UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX. 1 Advertisement Ref: 900

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1 UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX 1 Advertisement Ref: 900 School of History, Art History & Philosophy History Department Research Fellow in Economic History, (Fixed term for 9 months, 0.8 FTE) Salary range: starting at 31,342 rising to 37,394 per annum pro rata. It is normal to appoint at the first point of the salary scale. Expected start date 12 January 2015 (or as soon as possible thereafter) We are seeking to appoint a Research Fellow to contribute to the 306,961 ESRC funded research project entitled Children s Growth during a Long-run Health Transition: Britain in International Perspective, run by Dr Eric Schneider from the department of History at the University of Sussex. It is expected that the successful candidate will already have completed (or recently submitted) a Ph.D. in Economic History, Economics or a related discipline. Good communication skills, numeracy and an ability to work productively as part of a research team are essential for this position. The post is based in Brighton but will involve commuting to London to transcribe restricted records in the London Metropolitan Archives three to four days a week for the first couple of months. This position is associated with the 306,961 ESRC funded research project entitled Children s Growth during a Long-run Health Transition: Britain in International Perspective, run by Dr Eric Schneider from the department of History at the University of Sussex. The objective of the project is to explore how improvements in nutrition, sanitation, and medical knowledge during Britain s long-run health transition from 1850 onwards influenced children s growth pattern in terms of height, weight and BMI. Studying children s growth pattern (velocity of growth and shape of the growth curve) rather than their height at a specific age is a significant methodological innovation. Adaptive theories of human development and growth stress how exposure to poor nutrition or disease, especially in utero, does not merely affect the child s current height but also the timing of the pubertal growth spurt, their velocity of growth and the length of the growing period: in other words, their growth pattern. This project will extend existing knowledge of children s growth in Britain in three ways: first, by reconstructing boys longitudinal growth measurements from training ship records spanning the century and a half from 1865 onwards; second, by producing and analysing new growth profiles for boys and girls aged 3 to 19 from historical sources; and third, by placing the change in Britain s growth pattern in international context using growth profiles collected from 1850 to the present from around the world. The data produced will supply a longer-run perspective on the immediate and intergenerational factors influencing children s growth patterns in Britain and internationally and indicate how the shift from an unhealthy to healthy growth pattern took place. The data will also assemble new evidence on historical BMI growth curves and child obesity rates, providing historical context for the current child obesity crisis. The project s findings are particularly relevant to the current discussion about a post-2015 development framework to replace the Millennium Development Goals and to understanding the childhood obesity crisis and will inform health interventions and development policy goals for improving the health of children in both the developing and developed worlds. For more information or an informal discussion about the post, please contact Dr Eric Schneider at e.b.schneider@sussex.ac.uk or Closing date for applications: 26 November 2014 Interviews: to be held in the week commencing 15 December 2014 For full details and how to apply see The University of Sussex is committed to equality of opportunity

