James Prentice Email & Phone Number

London, England, United Kingdom

I am a researcher in a policy team that regulates legal services. Here I have researched socioeconomic inequalities within senior levels within the judiciary, trends in legal services and opinions on non-disclosure agreements. I have also researched the proportion of firms specialising in legal/asylum services offering legal aid, showing my ability to research a range of different subjects. My current research uses large datasets to investigate and report on key trends in legal services and the causes of individuals developing unmet legal needs. To do this, I have written two large reports that outline key statistics and the narratives that can be derived from them. I have promoted this research to a wider community through creating blog posts. Further, I have presented this research to board members, demonstrating my ability to present research and work with key stakeholders. I have also responded to data requests from other regulatory policy bodies, such as the FCA, showing my ability to work with external stakeholders. Additionally, in this role, I have learnt to use Power BI to create and update dashboards, also learning WordPress so to publish these dashboards online. Additionally, I have also used dashboards to produce quarterly performance figures and reports, showing my IT and reporting skills. I have also written reports updating managers on key changes to the overall health of the legal sector, such as the number of people working in the legal sector, its monthly turnover and the monthly number of insolvent legal firms, demonstrating my research, reporting and numerical skills. In this role, I have also learnt the 2007 Legal Services Act and the structure of legal service regulation, showing my ability to learn new topics and understand policy. Training: I participated in MRS training in survey design and question setting and also undertook policy training with the civil service, showing my willingness to improve on my current skill sets.

United Kingdom

I created my own research organisation called Coastal Action which investigates social science and policy questions related to coastal communities. I have used this brand to secure research projects.For example, I took ownership in securing my first project, which was a contract with Eastbourne Borough Council that investigated heritage retention. Here, I oversaw the completion of an original data-gathering and analysis project. In this role, I gathered data on every heritage-protected asset within the Eastbourne Borough Council area, which involved walking at least one mile each day to gather the required data. I later used my computer skills to develop a new computer spreadsheet system that allowed me to record the level of retention for each protected building within the Eastbourne Borough. After this recording, I analysed the large complex data set I created and formulated my findings into a summary report. This report was later used by the head of the Conservation department in meetings with elected officials to develop a policy that better-targeted resources to areas where heritage can be best retained. Further, it has also been used to justify conservation planning decisions to the public. Finally, I was also required to present my findings to the Conservation department.Another contract I secured, was a project that investigated BAME University of Brighton student experiences. The project was particularly designed to investigate the causes behind BAME students deciding to participate in postgraduate studies at a lower rate than others. In this project, I worked with the project lead to develop the survey design. From this point, I independently analysed the results and produced a research summary report that communicated the findings of the project to senior management.I feel that these projects gave me project working experience and demonstrates my strong ICT, data analysis, reporting, written communication, presentation and time management skills.

United Kingdom

Firstly, as a PhD researcher, I researched changes in voting behaviour within the UK post-Brexit by using R and Excel to analyse complex large datasets. From this research, I produced a thesis on this subject and formulated this into a book that currently has interest from Palgrave Macmillan. I have also presented this research at professional academic conferences.Secondly, I led seminar lessons to 1st and 2nd-year students across five different modules. This required me to digest the week’s lecture and reading material into easy-to-understand information so I could present teaching material to students. On top of this, I was required to mark many assignments within a three-week deadline, of which I easily met.Thirdly, alongside my research and teaching, I set up my own political research website, known as Capture Politics. On this forum, I have analysed British political data, such as polling data, and learnt how communicate my findings to a wider audience interested in British politics. To do this, I have developed data visualisation skills and website editing skills. I have also been responsible for managing the research website’s public profile, such as organising any events that we used to promote our research and managing social media accounts I use to publish blog articles and research.Finally, in this role, I participated in paid student research projects. For example, I completed a team interdisciplinary project on the subject of sustainability within supply chains. In this role, I tested a theory the lead researcher had developed by analysing a large dataset. Following my results, I produced a report that summarised the accuracy of the theory and this was used by the lead researcher to later produce journal articles and justify project funding. In this role, I also participated in weekly online meetings to give and receive constructive feedback on individual’s work, which we used to improve the quality of the research.

Eastbourne, England, United Kingdom

My first task was to convert digital records of caseloads into a spreadsheet computer system that could monitor the services, and costs of these services, for every case the department was responsible for. I was also responsible for building a spreadsheet system that could monitor the department’s three budgets and produce financial projections. This was to help managers make informed budgetary decisions. Finally, this spreadsheet system listed every payment, helping to ensure all payments were being paid to the intended person and that they were on the department’s caseload. My second responsibility was to organise and record the outcomes of resource allocation meetings in a clear and digestible format. This was important as big financial and social work decisions were made at this meeting and the accurate recording of these decisions was essential in the social work needed in children’s lives and the overall management of very limited departmental finances. To ensure this information was captured, before the meeting I produced summary reports of every application due to be presented to the department and also outlined the financial implications to the department if the application was to be successful. Based on which applications were successful, these reports were updated after the meeting and sent to all managers.My third responsibility was the analysis and clear presentation of requested information. Here, I was responsible for producing reports from managerial data requests. To get answers to managerial data queries, I analysed data collated from social workers and produced succinct reports that could summarise complex information and directly answer managerial questions.Often I had multiple requests conflicting with other meeting and spreadsheet tasks. I met deadlines by devising methods of prioritising, thus giving me experience in workload management. In 2018, I went back to University to do a Masters in political science to improve my employability.

United Kingdom

During my A-level ICT studies, I was required to demonstrate I could be a computer system based on a real-world problem. A local community forum’s system was located entirely on paper as they did not have the finances to build a computer system. I designed, created, tested, implemented and managed the building of a finance and database system to solve this problem. I tested the system and produced a report log outlining parts of the system that required updating before the system could be fully implemented. After this, I installed the system and accompanied it with a help guide that summarised how best to use the system. This system was capable of producing automated reports that could outline the amount of casework the community Forum acquired from local residents within a specified time frame. This administration system was used by the community centre to run its finances and manage its caseload until its closure. To create this administration system, I used Microsoft Excel and Access to produce an interface that would prompt community forum volunteers to enter data, from which the system would then generate summary reports. These reports would provide the community centre managers with the summary information they needed to be able to make important policy decisions. I later received feedback that this system was used to help finance local festivals and run the community centre in ways that better served the community two years into its use, meaning the system was effective long after its implementation. This work received a positive reference by the community centre managers who recommended my examiners passed the project. This work was then later passed by OCR coursework assessors and deemed to be an A-grade quality piece of coursework. This shows my ability to analyse and build systems, my ICT skills, my reporting skills and my ability to work with a small team of volunteers and paid managers. I also feel this demonstrated my project delivery skills.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Political Science And Government, Pass - Confirmation Of Doctorate

After submitting a research proposal, I spent three years studying voting behaviour changes within British politics. From this, I gained.

Master'S Degree, Public Opinion, Distinction (1St)

This Masters Degree taught me how to analyse large complex datasets using R. It also provided me with the skills to create impartial.

Bachelor’S Degree, History And Politics, 2:1 (69 Average)

Activities and Societies: Debating society, Environment campaign volunteer, Kent Labour Party students.During this degree, I learnt.

B

A-Levels. History, Politics and ICT. All resulted in 3 B grade A levels by the summer of 2012. My ICT A-level improved my skills.

B

Activities and Societies: Boys Football team yr 7 - 11I completed my secondary education at this school. I acquired the 5 A* - C grades.