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Special Scientist, Administration Support Staff Project Manager

Employer
UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
Location
Nicosia, Cyprus
Closing date
30 Oct 2020

Title: Special Scientist (Administration Support Staff) - Project Manager |
Number of positions: One (1)
Category: Contract for 1 year with a possible renewal for another 2 years
Starting Date: 02 January 2021
Place of employment: University of Cyprus, Nicosia

The Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Cyprus has one opening for a Special Scientist (Administration Support Staff) to act as a Project Manager for the Twinning project: “Network for Medieval Arts and Rituals” (NetMAR), which is funded by the European Commission.

Necessary Qualifications:

  • University degrees (BA and MA)
  • At least 3 years of experience in a position with similar responsibilities
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
  • Very good organisational skills, attention to detail and multi-tasking skills
  • Results oriented with an ability to work under deadlines
  • Excellent communication, presentation and teamwork skills
  • Excellent knowledge of the English language
  • Ability to cooperate with international partners in a multi-cultural environment

Additional Qualifications:

  • Experience in EU funded projects (FP7, H2020, etc.) will be considered an advantage
  • Previous experience in an academic or research environment will be considered an advantage
  • Demonstrated capacity in proposal writing will be considered an advantage
  • Excellent knowledge of Modern Greek will be considered an advantage

Responsibilities and Duties:

  • Ensure effective quality support throughout the NetMAR project duration
  • Monitor scope and expected deliverables, determine success metrics and track against milestones
  • Organization and delivery of reports and deliverables
  • Communicate to the Coordinator the necessary changes to the NetMAR scope, schedule and cost where necessary
  • Monitor risks proactively, drive prioritisation, balance needs versus constraints and take mitigation actions and contingency planning
  • Contribution to the dissemination, exploitation, and communication of the research results of the NetMAR project to the scientific community, interested stakeholders, policy-makers, and the general public - Proactive contribution to the identification of external funding opportunities, as well as the drafting and submission of proposals for external grants
  • Organise and participate in the preparation of research and innovation grants at national, European, and international levels
  • Support to the project researchers in negotiating contract terms and signing grant agreements with potential funders
  • Cooperate with all project partners to achieve expected results - Communication, written and oral, with the researchers involved, the European Commission and the relevant University of Cyprus’ Services
  • Organize and lead project conference calls and meetings, recording meeting minutes and ensuring timely completion of allocated tasks
  • Review and control project deliverables based on quality objectives and standards

Applicants with an MA in Byzantine Studies, Medieval Studies or Classics are encouraged to apply. The selected candidate will also enrol in the graduate school of the University of Cyprus, and while acting as the NetMAR project manager s/he will work towards her/his Ph.D. in Byzantine Studies and the Latin East. Applicants must thus regularly follow the process of admission for Spring Semester 2021, in parallel with the submission of the application for the Project Manager position, by submitting their applications electronically using the online application system http://ucy.ac.cy/postgraduate_appl_en by Friday, 30 October 2020 until 12 noon EET. For more information about the program, visit https://www.ucy.ac.cy/byz/en/. Applicants are expected to write their Ph.D. thesis in English or Greek in a topic related to the NetMAR research clusters (see below, Other Information).

Terms of Employment

 The position will be offered for one year (full-time employment) with possible renewal for another two years. The monthly gross amount will be €2000. There is no provision for a 13th salary.

Submission of Applications:

  1. A letter expressing interest to the position with a brief description of qualifications (1 page)
  2. A brief curriculum vitae with description of previous experience (2 pages)
  3. Contact details for at least two people qualified to provide recommendation for the candidate
  4. Certificates attesting to the very good knowledge of English language, unless this is attested by the mother tongue of the candidate or s/he is a graduate of an English University.

The application material should be sent electronically as one single .pdf file to: konstans@ucy.ac.cy until 30 October, 2020 (at the latest).

OTHER INFORMATION

The NetMAR Project The NetMAR project is funded by the Horizon 2020 Widespread action (Spreading Excellence, Widening Participation, Science with and for Society) of the European Union. It is part of the Twinning action (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/twinning). NetMAR, which is implemented through a close collaboration between the University of Cyprus (Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies) and the Universities of Southern Denmark (Center for Medieval Literature) and Bamberg (Zentrum für Mittelalterstudien) aims among others at promoting the involvement of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs; PhD candidates) in its implementation. The project investment in ESRs has a fourfold purpose: i) to greatly improve their research abilities through training, mentoring, and participation in highquality research and research dissemination activities; ii) to enhance their innovation capacities through networking and secondments in industry and the public sector; iii) to strengthen their administrative skills through active involvement in the project management and the organisation of various project events; and iv) to enhance their skills in preparing competitive research proposals. Overall, the NetMAR twinning project will offer the successful candidate:

  • Full-time employment for 1 to 3 years with a competitive salary and additional resources to take part in international conferences and collaborations
  • A PhD-title after 4 years of research - Secondments to partner organizations
  • Participation in workshops and courses / training on scientific and entrepreneurial skills, as well as excellent supervision
  • Membership of the University of Cyprus, one of the pioneering younger research universities in Europe.

