Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Location: Egham
Salary: £19.69 per hour - including London Allowance
Closing Date: Wednesday 30 September 2020
Interview Date: To be confirmed

Casual, Fixed-Term, Term-Time (until March 2022)

Applications are invited for the post of Post-Doctoral Research Assistant (Ridolfi collection) in the Department of Languages, Literature's and Cultures.

We are seeking an experienced and qualified Post-Doctoral Research Assistant to join Dr Stefano Jossa to work on the Ridolfi collection at the Archives at RHUL with a BA/Leverhulme SRG. The position will involve researching, transcribing and translating the letters during two academic years (2020-2022). Native/near native competence in both English and Italian is requested. Knowledge of Latin will be preferential. Archival and cataloguing experience will also be favoured.

The working commitment will be in the range of nine-ten hours per week during teaching terms (190 hours, approx. 25 days).

In addition, the PDRA will benefit from a fully funded one-month research trip to Florence to be done outside of term times in the second year of activity (for a separate budget of £2130 including travel expenses, accommodation and subsistence).

The PDRA will also be expected to:

• To lead the conceptualisation and development of a framework and methodology that explicitly considers letter writing and social networks in the early modern period.
• To design and carry out a global analysis of studies undertaken on letter writing and social networks in the early modern period.
• To gather supporting evidence for the research through social history methods including historicising, contextualising, analysing, observational studies and quantitative data collection. This will include a research trip to Florence for one month outside of term times in the second year of activity (fully funded) in order to examine and investigate the Ridolfi letters in the collections at the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze.
• To work closely with a large number of academics, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students nationally and internationally in order to build the framework and methodology that will contribute to interdisciplinary scientific understanding of letter writing and social networks in the early modern period.
• To contribute to the dissemination of findings through conference presentations and journal articles, collaborating with others as necessary.
• To contribute to reporting, as required. 
• To contribute to the overall activities of the research team and the department as appropriate.
• To carry out any other duties as are within the scope, spirit and purpose of the job as requested by the Project Director.
• Any other duties as required by the line manager or Head of Department that are commensurate with the grade.

Under the supervision of the PI, the PDRA will be expected to:

• Transcribe and translate into English all letters in the collection (ca 400).
• Maintain accurate records of their work.
• Train in order to acquire new skills.
• Help with the promotion of the research programme by posting news online, attending conferences and spreading the word as appropriate.
• Attend one meeting in term 1 and one in term 2 across both years with the assistant director and colleagues of the same discipline, in order to discuss progress and achievements.

Term dates:

• Autumn term 2020/2021 23/09/2020 to 13/12/2020
• Spring term 2020/2021: 13/01/2021 to 27/03/2021
• Autumn term 2021/2022: TBC
• Spring term 2021/2022: TBC

The applicant will be an enthusiastic and motivated PDRA with native/near native knowledge of both English and Italian.

For more information, contact the Director of the research grant, Dr Stefano Jossa (Stefano.Jossa@rhul.ac.uk).

The post is based in Egham, Surrey where the College is situated in a beautiful, leafy campus near to Windsor Great Park and within commuting distance from London.

To view further details of this post and to apply please visit https://jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk.

For queries on the application process the Human Resources Department can be contacted by email at: recruitment@rhul.ac.uk

Please quote the reference: 0920-201
Closing Date: Midnight 30 September 2020
Interview Date: TBC

Please note that it will not be possible for the College to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship. Successful candidates will therefore need to be eligible to work in the UK or have limited leave to remain in the UK and associated right to work for the duration of their employment with the College, in accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.