Post-Doctoral Research Associate

The Department of English and Related Literature is one of the strongest English Departments in the UK for research.

We are seeking a Postdoctoral researcher to assist in the AHRC-DFG funded project, ‘Scientific Poetry and Poetics in Britain and Germany, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment (1580-1750)’.

The project explores natural philosophical poetry from the period, with the aim of bringing unknown texts to light and showing how poetic writing was central to the practice and communication of scientific knowledge. We are interested in how poetry interacted with other fields - theological, medical, philosophical - and also how the structure, forms and vocabularies of poetry and poetics contributed to ‘scientific’ thought (broadly imagined) in early modern Britain.

The umbrella project is an Anglo-German collaboration involving Cassie Gorman (Anglia Ruskin University), Kevin Killeen (University of York), Florian Klaeger (Bayreuth University) and Hania Siebenpfeiffer (Marburg University).

The role:

You will be working with Prof Kevin Killeen at the University of York to support workstream 1 of the project, ‘Natural philosophy in early modern poetics and poetry’. As part of the post, you will work on an extensive anthology of early modern and early enlightenment ‘scientific poetry’. Toward this, we will explore the parameters of natural philosophy in early modern verse and you will help to discover, to annotate and to write about a rich corpus of renaissance-enlightenment texts, and to theorise the connections between them.

Working with the PI and other members of the project, you will be tasked with seeking out and assessing examples of verse that engage knowingly and creatively with natural philosophical ideas. The anthology-volume will include substantial attention to the works of women poets, craftsmen and craftswomen, as well as philosophical knowledge in technical writing and in neo-Latin and German or other European poetry and you will be required to contextualise and annotate these texts.

You will help to maintain the project website, including blogging, and samples of the project’s editorial work. You will help to organise and attend project events, including symposia, conferences and regular group meetings. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the project, we do not expect the successful candidate to have experience in all parts of the work. An ability to work within a group as well as independently is essential.

About you:

• You will have a PhD in a related topic, such as early modern or early enlightenment literature, history or textual studies.
• It will be advantageous, if you can show a good grasp of one or more of the project areas: e.g., early modern intellectual culture, emergent scientific, theological and literary ideas, early modern poetry; working with archives historical texts; editing, annotating and close-reading literary works, good Latin and/or German.
• You will need to be well-organised, to coordinate conferences, symposia or seminars and experience of team-organised events would be helpful.

The appointment is for 22 months.

Interview date: to be confirmed

For informal enquiries: Contact Kevin Killeen at kevin.killeen@york.ac.uk

The University strives to be diverse and inclusive – a place where we can ALL be ourselves.

We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background, who are underrepresented at the University.

We offer family friendly, flexible working arrangements, with forums and inclusive facilities to support our staff. #EqualityatYork

Advert information