Project Research Clusters

NetMAR has the following research clusters:

  1. Places The first cluster concerns the various medieval practices involving rituals with arts such as pilgrimage, devotion, education, war and diplomacy, their particular actors, and their change throughout time. The Places Cluster mostly focuses on the different settings of rituals and ritual arts: the specific material and topographical contexts that they acquire each time. The interactions between Byzantine and later medieval ritual settings in Cyprus are also relevant. Furthermore, this cluster is interested in how space division along with other elements, such as light natural or candlelight, textiles, attire, accessories and furniture determine the forms and performances of rituals and arts, and how the latter in turn define and transform their settings. In this context, the patrimonial, political or religious authorities behind the rituals and their arts are also considered, as they play an instrumental role in determining the ritual settings and their changes, both synchronically and diachronically. The most important material sources for this cluster comprise archaeological sites, monuments, mosaics, frescoes, objects, icons, sculptures and artifacts, while the textual evidence consists of monastic foundation documents, books of ceremonies, war manuals, epistolography, historiography, hagiography and oratory.
  2. Structures The second cluster moves from the ritual settings to focus on the conception of rituals and ritual arts themselves, and on how rituals invite arts and vice versa: how arts invite rituals. More specifically, under discussion are the shapes, themes and structures of rituals and arts, and the ways in which rituals inform and are informed by arts, as well as how different artistic works interact with each other during or while referring to a certain ritual. In other words, the Structures Cluster concentrates on rituals as arts and on arts as rituals. The material used for the purposes of this cluster falls into two main categories: i) manuals offering information and instructions about the performance of rituals and the composition of artistic works, such as liturgical books, books of courtly ceremonies, music manuscripts, school exercises, commentaries and advice literature and ii) individual works belonging to different genres (e.g. icons, illuminated manuscripts, frescoes, sculpture, artefacts, oratory, homiletics, poetry, and hagiography).
  3. Experiences This cluster turns to the participants in rituals, to their expectations and needs (personal, familial, and communal), their ideas (social, religious, and political) and their experiences (sensual, emotional, and mental) as determined by their gender, age, origin, and status. The Experiences Cluster is interested in what rituals and ritual arts mean for female and male participants of different origin, varied ages and status, how rituals affect different participants, either individually or collectively, and what they aim to achieve for them. Since the involvement of participants reaches its peak when artistic works acquire miraculous qualities, thus creating further performances within the framework of a ritual (e.g. the Hodegetria icon in Constantinople with its regular Tuesday miracle during the rite), miraculous arts are also important for this cluster. The sources employed for the needs of the Experiences Cluster are iconographical and textual. The iconographical sources are illuminated manuscripts, icons, frescoes, mosaics and sculptures depicting human gestures and facial expressions associated with rituals, as well as miracles within rituals. The textual sources belong to genres such as historiography, hagiography, polemic literature, treatises and oratory, which provide information about medieval ritual and miracle experiences.
  4. Influences The Influences Cluster is concerned with the afterlife of Byzantine rituals and ritual arts from the fifteenth century to the present with a particular geographical emphasis on Cyprus. This cluster is interested in Byzantine-Cypriot, Frankish-Cypriot and Venetian-Cypriot continuities and the survival of the medieval heritage of the island. In contrast to Western medieval culture, its Byzantine counterpart has had a dominant presence in Greek-Cypriot society, which has always been highly conventional and church-oriented, chiefly among rural populations. This is primarily due to the traditionally strong power of the Orthodox Church in Cypriot daily, political, and cultural life. In order to establish a continuity with Constantinople, the capital of Orthodoxy, Cyprus Church has cultivated a neo-Byzantine religious culture through a number of media such as rhetoric, architecture, icons, frescoes, liturgical artifacts, liturgy, and panegyria: the celebrations of the feast days of the patron saints of villages or towns.

Hosting Institution

This exciting and challenging position is provided within the framework of the Interdepartmental Program in Byzantine Studies and the Latin East offered by the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies and the Department of History and Archaeology of the Faculty of Letters at the University of Cyprus. The aim of the program is to promote interdisciplinary approaches in the relevant areas of study. More specifically, the program combines the various theoretical and practical methodological tools of Philology, History, History of Art, and Archaeology. The members of the academic staff involved in the program are a very enthusiastic group actively publishing in a broad domain of topics related to Byzantium and the Latin East.

Living in Nicosia, Cyprus

 The University of Cyprus is located in Nicosia, the capital city of Cyprus. Nicosia is the administrative, commercial, cultural, and educational center of the country, and is also geographically at the center of the island. A modern highway system connects Nicosia to all main towns and cities, many in under an hours’ driving time.

The University of Cyprus provides on-campus self-catering accommodation to a limited number of students. Information on rents, criteria, and application procedures is available through the Housing Office of the Affairs and Student Welfare Service (all registered students may apply for accommodation at the Housing Office). The University can accommodate a limited number of students in single, self-catering study/bedrooms in the Student Halls located at the New Campus, and in private apartments located offcampus. There are several restaurants and cafeterias within the University areas, operating on commercial terms, but with controlled prices.

The Quality of Life Index in Cyprus is very high (154.60), and the cost of living (price index) in Nicosia is medium (65.26/100). Nicosia is renowned for its medieval monuments, museums, numerous cafés and restaurants, and it is a lively student city. More information about visiting Cyprus can be found at http://www.visitcyprus.com/index.php/en/.

For further information the candidates may contact the Coordinator of the project, Associate Professor Stavroula Constantinou, Tel.: +357 22-893889 or Email: konstans@ucy.ac.cy

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