Volunteer Researchers — Rock & Art | Remote, Worldwide

About the role

We are looking for Volunteer Researchers who enjoy going beyond the first page of search results.

Research is central to how Rock & Art works. We are interested in people who can investigate a subject, locate meaningful sources, identify gaps in existing knowledge, establish context and help writers build arguments on solid foundations.

A researcher at Rock & Art is not simply someone who collects links.

We are looking for people who can ask:

What do we actually know?

How do we know it?

What is missing?

Whose perspective is absent?

What historical, political or cultural context changes how we understand this subject?

Your research may support an individual article, a long-term editorial cluster, a larger research project or the development of Rock & Art’s permanent knowledge base.

What you will do

Depending on the project, you may:

• Research cultural, historical, political and social subjects.
• Locate and evaluate primary and secondary sources.
• Identify academic literature, books, archives, institutional publications, interviews and reliable journalism.
• Research historical context and timelines.
• Investigate the origins and development of cultural movements, practices and ideas.
• Identify relevant people, organisations, works, events and concepts.
• Build research dossiers and source lists.
• Create annotated bibliographies.
• Extract relevant information from longer sources.
• Identify conflicting interpretations or gaps in available evidence.
• Flag claims that require further investigation.
• Provide researchers and writers with contextual material.
• Help identify perspectives that are missing or underrepresented.
• Contribute research to editorial clusters and longer-term knowledge projects.
• Organise research so that it can be reused in future Rock & Art work.
• Follow relevant Rock & Art Editorial System (RAES) research and documentation standards.

You will not be expected to know RAES before applying. Relevant research workflows and standards will be introduced during onboarding.

What we are looking for

We welcome researchers from a wide range of backgrounds.

You may be:

• a researcher or independent scholar;
• a university student or graduate;
• a journalist;
• a historian;
• a researcher in the humanities or social sciences;
• an archivist or librarian;
• a cultural worker;
• an academic;
• an experienced independent researcher;
• a subject specialist with extensive knowledge of a particular field.

Formal academic qualifications are not required for every research role.

We care about your ability to investigate carefully, distinguish reliable evidence from weak evidence and document what you find.

Strong candidates will generally demonstrate:

• strong research skills;
• excellent written English;
• curiosity and persistence;
• the ability to evaluate sources critically;
• attention to detail;
• good documentation habits;
• the ability to distinguish primary from secondary sources;
• comfort working with complex or contradictory material;
• intellectual honesty;
• respect for attribution and citation;
• an understanding that absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence;
• willingness to communicate uncertainty rather than fill gaps with assumptions.

Experience with academic databases, archives, libraries, oral histories, institutional records or specialist publications is welcome.

Areas of research

We are particularly interested in researchers with knowledge of areas such as:

• music and sonic cultures;
• art history and visual culture;
• literature;
• film and media;
• fashion and subcultures;
• gender and sexuality;
• bodies and kinky culture;
• political and cultural history;
• social movements;
• identity and representation;
• cultural memory;
• countercultures;
• radical and experimental art;
• cultural theory;
• emerging cultural practices;
• digital and contemporary culture.

You do not need expertise in all of these areas.

A strong knowledge of one field can be highly valuable.

Our research philosophy

Rock & Art treats research as part of knowledge production, not as invisible labour that disappears once an article is published.

We believe:

Evidence matters more than assumption.

Sources must be attributable.

Context must precede analysis.

Uncertainty should be acknowledged.

Knowledge is collective.

Research should remain useful beyond a single article.

We are interested not only in finding information, but in understanding how information becomes knowledge.

That means questioning sources, recognising gaps, identifying competing interpretations and being transparent about the limits of what can be established.