Durham Energy Institute (DEI) is seeking to appoint up to four Assistant Professors in Social Anthropology. Applicants must demonstrate research excellence in the field of Social Anthropology, with the ability to teach students to an exceptional standard and to fully engage in the services, citizenship and values of the University. The University provides a working 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.
The DEI is open to outstanding applications in any area of Social Anthropology. The Anthropology department (in which the DEI is based) has particular research strengths in energy and environment; expertise and knowledge; aesthetics and material culture; medicine and health; and political anthropology. The DEI is looking to appoint candidates who will complement or synergise with departmental research in these areas.
The appointments are also open to any regional specialisms. The DEI particularly welcomes applicants with regional specialisms in the Anthropology of China to help build teaching, research and postgraduate supervision in this area.
Candidates will be expected to contribute to team-taught core social anthropology modules at level one and two, where the focus is on politics, economics, kinship, religion, the anthropology of health and ethnographic methods. It is expected that successful applicants will be able to contribute strongly to at least two of these areas.
Post-holders will be expected to deliver an advanced Level 3 module on a specialist topic in social anthropology, relating to their own research; they will supervise both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations and contribute to Social Anthropology teaching at Master’s level. Successful candidates will be asked to undertake additional duties around teaching, learning and student recruitment within the Department as required. Appointed candidates may also be asked to teach on undergraduate field-courses, though this is not a requirement.
The Anthropology Department at Durham University has an outstanding international reputation for teaching, research and student employability; it is one of the largest Anthropology Departments in the UK, with nearly 40 permanent academic staff working across social, evolutionary and health anthropology.
The Department of Anthropology has a vibrant research culture with many visitors, seminars, global conferences and workshops. The department aims to foster an intellectually inclusive environment, fostering the academic freedom and confidence to work at both the core and boundaries of anthropology in exciting and innovative ways. Durham Anthropology was the top-ranked integrated Anthropology department in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014); fifth in the UK for overall GPA (Times Higher Education); first equal for world-leading and internationally-excellent Impact and Research Environment, and second equal for world- leading publications.