Career Development Fellowships in Public Law

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Career Development Fellowships

The University is committed to enabling all our colleagues to achieve their full potential. Durham University's Career Development Fellowships are fixed term positions, which include structured development support for early career academics to deliver outstanding education, innovative research/scholarship, and to engage in citizenship activities. The post-holder will be a full academic member of the Department, working alongside world-class colleagues, with the support of a designated mentor.

Career Development Fellows will benefit from tailored support to strengthen their skills, will be provided with a range of academic opportunities, and will benefit from protected time to foster different aspects of their career. The Career Development Fellowships will enable early career academics to acquire a strong and well-rounded foundation to support future applications for substantive academic roles at Durham or elsewhere (no guarantee can be given that a permanent role at Durham will be available for the CDF to apply for at the end of the Fellowship).

The Department

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 or potential 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 mainline 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 former Justices of the UK Supreme Court.

Our top-ranked global law courses are highly competitive and undertaken by an excellent and diverse student population from across the world. Durham Law School delivers 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 are centred around Equality Diversity and Inclusion. We are committed to EDI 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.

The Law School at Durham University seeks to appoint a talented individual to the fixed term Career Development Fellowship. We welcome applications from those with research and teaching interests in the broad field of Public LawPublic Law (the successful candidate will teach on UK Constitutional Law and/or the Individual and the State, both of which are compulsory first year modules on the Law School's LLB programme, and there may be opportunity to undertake teaching on optional modules in the public law sphere.

This post offers an exciting opportunity to develop internationally excellent research/scholarship and teaching while providing unrivalled, tailored support for your career progression at an exciting and progressive institution. For more information, please visit our Department pages at https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/law/

Given the developmental nature of this role, the post will not typically be extended beyond the agreed fixed term duration to allow others the opportunity of a CDF post and the career development that it provides. Therefore, current role-holders who are undertaking/have completed a Career Development Fellowship role are not eligible to apply for a further Career Development Fellowship role should one become available. Following the end of the term, the role-holder will be in a strong position to apply for relevant permanent academic roles, should they arise, at Durham or elsewhere.

Successful applicants are normally expected to be within 8 years of completing their PhD, although career breaks for parental leave and/or health reasons will be considered. This is because the roles are aimed at early career academics who would benefit from a structured development programme and provision of both formal and 'on the job' training. The posts are also open to those who are returning to academia after a career in another sector.

Successful applicants will, ideally be in post by 1st September 2026

The University provides 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 principles as part of the assessment process.

Key responsibilities:

It should be noted that the precise content of each Career Development Fellowship will vary dependent on the experience of the role-holder, their career aspirations, and the business need of the Department.

At the outset of the Fellowship a personal development plan will be produced in discussion with the Dean of the Law School and allocated mentor, which will identify any required training needs or support, or other experience the post-holder wishes to gain to develop their academic career.

The development plan is a tool to assist the post-holder's academic career progression and will be reviewed regularly during the Fellowship to ensure that development needs are being met.

During the course of the Career Development Fellowship the successful candidate will gain valuable experience in a wide spectrum of academic activities. Examples include:

Development

• Membership of Departmental committees and appropriate professional body.
• Contribute to a collegial and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.
• Engage in citizenship to support the department and wider discipline.
• Engage in continuing professional development by attending relevant training and development courses, as detailed in the personal development plan. Opportunities could include:

• Research Project Leadership

• Supported progression towards Higher Education Academy (HEA) membership

• Leadership in Learning and Teaching course

Education

• Delivery of teaching modules at undergraduate/postgraduate levels, developing an awareness of different approaches to and methods of teaching and supporting student learning.

• Development of the ability to manage own teaching and designing, planning and writing of engaging and innovative teaching materials.

• Development and delivery of an inclusive curriculum and making an active contribution to an inclusive ...