Assistant Professor (Research & Education)

Working at Durham University

A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a warm and friendly place to work, a unique and historic setting - Durham is a university like no other.

As one of the UK's leading universities, Durham is an incredible place to define your career. The University is located within a beautiful historic city, home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and surrounded by stunning countryside. Our talented scholars and researchers from around the world are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives.

We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things in the world. Being a part of Durham is about more than just the success of the University, it's also about contributing to the success of the city, county and community.

Our University Strategy is built on three pillars of research, education and wider student experience, but also on our keen sense of community and of inspiring others to achieve their potential.

Our Purpose and Values

We want our University to be a place where people can be free to be themselves, no matter what their identity or background. Together, we celebrate difference, value one another and are each responsible for creating an inclusive community that is respectful and fair for all.

Find out more about the benefits of working at the University and what it is like to live and work in the Durham area on our Why Join Us? - Information Page

Discover more about our total rewards and benefits package here .

The Department

The Department of Psychology is an internationally recognised centre of research excellence and interdisciplinarity across the breadth of psychological and behavioural science. The Department's research groupings reflect our major areas of activity: Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Science, and Quantitative Social Psychology. Each research group also leads a taught master's programme , extending our research strengths into the next generation. In addition, the Department houses several university research centres in neurodiversity and development, vision and visual cognition, learning and memory, and behavioural science underpinning our collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to large scale challenges. The department also has strong links with other centres and institutes across the University including the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing, the Institute of Advanced Study, the Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution Research Centre, the Biophysical Sciences Institute, and the Centre for Research into Inner Experience. There is a vibrant research culture with a departmental weekly research seminar series, regular training opportunities and a commitment to open science. We pride ourselves on being a collegiate and welcoming department, committed to success for all who work here. This is illustrated by our Athena Swan Silver Award received in 2013, renewed in 2017 and 2022. This award is recognition of our sustained, evidence-based progress in advancing gender equality and creating a more inclusive environment for staff and students.

The Department's broad approach to the discipline places it in an excellent position to take advantage of emerging opportunities and challenges and our collegiate approach allows staff to work across research areas to provide novel solutions to global problems. With recent multimillion investment in research and teaching infrastructure in recent years, the Department has outstanding research facilities. Our research facilities include extensive research labs including dedicated EEG, TMS, tDCS, fNIRS, eye tracking, virtual reality, and psychophysiology as well as excellent dedicated space for behavioural neuroscience. The department also has a large whole-body motion capture lab, a fully equipped molecular diagnostics lab, an echo-attenuated chamber, and a suite of observation labs. Our collegiate approach to research allows all members of staff access across our full range of research facilities, which are supported by award winning IT staff and mechanical technicians.

We offer prestigious undergraduate programmes including Psychology (C800) Psychological and Behavioural Science (C807), as well as a range of non-single honours programmes including diverse routes through Natural Sciences. Our undergraduate programmes are accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), the UK's professional body for psychology, ensuring that our students meet recognised standards and provides graduates with routes towards professional training and careers in psychology. Alongside our established portfolio, we are launching a BPS-accredited MSc Psychology (Conversion) programme in the coming year, and we plan to expand our provision through a range of online and blended master's degrees, while continuing to develop and strengthen our international partnerships.

We are committed to research-led and small group teaching and embrace active pedagogy. At Durham we strive to provide students with enhanced learning opportunities that enable them to achieve their maximum potential. Our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes regularly achieve high satisfaction with our diverse student population, and we are privileged to work with outstanding students who are attracted to Durham from across the globe.

This academic post offers an exciting opportunity to make a major contribution to the development of internationally excellent research and teaching while allowing you unrivalled opportunities to progress and embed your career in an exciting and progressive institution. For more information, please visit our Departmental pages at https://www.dur.ac.uk/psychology/

Assistant Professors at Durham

Assistant Professors on the Education and Research track are expected to focus on research and teaching. They are also expected to engage in wider citizenship to enhance their own development, support their department and discipline, and contribute to the wider student experience.

Academic colleagues are supported to publish excellent research with a focus on high quality outputs rather than quantity. We aim to support your research not only through, for example, resources to attend conferences, but also through a generous research leave policy, dedicated grant-writing support, and a designated mentor.

Durham University is also committed to ensuring outstanding teaching quality, stimulating learning environments, and innovative curricula for all our students. You will be supported to develop your teaching expertise and skills.

We are confident that our recruitment process allows us to attract and select the best talent to Durham. We, therefore, offer a reduced probation period of one year for our Assistant Professors and thereafter, subject to satisfactory performance, your position will be confirmed as permanent.

Applicants must demonstrate high quality research applying computational approaches, including machine learning and artificial intelligence, to address research questions in psychology and/or neuroscience. Applicants should complement and strengthen one or more of the Department's three research groups: Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Science, and Quantitative Social Psychology. This appointment reflects the Department's strategic commitment to expanding its expertise in computational and data-driven research, while enhancing opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and research innovation. Applicants must also demonstrate the ability to teach our students to an exceptional standard and to fully engage in the services, citizenship and values of the University.

We strive to provide a working and teaching environment that is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate these key values as part of the assessment process.

Key responsibilities:

• To pursue research that is high quality in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
• To develop clear plans for the pursuit of national and international funding opportunities to support research and end-user engagement.
• To play a role in relevant teaching and research supervision, and contribute to ongoing curriculum development, and support the design and delivery of high-quality online and blended learning programmes using digital pedagogies and technologies.
• Contribute to enhancing the quality of the research environment in the Department, the wider University and beyond through collaborative research activity.
• Demonstrate a willingness to contribute to the administrative work, citizenship and values of the Department.
• To deliver lectures, seminars and tutorials at undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels, as well as engaging in related activity such as assessment. ...