Ministry of Justice

Job description for SEO Foresight Researcher |
MOJ Science Office

Job Title: Foresight Researcher/Strategist (SEO)
Department: Futures, Insights, and Emerging Technology Team, The Science Office, Ministry of Justice
Location: National
Contract: FTC 12 months (maternity cover), full-time
Salary: As detailed in job advert. Dependent on base location if London or National pay will apply.
Remote working: Hybrid working model
Level of clearance: BPSS

About the MOJ Science Office
The Ministry of Justice Science Office is dedicated to embedding scientific rigour at the core of decision-making, strengthening the department’s overall science capability, and driving impactful, evidence-based policy. As part of the Analysis Directorate within the Performance, Strategy, and Analysis group, the Science Office consists of three specialised sub-teams: Science Delivery, Research, Relationships & Commissioning, and Futures, Insights & Emerging Technology.

Post-holders will support a range of strategic functions, including shaping and coordinating policy or strategy, supporting senior colleagues with delivery of their priorities, and planning and delivering pilots and projects. Post-holders will work with policy and analysis teams across HMPPS, MOJ, other government departments, devolved administrations and delivery partners to deliver a compelling vision and outcomes that meet the Department’s ambitions on science.

As a close-knit team, the Science Office operates with flexibility to meet departmental needs. While your primary focus will be in the Science Delivery team, you’ll also have occasional opportunities to work alongside colleagues in the other sub-teams, gaining exposure to diverse areas such as research commissioning and emerging technology, depending on organisational priorities and demand. This collaborative approach enables a dynamic work environment where scientific expertise directly supports and influences real-world justice outcomes

About the Role:
Are you passionate about untangling the uncertainties of tomorrow and discovering insights that can redefine government strategy? Do you thrive at the dynamic intersection of science, technology, and strategic foresight?

The Ministry of Justice Science Office is searching for an inquisitive and proactive Foresight Researcher/Strategist to join our small but mighty Futures, Insights, and Emerging Technology team.

In this role, you’ll be a cornerstone in our efforts to anticipate future challenges, evaluate the potential of emerging technologies, and identify breakthrough opportunities for innovation. Your work will directly contribute to strengthening the security and resilience of the justice system, empowering it to adapt and excel in an increasingly complex world.

What you’ll do:
•    Scientific perspective: Design, lead and apply a science and evidence-based approach to inform justice system policies and strategies.
•    Foresight Research: Conduct in-depth research and analysis on future risks, trends, societal shifts, and emerging technologies that have the potential to impact the delivery of HMPPS/MOJ strategic priorities. This will require mobilising the breadth of knowledge generated within the agency as well as external academic, scientific or private sources. This will also entail design and development of foresight models, consistently exploring and identifying new research methodologies, applying quantitative and qualitative data and insight analysis methods.
•    Generate Insight: Identify key insights from complex data and trends to shape evidence-based recommendations for the Ministry’s strategic priorities.
•    Design Strategic Scenarios: Create future scenarios based on foresight findings to inform strategic planning and policy development within the justice system.
•    Engage Stakeholders: Collaborate with internal and external science, research and industry stakeholders across the justice sector, academia, and technology fields to gather diverse perspectives and enhance foresight initiatives through workshops, hacks and other engagement sessions. Consistently build relationships and partnerships in order to operationalise Futures Thinking and scientific methodologies as a regular practice in the department’s culture, ensure they are supported through necessary channels to incubate new ideas and apply new methodologies.
•    Explore Emerging Technology: Evaluate the potential impact of emerging technologies on the Ministry's operations, policies, and justice outcomes, ensuring foresight work is grounded in practical, real-world applications.
•    Communicate Insightfully: Rapidly distil complex ideas and scenarios into clear, visually engaging, compelling reports, briefings, and presentations for both technical and non-technical audiences and senior stakeholders.
•    Innovate with Tech: identify and shape new product and service ideas for the justice system based on emerging technology findings that could be taken into R&D
•    Engage in Full Project Lifecycle: Work across the innovation and project development lifecycle, from identification of customers and engagement of stakeholders to the development and delivery of innovative interventions designed to improve or transform the justice system via new technology
•    Design and Prepare to Prototype/pilot Technology Concepts: create new product or service ideas based on strategic findings, develop concept propositions with a convincing “case for change” to be taken into pilots
 
Person Specification:

•    Analytical Mindset: You have a knack for recognising patterns, assessing complex information, and extracting actionable insights.
•    Innovative Thinking: You’re comfortable with ambiguity and are driven by curiosity about what lies ahead to create new ideas/solutions.
•    Strong Communication Skills: You can translate insights and foresight into clear, actionable strategies for a wide range of stakeholders.
•    Eye for Design: You can translate your ideas into visual, compelling and engaging media (presentations, visuals, storyboards) with ease
•    Tech and Research Enthusiast: You are consistently curious about new technologies and the role they must play in industry innovation. You’re constantly “hungry” for knowledge and are just as curious about the research topics as the ways/methods to uncover the insights.
•    Collaborative: You enjoy working in a team setting and bring strong interpersonal skills to engage and collaborate effectively.