2 2. Senior leadership and management The Vice-Chancellor (Professor Michael Farthing) is the senior academic officer and, as Chief Executive, is responsible to the University Council for management of the University. He is supported by an executive group which includes the three Pro-Vice-Chancellors, the Registrar and Secretary, the Director of Finance and the Director of Human Resources. The Heads of the Schools of Studies at Sussex report to the Pro-Vice-Chancellors. The Registrar and Secretary heads the Professional Services of the University. In addition, under the University Statutes, the Registrar and Secretary is Secretary to the University Council. The Director of Finance reports to the Vice-Chancellor. The Director of ITS reports to the Registrar and Secretary, and the Librarian reports to one of the Pro-Vice-Chancellors. 3. The School of History, Art History and Philosophy The School of History, Art History and Philosophy was created in 2009 as part of a major reorganisation of the University s Faculty structure. It brings together a group of related disciplines American Studies, Art History, History, and Philosophy in a common endeavour to study, understand and disseminate knowledge of the historical, philosophical and artistic manifestations of human existence. With approximately 50 academic staff and 1,000 students, the School offers a diverse, cosmopolitan and supportive environment. All areas of the School performed well in the 2008 RAE (American Studies = 1 st ; Art History = 2 nd ; History = 15 th ; Philosophy = 19 th ) and all are routinely placed within the top twenty in their respective disciplines by the Times, Guardian and Independent newspapers and the Good University Guide. The School s cross-disciplinary interests are evident from its research centres. These include the Sussex Centre for Intellectual History, the Marcus Cunliffe Centre for the Study of the American South, the Centre for Byzantine Studies, the German-Jewish Studies Centre, the Modern European Cultural History Centre, the Centre for World Environmental History, and the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial History. The Department of History The Department of History has played a leading role at the University of Sussex since its foundation in 1961 by Lord Asa Briggs. Sussex historians have made major contributions in the fields of Social and Economic History, Contemporary British History, Modern European History and Intellectual History, while African History, Asian History and American History also figure among our long-standing interests. We have recently entered a phase of sustained expansion, and the current position is one of six that, taken together with recent appointment in the area of Middle Eastern History, will take the number of Full-time faculty in the Department something approaching 30. The research agendas of Sussex historians embrace a number of fields. In recent years scholars in the Department have pursued important research projects in the history of science, environmental history, race, global history, early-modern political thought, Jewish history, rural history, the history of emotions, labour history, the history of parliamentary reform, and the history of changing living standards in industrial societies. New themes emerging in the Department include the history of rights, the history of childhood, the cultural history of religious belief, and new approaches to the history of capitalism. The Department offers a single-honours BA degree in History and a set of joint degrees with a variety of programmes including English, Politics, American Studies, Philosophy and Anthropology. We run three MA programmes: Contemporary History, Modern European History and Intellectual History. The Department has a thriving PhD programme. Over fifty candidates for the PhD are currently being supervised in the Department and the Department places its graduates in some of the leading history departments in the country. The Department is planning for sustained growth over the next five years, based on strengths in undergraduate teaching and our well established postgraduate provision. The research environment of the Department is very rich. It centres on the weekly Work in Progress seminar held every Thursday afternoon at which papers from internal and external

3 scholars are delivered. As noted above, the Department hosts a range of Research Centres; the Centres run a variety of seminars, visiting speaker events, symposia and conferences that collectively enrich the life of the Department and contribute materially to the interdisciplinary agenda associated with the University of Sussex. Departmental Research The Department was ranked 15 th in the country in the 2008 RAE exercise, and was listed among the top fifty departments of History in the world in the latest QS World University Rankings. Our success reflects a long-term strategy to ensure that research is placed at the heart of our work. In recent years, teaching loads have been carefully managed to ensure that faculty have sufficient time to prepare high quality work. Every permanent member of faculty has an established reputation for high quality research. The Department is home to several major externally funded projects including the ESRC-funded Global Income Inequality Project (Ian Gazeley) and the AHRC-funded projects on Newton (Rob Iliffe) and Botany and Climate in the Indian Ocean World (Vinita Damodaran). Undergraduate Teaching The 130 undergraduates admitted each year to the Sussex History programme receive a distinctive education, characterised by high quality teaching in an interdisciplinary context. The Department is also responsible for the teaching of larger numbers of students taking joint degrees. The curriculum has been constructed around active learning, developing highlevel research skills, conceptual capacity and expressive ability. In the first year, core courses introduce students to the major problems of historical explanation from the Renaissance to the First World War. This is complemented by the longstanding Historical Controversies strand, intensive reading groups around key texts which allow students to develop critical reading skills and an understanding of historiographical complexity. In the second and final years undergraduates follow two more core courses, in the history of ideas and global history and select specialised option from four integrated course arrays, each of which interrogates History from a different perspective: short period courses, time & place courses, thematic courses and past and present courses. Details of these courses can be found on the website. All third year students undertake a special subject that focuses on the use of primary sources, and prepare a 10,000 word dissertation on an original topic. Postgraduate Teaching The Department is responsible for three Masters programmes in Contemporary History, Modern European History, and Intellectual History. Members of faculty also teach on interdisciplinary MA programmes including the famous Social and Political Thought (SPT) degree and that in Globalisation, Ethnicity and Culture. In addition, History is responsible for a large and lively cohort of PhD students, studying a wide range of subjects. The Department makes annual awards at both MA and PhD level under the AHRC s Block Grant Partnership, and the University hosts an ESRC Doctoral training centre. The Department has also enjoyed success in the prestigious postdoctoral competitions run by the Leverhulme Trust and the Marie Curie Fellowships. Current Staff and Research Interests For a full list of current Faculty, please visit our website:

