Durham Law School

Grade 7: - £34,304.00 - £40,927.00
Fixed Term - Full Time
Contract Duration: 18 months
Contracted Hours per Week: 28
Closing Date: 07-Jun-2022, 6:59:00 AM

Department: Durham Law School
Responsible to: Dean
Grade: Grade 7
Salary Range: £34,304.00 - £40,927.00 Pro Rata
Working arrangements: The role is for 28 hours per week, but we will consider requests for flexible working arrangements including potential job shares Fixed Term Role for 18 months
Preferred start date: Successful candidates will ideally be in post by 1 October 2022.

Durham University

A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other.

We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things in the world.

As part of Durham University, you’ll be working with exceptional minds, all with the desire to ask, and answer, the big questions. Access to leading edge facilities and an active contributor to the global research and university community means you’ll be part of an international and diverse network of partners spanning the world’s best research institutions, organisations and businesses. And all this within the evocative and historic surroundings of the city, county and community that is Durham.

We find it easy to be proud of the extraordinary people we have at Durham. We offer the inspiration, they achieve the outstanding. We invite you to join them.

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.

Durham University’s Athena Swan institutional award recognises and celebrates good practice in recruiting and supporting the development of women. We have also signed up to the Race Equality Charter, a national framework for improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students within higher education.

The School

Durham Law School is a leading law school. Consistently ranked in the Top 10 nationally and Top 50 globally, it has been growing strongly over the past few years and now comprises a community of over 100 academics and professional support staff. Durham Law School fosters innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to legal research and wishes to attract scholars with strong backgrounds in these areas. The Law School provides a supportive environment for its community of academics, which comprises a very generous sabbatical policy and an infrastructure of high-profile research centres that brings together colleagues for collaborative projects. The School is housed in the iconic Palatine Centre overlooking Durham Cathedral in the heart of  the city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is located on the main East Coast trainline connecting to London and Edinburgh and also within convenient reach of Newcastle Airport. The School has an extensive network of leading international partner institutions and close ties with the City of London and the Inns of Court. It counts among its alumni two Supreme Court Justices.

Our top-ranked global law courses are very competitive with an excellent and diverse student population from across the world delivering a cutting-edge, research-led curriculum with a commitment to small group teaching through seminars and tutorials much prized by employers.

Our School’s strategic objectives put EDI at the heart of everything that we do. We are committed to Equality Diversity and Inclusion and actively develop our policies and procedures to ensure that everyone within our community is treated fairly and is provided with the same opportunities. This applies to our everyday working in teaching, research and administration, including academic progression and promotion processes. Our Law School is currently in the process of applying for our Athena Swan Bronze award.

Lecturers (Fixed term) at Durham

The University is committed to enabling all of our colleagues to achieve their full potential. We promote and maintain an inclusive and supportive environment to ensure that all colleagues can thrive.

The role of a fixed term Lecturer at Durham provides the opportunity to deliver outstanding education and research within an inclusive and supportive environment that is staffed by world class colleagues. Lecturers will be supported to develop their academic careers by training and financial support in research and education, guided by a designated mentor.

In addition to joining Durham Law School the lecturer will also be a part of the interdisciplinary Durham Global Security Institute, and will benefit from the thriving research community focused on questions of global security and peacemaking.

The primary focus of this role is on research and teaching but there will also be the opportunity to engage in wider citizenship within the University and beyond.

This role of Lecturer is for a fixed term of 18months to provide cover until March 2024. It is not anticipated that this period would be extended beyond the initial fixed term.

Lectureship in Public International Law (Peace and Security)

This is a thematically focused lectureship in the field of international peace and security. This is broadly defined but must include expertise in the relevant frameworks relative to the UN System; collective security; international intervention; the laws of war and/or post conflict justice. Applicants must be willing to contribute to teaching in both Durham Law School and Durham Global Security Institute.

Applicants must demonstrate research excellence in the field of International Law of peace and security with the ability to teach our students to an exceptional standard and to fully engage in the services, citizenship and values of the University. The University provides a working 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.

The University provides a working 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.

Key responsibilities:

• Pursue research that is, or has the potential to be, world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour;
• Undertake teaching and research supervision, and contribute to ongoing curriculum development;
• Contribute to the citizenship and values of the Department;
• Teach on international law modules at both LLB and LLM level, as well as interdisciplinary modules at the MSc level, demonstrating an increasing awareness of different approaches to and methods of teaching and supporting student learning;
• Demonstrate the ability to manage own teaching and designing, planning and writing teaching materials;
• Provide planning and teaching and possibly contribute to a module led by others by collaborating with colleagues on course development;
• Collaborate in developing and delivering an inclusive curriculum and make an active contribution to an inclusive community in which diversity is embraced and celebrated;
• Supervise undergraduate student(s);
• Build internal contacts and participate in networks to exchange information;
• Start to engage in scholarship (the creation, development and maintenance of the intellectual infrastructure of subjects and disciplines) e.g. develop online teaching resources;
• In addition to Board of Studies, possible membership of a departmental committee and professional body memberships;
• Student support, assessment of academic performance and provision of feedback, dealing with student disciplinary matters and complaints;
• Undertake effectively and efficiently any administrative role allocated by your Head of Department.
• To contribute to fostering a collegial and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.
• To engage in wider citizenship to support the department and wider discipline.
• To engage in continuing professional development by attending relevant training and development courses.   
• To fully engage in and enhance the values of the School and University;
• To carry out such other duties as specified by the Dean.

