University of Kent seeks a post-doctoral Research Associate

The School of History,  whose research interests centre on the history of science and/or technology in the 19th and/or 20th centuries. In offering the Associateship, our aim is to facilitate the initial career trajectory of a young scholar making the often-difficult transition from doctoral student to postdoctoral researcher and university teacher. Applicants should therefore have been awarded their PhDs within the last two years, in other words no earlier than January 2008. Key Accountabilities / Primary Responsibilities The successful applicant will be a stellar early career researcher, with clear plans for publishing research already completed, and willing to play a full part in the research culture of the school as well as on wider national and international stages of conferences and symposia. S/he will be expected to collaborate with a permanent member of staff in framing and submitting a major grant for external funding, perhaps in collaboration with the museum sector, for example the National Maritime Museum or the Science Museum. The successful candidate will also undertake 3 hours teaching per week. It is likely that at least some of this teaching will be at Master’s level: for example, in the core module(s) for the successful MSc in “Science, Communication and Society” or in the projected MA in “History of Science, Technology, Environment and Medicine” (STEM) due to commence in September 2010. More widely, the School is keen to enhance the quality of its provision of training for history research postgraduates and therefore wishes to deploy some of the methodological/historiographical expertise of the successful applicant in that role. Such other duties, commensurate with the grading of the post that may be assigned by the Head of Department or their nominee. It should be noted that despite the official job title, the post is equivalent to what is more usually known as a Junior Research Fellowship. The expected start date of the post will be 1 September 2010. For further information see http://www.kent.ac.uk/jobs/ and search on job ref. HUM0114. For further information on the department, see http://www.kent.ac.uk/history/