and/or recommendations). This could include presentation of research in written reports or essays and/or presentations.

Benefits

The posts offer excellent development opportunities, including:

• Learning how social research is commissioned, delivered and used within government and funded bodies (e.g. Natural Resources Wales)
• Developing an understanding of how evidence can help inform and improve policy making and organisational ways of working
• Developing key skills (such as communications skills, critical thinking and working as part of a team, often to tight deadlines)

• Opportunities to develop an understanding and practical experience of a range of research techniques (such as survey design, conducting interviews, analysis and presentation of findings, report writing and communicating research findings to a non-specialist audience)
• Developing project management skills

• Attending appropriate courses, conferences and seminars (including courses on quantitative and qualitative analysis)
• Shadowing or working with social researchers, analysts and policy officials from other Welsh Government departments during the placement. There may also be an opportunity to work collaboratively with officials from government-funded bodies

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Technical skills.

In the event of a large number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted against the lead assessment criterion: Technical 2. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift.

Candidates successful at sifting stage will be invited to an online interview.

The online interview will take place over Microsoft Teams and will include a presentation and interview questions. The interview will be using various assessment techniques aligned to the Civil Service Success Profiles framework. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job. Situational style questions (what would you do if… ?) and past style questions experience (can you give me an example of time when…?) will be used to assess the specified civil service behaviours. In addition, you will also be asked technical questions relevant to the role. Candidates will receive the presentation topic and main interview questions one week before the interview.

We do not accept the use of presentation software to support the presentation; cue cards or prompts are permitted. Presentations will be 5 minutes in length.

The location in which the vacancy can be based is flexible, subject to the needs of the business. Please be aware that we are encouraging staff to attend our Cardiff office regularly to connect with people and the organisation. You will therefore be assigned to the nearest office in Wales. Travel from home to your designated office in Wales will be self-funded. Frequency of attendance to a Welsh Government office should be agreed with the hiring manager.

Want to find out more?

To help explain the application process and answer any questions you may have about our placement positions, we will be hosting a MS Teams webinar on the following date:

Monday 2nd February 2026 at 11:30 – 12:30.

which can be booked by emailing socialresearch.recruitment@gov.wales

Please read the privacy notice which tells you how we use the information you provide to us for the purpose of signing up to the information webinar.

Please notify us of any adjustments you might need in advance of the webinar.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : socialresearch.recruitment@gov.wales
• Email : socialresearch.recruitment@gov.wales

Recruitment team

• Email : ResourcingHub@gov.wales