Person Specification

Candidates will normally 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 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.

Essential Research Criteria – Grade 7

1. Qualifications - a good first degree and a PhD in Law or a related subject (which may be completed or under examination).
2. Outputs - experience, skills and/or achievements which demonstrate experience of or the potential to produce high quality outputs, some of which is recognised as world-class. Candidates are asked to submit [two] research papers with their application (as outlined in the How to Apply section below).  Candidates may additionally choose to submit evidence such as external peer review of their outputs.
3. Personal Research Plan - evidence of a personal research plan which supports and enhances the Law School’s research strategy.

Teaching

Candidates must demonstrate the development and delivery of high quality teaching that contributes to providing a world class learning environment and curricula which enables students to achieve their potential.

Essential Teaching Criteria – Grade 7

1. Qualification - candidates must have the ability to attain the rank of Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/individuals/fellowship/fellow), which is the national body that champions teaching excellence.
2. Quality - experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate experience of or the potential to deliver high quality teaching.
3. Innovation – experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate experience of or the potential to innovate in the design and delivery of high quality teaching or assessment of learning including lectures, small group learning and/or using technology or other techniques to enhance learning and/or assessment. 
4. Strategic - Experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate experience of or the potential to engage in the design of excellent teaching programmes which are research informed and led. 

Services, Citizenship and Values

Candidates must actively engage in the administrative requirements of the School and positively contribute to fostering a collegial environment; as well as demonstrating their commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Essential Services, Citizenship and Values criteria – Grade 7

1. Collegial contribution – experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate experience of or the potential to participate in the collegial/administrative activities or an academic Department, Faculty or University.  (Candidates may choose to evidence departmental or University roles, mentoring activity, engagement with widening participation, involvement in equality and diversity initiatives and membership or engagement with external bodies).

Communication - 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.

Contact Information

Department contact for academic-related enquiries

Dr Catherine Turner, Associate Professor, Durham Law School

(Catherine.turner@durham.ac.uk)

Contact information for technical difficulties when submitting your application

If you encounter technical difficulties when using the online application form, we prefer you send enquiries by email. Please send your name along with a brief description of the problem you’re experiencing to academic.recruitment@durham.ac.uk

Alternatively, you may call 0191 334 6801 from the UK, or +44 191 334 6801 from outside the UK. This number operates during the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 Monday to Friday, UK time. We will normally respond within one working day (Monday to Friday, excluding UK public holidays).

University contact for general queries about the recruitment process

e.recruitment@durham.ac.uk

How to Apply

We prefer to receive applications online.

As a University we foster a collegiate community of extraordinary people aligned to the University’s values. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) are a key part of the University’s Strategy and a central part of everything we do. At Durham we actively work towards providing an environment where our staff and students can study, work and live in a community which is supportive and inclusive, and in doing so, recruit the world’s best candidates from all backgrounds and identities. It’s important to us that all of our colleagues are aligned to both our values and commitment to EDI. We therefore ask that as part of your application you provide a statement (of no more than 1 side of A4) which outlines work which you have been involved in which demonstrates your commitment to EDI and our values.

Please note that in submitting your application, we will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.dur.ac.uk/ig/dp/privacy/pnjobapplicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.

Information if you have a disability

The University welcomes applications from disabled people. We are committed to ensuring fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. We will make adjustments to support the interview process wherever it is reasonable to do so and, where successful, adjustments will be made to support people within their role.

If you are unable to complete your application via our recruitment system, please get in touch with us on e.recruitment@durham.ac.uk.

What to Submit

All applicants are asked to submit:

1. A CV
2. A covering letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out above;
3. A personal research plan.
4. An EDI & values statement
5. Two of your most significant pieces of written work, all of which published or submitted since 2014.

Your work should be uploaded as PDFs as part of your application in our recruitment system. Please ensure that your PDFs are not larger than 1mb. Please note that your work may be read by colleagues from across the Department and evaluated against the current REF criteria;

Please save all application documents with your name and document type as PDF files.

We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails.

Referees

You should provide details of 3 academic 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 references during the application process.  Academic referees should not (if possible) include your PhD supervisor(s) and a majority should be from a University other than your own (save for early career applicants applying for their first post). We would ask that you alert your academic referees to this application as soon as possible, and provide them with a copy of the CV you submit with your application, so that we can quickly obtain references should you be progressed to the interview stage. As part of your application you will be asked whether you give your consent to your academic references being sought should you be invited to attend interview.
• Academic references sought for short-listed candidates may be made available to the panel during the interview 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; our usual practice is for colleagues across the Department to read the submitted work of long-listed candidates.

Short-listed candidates will be invited to attend an interview.  The assessment for the post will normally include a presentation to staff and students in the School followed by an interview and we anticipate that the assessments and interviews will take place in or around July 2022

In the event that you are unable to attend on the date offered, it may not be possible to offer you an interview on an alternative date.

About Durham University

As one of the UK’s leading universities, Durham is an incredible place to define your career while enjoying a high quality work/life balance. 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. 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 provision and the University’s Relocation Manager can assist with potential schooling requirements.

If you’d like to find out more about the University or relocating you and your family to Durham, please visit https://www.dur.ac.uk/jobs/recruitment/

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.