Essential Experience:
•    Proven experience in foresight, futures research, or strategic planning in a government, academic, private company or consultancy environment.
•    Background in fields such as engineering, innovation, public policy, social sciences, technology research, service design, product management, research and development, digital transformation or related areas.
•    Experience of working across full life cycle of a project: from early research and strategy formulation to prototyping proposals and emerging technology solutions

Essential skills:

SKILL    SUB-SKILL    THAT MEANS
You know how to apply these methodologies effectively to collect relevant and diverse data that informs the exploration of potential future scenarios and how to adapt them in different contexts.
    Research quality    You can identify reliable data sources, collect both qualitative and quantitative data, and ensure that the data gathered is accurate, up-to-date, and relevant to the research objectives.
    Qualitative / user research    You are knowledgeable and can choose the right qualitative foresight methods to gather the information and design the entire research framework.
You are experienced in conducting interviews, running focus groups, surveys, and observational studies to gain insights from experts and users.
    Quantitative research    You are proficient in quantitative research techniques, such as surveys, experiments, statistical analysis, and data modelling, to analyse numerical data and derive insights.
Synthesising data and information into insights    Analytical skills and strategic insight    You have strong analytical skills to process and make sense of complex data sets and qualitative information.
You can identify patterns, trends, signals and critical drivers of change to develop strategic insights that inform decision-making processes.
    Innovation and creativity    You can think creatively and imaginatively, exploring alternative scenarios and potential disruptors to develop novel insights about the future.
    Collaboration and teamwork    You can collaborate effectively within a diverse team to collect necessary data.
You are skilled at engaging, capturing and integrating inputs from various experts and stakeholders, fostering a collaborative environment that encourages sharing of ideas and knowledge.
Communicating insights and presenting the findings    Storytelling and Building Insight Narratives    You can translate complex data and foresight insights into compelling stories and narratives. You know how to weave together diverse data points into a cohesive and engaging storyline that resonates with stakeholders and decision-makers.
    Visualising data and creating visual presentations    You are proficient in using various data visualisation and presentation software to create charts, graphs, infographics and communication decks or other media that facilitate understanding and communication. Your presentations are consistently visually captivating and help present complex ideas with ease.
    Engaging stakeholders and workshop facilitation    You can design and actively engage stakeholders in creative workshops, presentations, and discussions. You can facilitate meaningful conversations and solicit feedback to ensure that foresight insights are well-received and incorporated into organisational planning.
Managing the individual and collaborative process    Project Management    You have the skills to plan, execute, and deliver foresight projects effectively. You can meticulously plan foresight projects, setting clear objectives, defining project scopes, and establishing realistic timelines and deliverables. You can allocate resources efficiently, manage risks proactively, and monitor project progress to ensure successful outcomes.
    Adaptability and learning    You are proactive in staying updated with emerging trends, new methodologies, and industry developments to enhance the quality of the research.
    Stakeholder identification and mapping    Expertise in identifying and engaging key stakeholders to ensure foresight insights are integrated into strategy. Skilled in building strategic partnerships to gather diverse perspectives and foster support.
    Risk assessment and mitigation    Experience in identifying potential risks associated with future scenarios and designing mitigation strategies. Skilled in advising leadership on managing uncertainties and making resilient decisions throughout the lifecycle of a project.
 
Desirable skills:
•    Prototyping and experimentation: previous experience of working in a technology accelerator or R&D lab; skilled in quickly creating prototypes to test emerging technology concepts within multidisciplinary teams, validate assumptions, and gather user feedback. Experienced in building and iterating on prototypes to refine ideas and assess feasibility within real-world constraints.
•    Rapid concept development and user-centred design: ability to take emerging technology ideas from concept to proof-of-concept quickly. Familiar with design thinking and agile methodologies to move from ideation to tangible outputs that demonstrate potential value.
•    Technical feasibility and scalability assessment: ability to assess the technical feasibility and scalability of new technologies within an organization. Experienced in identifying potential obstacles to implementation and developing strategies to address them.
•    Working in government or with government experience: Previous experience working with local, or central Government and/or working in Government science delivery or in a Chief Scientific Adviser’s Office

Application process
There will be an initial sift of applicants through comparing submitted evidence against the ‘Required experience and skills’ section of the job description. This will be completed utilising your uploaded CV and 250-word answer to the experience question: “Describe a project where you applied foresight or scenario planning to address a complex organisation issue. What was the challenge, process and outcome?”. This can typically take up to two weeks.

Successful applicants will be invited to a Civil Service Success Profile interview where you will be assessed on your experience and behaviours using the Civil Service Success Profiles and recommend using the STARR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result, Reflection) for structuring your responses. Candidates will also present a 5–10-minute presentation on a technology related topic. Further information will be provided to candidates invited to interview.
 
Civil Service Behaviours for Assessment at Interview
•    Seeing The Big Picture
•    Making Effective Decisions
•    Communicating and Influencing
•    Managing a Quality Service
•    Delivering at Pace
 
For details, refer to the CS Behavioural Framework.

Candidates who perform best in the interview will be offered the role. The entire process may take up to a month. Interviews are likely to take place in late January/early February 2025 and will be held via MS Teams. We will keep a merit list for a year for those who successfully pass the interview board but who are not offered a post.