Department: School of English & Drama
Salary: £33,615 - £35,459 (Grade 4) 
Location: Mile End
Closing date: 23-Sep-2019 

Overview:

The School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London wishes to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work on an AHRC-funded research project, ‘Networking Archives: Assembling and analysing a meta-archive of correspondence, 1509-1714’, led by Professor Howard Hotson (PI, University of Oxford), Dr Ruth Ahnert (Co-I, Queen Mary University of London), and Dr Sebastian Ahnert (Co-I, University of Cambridge). The Postdoctoral Research Associate will work under the guidance of Dr Ruth Ahnert.

This project, which was launched in October 2018, has brought together early modern correspondence data collected in 'Early Modern Letters Online' (EMLO), and has begun merge this with metadata from the Tudor and Stuart 'State Papers Online' (Gale). The result will be the UK's largest meta-archive of curated early modern correspondence of c.430,000 letters. Following an initial phase of data gathering and cleaning, we are looking for a research associate to finalise the data curation and join the team to facilitate the analytical phase. They will join a highly collaborative team that brings together skills in quantitative network analysis with traditional research approaches, with the aim of discovering what the meta-archive reveals about the ways in which 'intelligence' was gathered and transmitted in the early modern period, both in terms of political missives communicated for the consolidation of state authority and as learned exchanges within the international 'republic of letters'.

The Postdoctoral Research Associate will be actively involved in all facets of the project, and will be provided with the necessary training to contribute towards these tasks, although pre-existing skills in network analysis (or other digital humanities training) would be beneficial. In discussion with the PI and Co-Is, the research associate will develop their own research agenda and publications arising from the experimental monthly Lab meetings, to analyse the archive of 430,000 letters using a combination of quantitative network analysis and traditional literary historical research.

We remind applicants that the list of essential and desirable requirements is aspirational. We recognise that applicants will not have all of these skills. If you fulfil the essential and one or two of the desirable criteria, we strongly encourage you to apply.

The successful candidate will hold a PhD (or equivalent) in a relevant area which will have been awarded before the start of the role. Relevant subject areas include but are not limited to: early modern studies; English literature; political history; intellectual history; book history; digital humanities; comparative literature.

The post will start on 1 January 2020, or as soon as possible thereafter, and is fixed term for a period of 18 months from the start date. The post is full time (35 hours per week) with a starting salary in the range of £33,615 to £35,459 per annum, depending on experience. Benefits include 30 days annual leave, pension scheme and an interest-free season ticket loan.

Candidates must be able to demonstrate their eligibility to work in the UK in accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006. Where required this may include entry clearance or continued leave to remain under the Points Based Immigration Scheme.

Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Dr Ahnert (r.r.ahnert@qmul.ac.uk) for an informal discussion of the job and its requirements.

The closing date for applications is 23 September 2019.

Interviews are expected to be held shortly thereafter.