Department of Anthropology

Grade 7: - £33,797 - £36,914 per annum
Fixed Term - Full Time
Contract Duration: 24 months
Contracted Hours per Week: 35
Closing Date: 04-Sep-2021, 6:59:00 AM

Durham University

Durham University is one of the world's top universities with strengths across the Arts and Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences. We are home to some of the most talented scholars and researchers from around the world who are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives.

The University sits in a beautiful historic city where it shares ownership of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral, the greatest Romanesque building in Western Europe. A collegiate University, Durham recruits outstanding students from across the world and offers an unmatched wider student experience.

Less than 3 hours north of London, and an hour and a half south of Edinburgh, County Durham is a region steeped in history and natural beauty. The Durham Dales, including the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, are home to breathtaking scenery and attractions. Durham offers an excellent choice of city, suburban and rural residential locations. The University provides a range of benefits including pension and childcare benefits and the University’s Relocation Manager can assist with potential schooling requirements.

Durham University seeks to promote and maintain an inclusive and supportive environment for work and study that assists all members of our University community to reach their full potential. Diversity brings strength and we welcome applications from across the international, national and regional communities that we work with and serve.

Institute for Medical Humanities

Durham University’s Institute for Medical Humanities was formed in 2000 and has played a leading role in developing the critical medical humanities nationally and internationally. In 2018 the then Centre for Medical Humanities relaunched as the UK’s first Institute for Medical Humanities with significant funding from the Wellcome Trust. Additional significant funding obtained in October 2020 has enabled us to make further investments in new staff to take forward our vision to improve human health through research on hidden experiences. Hidden experience includes that which is difficult to explain and understand for the individual themselves; that hidden through shame and stigma from wider society; that which medical science lacks the technologies to reveal; and also experience that takes place within spaces, such as dreams or the imagination, which are hard to reach. IMH has a significant role in national leadership in the field as Co-Chair of the Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research and we recently hosted the largest ever online gathering of international medical humanities scholars (1300 registered) at the NNMHR Congress. IMH has an international reputation and working research relationships with the Universities of Linköping, Uppsala, Groningen and the University of California, Santa Barbara.  

Research within the IMH has included two major Wellcome-funded projects: Hearing the Voice and Life of Breath. These projects have led to three Impact Case Studies in the current REF. In relation to individual and community mental health and wellbeing, we have significant involvement in the UK What Works Centre for Wellbeing (Homepage - What Works Wellbeing), part of the What Works Network to improve the way government and other organisations create, share and use high-quality evidence for decision-making. Current and developing work involves projects on dreams and liminal cognition, neurodiversity, sensory issues such as deafness and touch, marginalised drug user communities, menopause and adolescent anxiety.

In our pursuit of research excellence within the critical medical humanities, IMH is committed to a caring, creative and collaborative research culture in which everyone feels valued and supported. We have a 10-year plan to diversify our staff base and we specifically welcome applications from black and ethnic minority candidates.

For more information visit the Institute web pages at www.durham.ac.uk/imh

The Role

The Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University seeks to appoint an outstanding early career researcher specialising in the interdisciplinary study of anxiety to the fixed-term role of Assistant Professor (Research). Applications are invited from scholars of any social science or humanities discipline who have experience or are willing to engage in empirical qualitative research on anxiety or closely related topics. For example, the candidate may wish to explore the phenomenology of anxiety; examine the apparent rise in prevalence of anxiety amongst younger people; study specific conditions for which anxiety is a key symptom, such as agoraphobia; investigate the co-occurence of anxiety with chronic health conditions; or explore the social, political-economic, educational and cultural contexts that may be facilitating the experience of anxiety in the 21st century.

The Assistant Professor (Research) will develop their own independent research in the field, connecting with two of IMH’s key research strands: Everyday Environments, which explores situated experience of health in terms of time, space and social context; and Fringe Cognition, which investigates phenomena at the periphery of everyday cognitive life, including experiences of the imagination and dreams. The project will also connect with Wellcome’s key challenge area of mental health, and should involve an intention to work with people who have lived experience. 

The successful candidate will join the Institute’s vibrant interdisciplinary community as well as the wider University and IMH networks including the Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research and the Wellcome HSS Centres group. Thanks to our financial support from Wellcome, additional funding is available for travel and research costs.

The successful applicant must be in post by 1 January 2022, ideally sooner.

Key Responsibilities

• Pursue research that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour, commensurate with the IMH’s continuing emphasis on international excellence;
• To be developing clear plans for the pursuit of suitable national and international funding opportunities to support research and end-user engagement;
• Contribute to enhancing the quality of the research environment of the IMH, the wider University and beyond through collaborative research activity, promoting the IMH’s profile in the wider scholarly community;
• Assist, as appropriate, the IMH’s work of engagement and impact with non-academic bodies;
• Demonstrate a willingness to take contribute to the administrative work, citizenship and values of the Department;
• To fully engage in and enhance the values of the IMH;
• Carry out such other duties as specified by the Institute Director.

