Ad Astra Fellow - Assistant Professor in One Health

Applications are sought for an Ad Astra Fellow in ‘One Health’, to be based in the UCD School of History, Ireland's pre-eminent centre for historical teaching and research. The School is home to a diverse faculty of scholars with research strengths in medical history, medical humanities and environmental history. Based in History, the appointee will collaborate with the School of English, Drama, and Film and play a key role in developing a transdisciplinary academic field across UCD.  History is ranked amongst the top 100 history schools in the world (QS 2024).

The COVID 19 pandemic and the recent ‘mpox’ outbreak in East Africa have underscored the profound inter-dependence of animals, humans, microbes, and the environment. Humans are now conceived of as being constituents of multiple, fragile, ecological and disease systems, rather than standing apart, exerting mastery over  ‘nature’ and microbes. Medical and veterinary scientists are increasingly collaborating with humanities thinkers to understand the roots of ecological and planetary interconnectedness, as policy makers and scientists recognise the need for nuanced understandings of how human responses to crises are shaped by different cultural contexts and historical and contemporary narratives. Humanities researchers offer specific expertise in methodologies to understand the history and representation of developments in medical and environmental theories and practice; the social, political, and philosophical values that underpin diagnosis, treatment, and policy; and the legacies of colonial/postcolonial extractivism for the contemporary environmental crisis.

With a focus on Africa or South America, the successful candidate will be expected to contribute to humanities research initiatives in ‘One Health’. Areas of interest are:

1. To analyse the interconnected origins of disease circuits across human and animal communities and untangle the implications for contemporary disease outbreaks;
2. To deconstruct colonial and postcolonial power relations in contemporary understandings, depictions, and management of diseases, environmental crises, and zoonoses by local, national and international health organisations and bodies, including non-state actors;
3. To examine the development of pest and biological controls, in the context of twentieth-century development policies and concerns over food production, safety and security.
4. To centre the voices, lifeways, and experiences of colonised and/or indigenous communities, and analyse their responses to medical interventions, such as vaccination and sanitation programmes;
5. To make methodological contributions (a) to ongoing discussions about how to uncover new types of non-human environmental data sets (archives), such as herbariums or historic microbe collections, and (b) to debates on  to represent non-speaking subjects;
6. To demonstrate the centrality of narrative, cultural forms, and discursive systems to the construction, representation and dissemination of knowledge.

The Ad Astra Fellowship includes one funded PhD studentship, an annual research budget of €5000 and a reduced teaching load. The successful candidate will be appointed for five years with the possibility of permanency after a four-year performance review.

The successful candidate will be expected to apply for external funding; publish in international peer-reviewed journals; participate in conferences and workshops; supervise Ad Astra PhD candidate; develop partnerships with relevant research groups across UCD (UCD One Health Centre; UCD School of Medicine; CEPHR; Discovery Institute; Humanities Institute); and develop public engagement activities aimed at a non-specialist audiences.

Long term gaols will focus on training a new researchers (Graduate Taught, Graduate Research) in inter- and trans-disciplinary One Health methodologies; developing undergraduate and graduate taught programmes aimed at practitioners and researchers (humanities; public health; veterinary sciences); forging links with international health organisations and internal researchers; fostering a cluster of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers.

95 Lecturer/Asst Professor Above the Bar (7943) Salary Scale: €62,855 - €99,533 Per Annum

Appointment will be made on scale and in accordance with the Department of Finance guidelines.

Closing date: 12:00 noon (local Irish time) on the 21st February 2025. 

Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time of 12:00 noon (Local Irish Time) on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system. UCD are unable to accept late applications.

Please note: the eRecruitment system only requests the names of two referees. The full list of 3 referees should be included in the text of your application.

UCD do not require assistance from Recruitment Agencies. Any CVs submitted by Recruitment Agencies will be returned.

Note: Hours of work for academic staff are those as prescribed under Public Service Agreements. For further information please follow the link; https://www.ucd.ie/hr/t4media/Academic%20Contract.pdf