Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

Full time (x 6 Positions available)
Fixed term contract for 4 years (with the possibility of a 6 month extension)

Grade 7: £37,099 - £44,263 p.a or
Grade 8: £45,585 - £54,395 p.a

The closing date for applications is midnight on Sunday 06 October 2024.
Interviews are expected to take place the week commencing Monday 28 October 2024.

Start date will be Monday 03 March 2025 or by mutual agreement.

There is an expectation that work will be undertaken in the UK.

This is a postdoctoral role and may be eligible for sponsorship depending on candidate circumstances under SOC code 2119.

Context: The Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory

The Leverhulme International Professorship grant supports the establishment of a new Centre for the Sciences of Place and Memory at the University of Stirling. The Centre’s researchers will address pressing questions about how people locate and orient themselves in space and time. Anchored in philosophy and housed in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the Centre draws heavily on cognitive sciences, social sciences, and the arts to break new ground in the study of spatial thinking, disorientation, and remembering the past. It connects advances in the cognitive neurosciences of space and memory with contemporary practical concerns about memory, emotion, and place. Centre researchers deploy diverse methods, integrating conceptual, experimental, and ethnographic approaches to implement intense interdisciplinary collaboration. The mission is to advance knowledge of dynamic relations between place and memory at multiple timescales and levels and how people navigate together in space and time.

The Post

We seek to appoint six outstanding researchers to help form the Centre’s interdisciplinary team. We expect to appoint a combination of recent PhD graduates and more experienced postdoctoral researchers. Appointment at Grade 8 will reflect an outstanding record of high quality research in relevant fields, and potential capacity to lead one of the Centre’s six workstreams (listed below – see further information for details). Applicants should indicate whether they wish to be considered at Grade 7, Grade 8, or both.

The areas of specialization are open but must relate directly to the Centre’s focus on place and memory. The successful applicants will have a PhD and an established track record in one or more fields relevant to the study of place and memory. We expect to appoint a diverse group of researchers with a range of distinctive backgrounds to form a strongly collaborative interdisciplinary team. Possible areas of research background include (but are not limited to) philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, geography, anthropology, archaeology, sociology, urban policy and design, architecture, environmental studies, indigenous studies, public health, migration studies, international development, history, heritage, literature, museum studies, memory studies, politics, design, art history and theory, practice-based creative research, human-computer interaction, gaming and new media, and science studies. Applicants should indicate in their cover letter how their research experience and skill set relates to studies of place and memory, and (where possible) to specific workstreams as listed below.

The successful applicants will report to the Centre Director. Individually and collaboratively they will conduct research and develop projects and grant applications to complement the Centre’s work and implement its mission, and will mentor and supervise as appropriate PhD students. Most of the appointees will work primarily on one of the Centre’s six workstreams (listed below), while also contributing to other workstreams and all Centre research activities. Applications from researchers with active interests in indigenous knowledge and cross-cultural practices of remembering and place-making are particularly welcome. We are keen to support applications from those who are underrepresented in traditional academic disciplines and structures. We will provide mentoring and opportunities and pathways for career development within these research-intensive roles.

The Centre’s research on place and memory is driven by attention to specific topics or domains, not restricted to any one tradition or discipline. Focus is given and maintained through six workstreams, designed as vertical slices through disparate disciplines, integrating philosophy, cognitive science, social sciences, and the arts.

Workstream #1. Memory, truth, and the past
Workstream #2. Place memory and place knowledge
Workstream #3. Collaborative wayfinding
Workstream #4. Technologies of navigation and memory
Workstream #5. Disorientation and difficult places
Workstream #6. Cognitive ecologies of the city

Please refer to the additional information available on the University website for more details on these workstreams. Informal enquires may be made to Professor John Sutton at [email protected]