This post is fixed term and part-time (0.5 FTE) and therefore the salary is pro rata to the salary shown.

Applications are invited for a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in the area of Catholic Studies to assist on Boundary Breaking: Ecclesial-cultural Implications of the Sex Abuse Crisis within the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Boundary Breaking is a three-year research project, in collaboration with survivors and organisations in the Catholic Church, examining if/ to what extent aspects of Catholic culture and understanding have contributed to the creation of an environment in which abuse, its denial and mishandling, was and is possible.

Boundary Breaking engages theologically with the issues, whilst drawing on expertise across a range of disciplines including social anthropology, psychology and organisational studies, as well as insights from contemporary research into sexual abuse.

The project aims to identify and assess areas of potential weakness within the Catholic Church and, where appropriate, consider what role Catholic doctrine and understanding can play in ensuring that safeguarding is not simply a matter of process and policy, but that it is also theologically and culturally embedded within the Church's self-understanding.

The Project's PI is Dr Marcus Pound, Associate Professor, Department of Theology and Religion. 

The successful candidate will co-lead as part of the core research team on gathering the relevant qualitative data in relation to the sexual abuse crisis; assist in bringing the empirical research into conversation with the Church's formal theology; contribute to the written outcomes of the project.