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Research Associate in the Department of Digital Humanities

Employer
KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
Location
London (Greater) (GB)
Salary
£38,304 per annum (not the full range)
Closing date
21 Jul 2021
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Job Details

Research Associate in the Department of Digital Humanities

Job ID: 021144

Salary £38,304 per annum (not the full range)

Posted: 21-Apr-2021

Closing date: 31-May-2021

Business unit: Faculty of Arts & Humanities 

Department: Digital Humanities

Contact details: Vita Peacock, vita.peacock@kcl.ac.uk 

Strand Campus   Research    


Job description
Health trackers use sensor and sound technology to monitor biological activity, and support the realization of particular health goods. The researcher will investigate, using ethnographic methods, how, why, and with what consequences such trackers are used in contemporary Britain. Constituting one member of a four-person team studying the intersection between surveillance and moral community, the researcher will explore how biological surveillance becomes a way that people committed to health goods relate to one another. In a global context in which public health has been propelled to the centre of debate by Covid-19, the project will identify how public and private health surveillance are interacting inside this new reality.
 
The researcher will be responsible to the project’s PI and contribute proportionately to the collective outputs of the project. They will publish journal articles, book chapters, and assist with the co-crafting of a policy report. They will also be involved in research dissemination activities: through conference presentations, workshops, and web content. This post carries a number of administrative duties: including scientific and ethical reporting, coordinating network activities, and organizing events at the host department.
 
The project is hosted by the Department of Digital Humanities at Kings College London, an interdisciplinary environment shared by scholars across the social sciences and humanities. Founded in 1992, the department is the largest of its kind anywhere in the world, and is situated at the forefront of critical inquiry into the development of digital society.
 
Following the good practice guidelines provided by the European Association of Social Anthropologists, the PDRA will have full or proportionate authorship of all publications arising from their research, and allocated 20% FTE for personal and professional development. 
 
This post will be offered on a fixed-term contract for 36 months, starting on 1st September 2021.
This is a full-time post.

Key responsibilities

  • Conduct research, including twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork, on the use of health trackers in Britain.
  • Publish the research as a minimum of two journal articles and one book chapter, and contribute to the policy report.
  • Present the research at conferences and workshops
  • Contribute to the reporting of the project to the European Research Council
  • Organize events at the host department.
  • Contribute to the virtual dissemination of the project via its website and social media handles

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

Essential criteria 

  1. A Ph.D in Social Anthropology or related discipline
  2. Extensive experience and training in ethnographic methods
  3. Knowledge and experience of digital methods
  4. Expertise in one or more of the following areas: medical anthropology, digital anthropology, anthropology of sport, public health
  5. Publications in peer-reviewed journals
  6. Evidence of public engagement
  7. Capacity to work independently and with others
  8. Capacity to take responsibility for administrative tasks
  9. Excellent command of spoken and written English

Desirable criteria 

  1. Previous experience on collaborative research projects
  2. Publication of a research monograph
  3. Receipt of prizes, fellowships and awards

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.

To apply please include a cover letter, a CV with the names of two referees, and a writing sample of less than 10,000 words

Interviews will take place in-person or online in June 2021.  

Company

King's College London is one of the top 20 universities in the world and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 27,600 students (of whom nearly 10,500 are graduate students) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 6,800 staff.

King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) King’s was ranked 6th nationally in the ‘power’ ranking, which takes into account both the quality and quantity of research activity, and 7th for quality according to Times Higher Education rankings. Eighty-four per cent of research at King’s was deemed ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*). The university is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of more than £684 million.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org.

King’s £600 million campaign, World questions|KING’s answers, has delivered huge global impact in areas where King’s has particular expertise. Philanthropic support has funded new research to save young lives at Evelina London Children’s Hospital; established the King’s Dickson Poon School of Law as a worldwide leader in transnational law; built a new Cancer Centre at Guy’s Hospital; allowed unique collaboration between leading neuroscientists to fast-track new treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, motor neurone disease, depression and schizophrenia at the new Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute; created the Cicely Saunders Institute: the first academic institution in the world dedicated to palliative care, and supported the King’s Sierra Leone Partnership in the Ebola crisis. Donations provide over 300 of the most promising students with scholarships and bursaries each year. More information about the campaign is available at www.kcl.ac.uk/kingsanswers.

Company info
Mini-site
KINGS COLLEGE LONDON
Telephone
+(44)02078365454
Location
STRAND
LONDON
WC2R 2LS
GB

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