Snr Research Fellow with Digital Skills for Historical Research

About us

SELCS-CMII is a world-leading centre for teaching, research and public engagement, focusing on the literature, linguistic traditions, history, sociology, philosophy, art, film and other aspects of the cultures associated with the languages we teach (Danish, Dutch, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Old Norse, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish). ‘Connecting Histories, Connecting Heritage: Early Modern Cities and Their Afterlives’ (CHCH), is a research project funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of its Future Leaders Fellowship scheme and led by Dr Christina M. Anderson (PI). CHCH will redefine transnational urban heritage through investigating how the materiality of early modern cities was created through the exchanges happening in all the places to which they were connected. It will also offer a framework for seeing ourselves as global citizens through the historical connections to other places embedde d in the urban landscapes of the cities we call ‘home’. A range of public-facing digital outputs, including a database of archival documents, interactive maps and a virtual reality sequence, will be created with 16th-century Antwerp as the principal case study.

About the role

The Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Sr PRF) will be responsible for designing and creating, in collaboration with the PI and the project’s Research Software Engineer (RSE), the database that will support the project’s digital outputs. They will also carry out some archival research and work with the project team to populate the database and produce the outputs from the database and the project more generally. The successful candidate will already have postdoctoral experience of working with digital mapping and relational databases. Working closely with the RSE and PI, the Sr PRF will also contribute to the design of the project website. This is a full-time, fixe d-term appointment for 30 months. This role meets the eligibility requirements for a skilled worker certificate of sponsorship under UK Visas and Immigration legislation. Therefore, UCL welcomes applications from international applicants who require a visa.

About you

The successful candidate will have a PhD in historical geography, early modern history, architectural history, digital humanities, urban history, heritage, or a related field. They will have experience of working with relational databases and interactive digital mapping (GIS, etc.) and a demonstrable understanding of current debates in early modern transnational history and material culture, urban heritage and/or historical geography. They will also have the ability to translate well from at least one of the main project languages (Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch) into English. With documents in several different languages, all team members will be required to contribute to the linguistic needs of the p roject in some way. If you cannot meet this specification, please describe how else you might contribute to the summarising and translation of the archival documents into English. In addition, they will have the ability to carry out archival and/or picture and map research and travel to do so, if requested. Experience of data visualisation and mapping for the web, e.g., with Javascript libraries like Leaflet, D3, etc., is a bonus. For the full person specification, please see the attached job description.

What we offer

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer great benefits. Please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/rewards-and-benefits to find out more.

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