Research and Production Officer

About us

The Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) is a leading UK charity dedicated to promoting education and remembrance of the Holocaust through its educational programmes and advocacy efforts challenging antisemitism and promoting tolerance and understanding to benefit future generations. Working across the UK the Holocaust Educational Trust partners with schools universities communities and policy makers to educate thousands of young people across the country. Our core educational activities include our flagship Lessons from Auschwitz Project youth engagement activities and Testimony 360: People and Places of the Holocaust a digital programme.

Job Description

We have an exciting opportunity for a Research and Production Officer fixed term until 31 March 2027 to join our team based in Central London. After several years of research and development we launched Testimony 360in June 2024 a digital programme for UK secondary schools that uses interactive survivor testimony and virtual reality to innovatively teach about the Holocaust. Through the programme students caninteractwith a recorded testimonyof a Holocaust survivorbefore seeing some of the sites they experienced using virtual reality headsets all without leaving their classroom.

The successful candidate willserve as a member of the TrustsProgrammesTeamresponsible for theresearchpost-productiontestingandmaintenanceof interactive recorded testimony to ensurefluencyandusabilityin the classroom. They will alsobe responsible forthe ethical representation and engagement with the testimonies.We are looking for an individual withexperience inresearch with an understanding of thesensitiveuse of testimonyas well asexperience ofdata management systems and platforms used for interactive testimony. They will havethe ability to quickly learn how to usenew technologiesand programmes.As an expert in Holocaust education you will also contribute to the successful delivery of our Testimony 360 programme through research and development ofnew contentordigitalresources.

Key Responsibilities

Interactive survivor testimony

• Work on the development of interactive testimony including any future capture clipping annotation data / metadata input and Alpha/Beta testing. Throughout testing lead the AI training process ensuring the systems accuracy and ensuring the respectful and ethical representation of survivors life-stories.
  
• Maintain regular contact with our partner organisation the USC Shoah Foundation including progress updates shared learning and required training.
  
• Support colleagues undertaking training and/or working on supportive post-production.
  
• Log activity and decisions regarding the post-production editing process as discussed with members of the Testimony 360 team and/or USC Shoah Foundation.
  
• Organise and deliver Alpha and Beta testing stages working directly with students both online and in-person to deliver test sessions and action any necessary follow-up (to ensure learning from test sessions is fed back).
  
• Develop and manage systems to ensure the maintenance accuracy ethics and security of interactive testimonies and ensure consistency of approach across teams.
  

Delivery

• Plan and deliver any future online Beta testing sessions as part of the development of interactive testimonies sharing knowledge and expertise and supporting their delivery.
  
• Work with the Data and Evaluation Manager on external research and evaluation partnerships to assess the impact of Testimony 360 on students and teachers ensuring findings are shared and used to continuously improve our digital education offers.
  
• From time to time we ask everyone in our team to be trained to deliver our educational programmes. This ensures we can adapt to our peaks of educational delivery during the year. Therefore it is desirable that the successful candidate will be willing to participate in our classroom programmes as an educator from time to time.
  

Development

• Carry out research and development relating to the Trusts digital strategy.
  
• Work with external providers to create historically accurate content that fits within the Trusts pedagogical approach and programmes.
  

General

• Discussions about our learnings from Testimony 360 with the wider Delivery team and we encourage consideration for how these learnings might feed into our wider educational offer.
• Ensuring the education about the Holocaust is at the core of our work. Members of the Programmes team are responsible for supporting the wider teams as they develop plan and deliver on broader public engagement fundraising and awareness-raising initiatives.
  

Skills and Experience

Essential

• An understanding of the history of the Holocaust and its relevance todayevidencedthroughpreviousstudy or work history.

• Anunderstanding ofHolocaust survivortestimony its value in education and an insight and understandingofbest practiceand ethical considerations relevant toproducingusingandmaintainingrecorded testimonies.

• SpecialisedIT competency in data management systems for interactive testimonies(such as theDigitalRepositoryManagementSystemand theDimensionsin TestimonyEditorused by the USC Shoah Foundation)as well as a general understanding of the benefits and risks of using AI technology for testimony.

• Abilityto work quickly in a fast-paced environmentto tighttimeframes withhigh levelsof accuracy.

• Abilitytoworkindependentlywithdemonstrable self-motivation.

• Strongcommunicationskills able to work effectively across a team and acrossorganisations.

• Vibrant enthusiastic and dependable individual with a clear passion and commitment to the aims and values of the Holocaust Educational Trust.

• Excellentorganisationaland time management skills.

• Demonstrable interest in and an understanding of evolving digital technologies and experiences (especially in the field of education).

• Experienceproducing or developing digital educational content.

Desirable

• Experience in teaching the Holocaust within schools and evidence of CPD/training on pedagogical approaches to Holocaust education.
• Experienceplanning and delivering lessons as part of a formal or informal educational setting.

For a full application pack including the person specification pleasevisit our website

Interested candidates could apply by sending their CV and covering letter tobefore 9:00am on 14th August.

Required Experience:

Senior IC