How to Apply

For informal enquiries please contact IMH Director Prof Jane Macnaughton on jane.macnaughton@durham.ac.uk. All enquiries will be treated in the strictest confidence.

We prefer to receive applications online via the Durham University Vacancies Site. https://www.dur.ac.uk/jobs/

Applications are particularly welcome from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in the University. We are committed to equality: if for any reason you have taken a career break or periods of leave that may have impacted on your career path, such as maternity, adoption or parental leave, you may wish to disclose this in your application. The selection committee will recognise that this may have reduced the quantity of your research accordingly.

When appointing to this role the University must ensure that it meets any applicable immigration requirements, including salary thresholds that are applicable to some visas.

What to Submit

All applicants are asked to submit:

• A CV and covering letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out above; 
• Copies of Two significant pieces of research-focused work with which you have been involved with and an explanation of your input. At least one of these should be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Please note that your work may be read by colleagues from across the University; and
• An ambitious personal research plan for the two years of the post which aligns with the IMH programmes of research and advances its vision. This plan must also clearly explain how you would engage people with personal or professional experience in your research (2 A4 pages max).

Referees

You should provide details of 3 academic/research referees and the details of your current line manager so that we may seek an employment reference (if they are not listed as an academic referee).

Please note:

• We shall seek the academic/research references during the application process.  Academic/research referees should not (if possible) include your PhD supervisor(s) and a majority should be from a University other than your own. We would ask that you alert your academic/research referees to this application as soon as possible so that we can quickly obtain references should you be progressed to the long list stage.  Please note that it is our usual practice to provide a copy of your CV to your referee. If you do not consent to us sending your CV to your referees or if you do not wish (some or all) of your referees to be approached during the recruitment process; you must clearly indicate this to us at the time of your application.
• Academic/research references sought for long-listed candidates may be made available to the panel during the shortlisting process.
• We will seek a reference from your current line manager if we make you an offer of employment (albeit you may have also nominated your line manager as an academic referee).  Please clearly indicate which referee is your current line manager and please let us know if we should only approach them once an offer has been made.

Next Steps

All applications will be considered.

Short-listed candidates will be invited to the University and will have the opportunity to meet with key members of the Department. The assessment for the post will include an interview and presentation and we anticipate that the assessments will take place in or around late August with interviews currently planned for mid September. 

The Requirements

Applicants must demonstrate research excellence in the interdisciplinary and empirical study of anxiety, or a closely related area, and a commitment to the aspirations of critically engaged medical humanities, with the ability to fully engage in the services, citizenship and values of the University.

The University provides a working, research and teaching environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate these key principles as part of the assessment process.

Candidates applying for a grade 7 post will have recently completed or be concluding their PhD and while they may have limited direct experience of the requirements for the post, they must outline their experience, skills and achievements to date which demonstrate that they meet or that they have the potential to achieve the essential criteria.

Research

Candidates must have the capacity for and be progressing towards the independent development of internationally excellent research that produces high-quality outcomes, including some work that is recognised as world class.

The essential research criteria for this post at Grade 7 are:

• A good first degree and a PhD in anthropology, social geography, philosophy or a related subject (which may be completed or under examination)
• Evidence of high-quality outputs, some of which have the potential to be (or are) world-class (Candidates are asked to submit [two] pieces of work as detailed below)
• An ambitious personal research plan which aligns with the IMH programmes of research and advances its vision.
• Experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate a willingness to engage with external research partners in research
• Experiences, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate experience of or willingness to conduct research with people with lived experience

The desirable research criteria for this post (for which candidates should provide evidence of some if not all criteria) at Grade 7 are:

• Experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate (experience of or) the potential to develop successful research project proposals
• Experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate an understanding of the needs and value of interdisciplinary working
• Experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate (experience of or) the potential to contribute to the leadership of research groups and the mentoring of early career researchers

Services, Citizenship and Values

This post is focused on research but candidates may be required to actively engage in the administrative requirements of the Institute, notably related to their research, and/or the research and research environment of the Institute.

Candidates must positively contribute to fostering a collegial environment; as well as demonstrating their commitment to equality diversity and inclusion.

The essential services, citizenship and values criteria for this role at Grade 7 are:

• Experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate (experience of or) the potential to participate in the collegial/administrative activities of IMH, including attendance at and contributions to The Atrium Research Group, involvement in conference and workshop organisation, and attendance at our ECR group
• Candidates must have excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to engage with a range of students and colleagues across a variety of forums.

The desirable services, citizenship and values criteria for this role at Grade 7 are:

• Experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate (experience of or) the potential to engage in the administrative functioning of the Institute 

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.