Postdoctoral Research Associate in Visual and Material Medical Humanities
- Durham University
- Full Time
- Durham
- £38,249 - £45,413 per annum
Job Description
Working at Durham University
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The Institute for Medical Humanities and the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities
The Institute for Medical Humanities seeks to appoint talented researchers and scholars to the role of Postdoctoral Research Associate to work with the Visual and Material Lab as part of the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities. We welcome applications from those with research interests in the broad field of visual and material medical humanities.
These posts are part of an exciting expansion of medical humanities at Durham funded by Wellcome. The Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities (DRP-MH) aims to empower health and wellbeing researchers from different sectors and disciplines to co-develop new and experimental approaches to tackling health challenges. The Platform seeks to expand the research capacity of the medical humanities globally through creating space for experimentation and intellectual risk-taking and enabling large-scale collaborations with community, creative, health and voluntary sector organisations. Platform researchers come from a wide range of disciplines including Literary Studies, Psychology, Modern Languages and Cultures, Philosophy, History, Sport and Exercise Science, Education and Sociology. The DRP-MH supports the Institute's vision to improve human health through research on hidden experience.
The Visual and Material Lab
e.recruitment@durham.ac.ukThe Visual and Material Lab looks to the new research questions, innovative methodological approaches and alternative perspectives on human health that are generated when visual and material culture is taken seriously as a starting point.
Extending the visual turn taken by medical humanities in the last decade, the Lab aims to build critical mass in an emerging field; identify, experiment with, assess and document the new research methods raised by foregrounding visual and material approaches; and develop a strategic and sustainable vision for future research and practice in the visual and material medical humanities.
We understand visual and material to refer to both artefacts (including but not limited to images, objects and artworks) and practices (for example, techniques for rendering information or experience in visual form), rather than to a specific set of disciplinary methods. While the Lab's current focus is contemporary art practice as a medical humanities research method, we are keen to expand the remit of the lab beyond art history and art practice, and to engage with visually and materially orientated research methods from a diverse range of disciplines.
Applications are invited for two Postdoctoral Research Associates in Visual and Material Medical Humanities.
The post holder will be responsible for a) designing and conducting an original programme of individual research that aligns with the aims and objectives of the Visual and Material Lab and b) working with the Lab leader and other members of the Lab team to devise and deliver activities and outputs that extend the profile of visual and material methods in relation to medical humanities research.
We welcome applications from researchers in a range of disciplines, including, but not limited to art and creative practice-based research; art history and visual and material culture; film and media studies; visual and material history; visual anthropology and other social science disciplines with a focus on visual and material media and methods. We would be particularly interested in hearing from applicants working on race and/or neurodiversity, and applicants whose research engages contexts beyond English-speaking cultures and/or the global North.
Post-holders will be expected to contribute to Lab activities which may include but are not limited to: regular participation in Lab meetings, workshops and other events; collaboration in methodological innovation with interdisciplinary and cross-sector partners through a range of modalities; the design and delivery of pilot and proof-of-concept studies; and taking shared responsibility for sustaining a flourishing research culture in the Lab and Platform more broadly. Post holders will also be expected and supported to collaborate with other Labs, Sites, and Researchers across the Platform. Regular participation (in-person as well as virtual) at Site, Lab and Platform activities, as agreed with the Line Manager is essential.
These roles offer an exciting opportunity to make an important contribution to the development of research and methodological innovation within the Platform, while allowing excellent opportunities for career development in an exciting and progressive institution. Working day-to-day in the IMH and the Platform, you will also be based in a suitable academic Department, such as the School of Modern Languages and Cultures or Department of History in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities; the Departments of Archaeology, Anthropology, or Sociology in the Faculty of Social Science.
All staff employed in the Platform have dedicated time for professional development and can access a wealth of existing and bespoke training opportunities in consultation with Lab Leads.
For more information, please visit our Institute and Platform pages at https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/medical-humanities/
https://medhumsplatform.org/labs/visual-and-material/
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Visual and Material Medical Humanities
Applicants must demonstrate research excellence in the broad field of visual and material medical humanities, whilst fully engaging in the services, citizenship and values of the Platform, Institute, and 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.
Key responsibilities:
- To plan and carry out a programme of individual and collaborative research activity under the direction of the Lab Lead.
- To work with the Lab Lead and other colleagues in the research group, as appropriate, to identify new areas for research, develop innovative research methods and extend the research portfolio.
- To assist with the development of research objectives and proposals.
- To produce high quality outputs, including papers for submission to peer reviewed journals and papers for presentation at conferences and workshops under the direction of the Lab Lead. Outputs might also include (for example) digital and visual media, exhibitions and performances.
- To prepare and deliver presentations on research outputs/activities to audiences which may include: research sponsors, academic and non-academic audiences.
- To deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines by discussing with the Lab Lead and offering creative or innovative solutions.
- To liaise with research colleagues and make internal and external contacts to develop knowledge and understanding to form relationships for future research collaboration. ...