4 4. Job Description CORE JOB DESCRIPTION Job Title: Research Fellow in Economic History Grade: Research Fellow I, Grade 7 School: Location: Responsible to: Direct reports: Key contacts: Role description: School of History, Art History and Philosophy Arts A Building, University of Sussex Principal Investigator through to Head of School n/a Members of research group, members of faculty within the School and University. Research Fellow I is an early career-grade research position. Post-holders will be expected to contribute to the work of the research team, and also to develop their research skills with support from more experienced members of staff. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES 1. To engage in individual and/or collaborative research activity resulting in high-quality publications; and to develop research funding and knowledge exchange income individually or in collaboration with others, as appropriate, depending on the size and scope of the bid. 2. To contribute to School teaching activities. RESPONSIBILITIES 1. Research, Scholarship & Enterprise 1.1 Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, at acceptable levels, with assistance if required. 1.2 Conduct research projects individually and in collaboration with others. 1.3 Analyse and interpret research findings and draw conclusions on the outcomes. 1.4 Produce high-quality research outputs for publication in monographs or recognised high-quality journals, or performance/exhibition, as appropriate, and contribute to the School s REF submission at acceptable levels of volume and academic excellence. 1.5 Contribute to the preparation of proposals and applications to external bodies, for example for funding purposes. 1.6 Individually or with colleagues, explore opportunities for enterprise activity, knowledge exchange income and/or consultancy, where permissible. 1.7 Build internal contacts and participate in internal networks and relevant external networks in order to form relationships and collaborations.

5 1.8 Continually update knowledge and understanding in field or specialism, and engage in continuous professional development. 2. Teaching & Student Support 2.1 Undertake teaching duties, if required (not required in this post). 2.2 Assist in the assessment of student knowledge and supervision of student projects if required. 2.3 Assist in the development of student research skills, for example as part of a postgraduate supervision team. 3. Contribution to School & University 3.1 Attend and contribute to relevant School and project meetings. 3.2 Undertake additional duties, as required by the Principal Investigator and/or Head of School. 4. Role-specific duties 4.1 Transcribe archival and secondary records into Excel 4.2 Clean, verify and manipulate datasets based on archival material 4.3 Write short qualitative description of the context of particular inquiries 4.4 Assist the PI in analysing the datasets to understand changes in children s growth over time 4.5 Contribute to writing of papers, reports and other dissemination activities 4.6 Contribute to the development and maintenance of the project website including writing occasional blog posts 4.7 Any other reasonable request of the PI This Job Description sets out current duties of the post that may vary from time to time without changing the general character of the post or level of responsibility entailed. INDICATIVE PERFORMANCE CRITERIA A PhD or equivalent scholarly or relevant professional activity Pursuing a line of independent research within a research group. Publishing research (either from a recently completed PhD or new original research). Other forms of externally recognised professional practice of creative output of a standing equivalent to regular publication of original research. Initiating, developing or participating in links between the University and external bodies such as business and industry, the professions, community organisations and policymakers. Evidence of successful engagement in teaching or supervision.

6 5. Person Specification ESSENTIAL CRITERIA 1. Normally educated to doctoral level, or other equivalent qualification, or appropriate level of experience, as appropriate to the discipline (see role-specific criteria below). 2. Evidence of engagement in high-quality research activity. 3. Excellent presentation skills, with the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with students, colleagues and external audiences. 4. Ability to work individually on own initiative and without close supervision, and as part of a team. 5. Ability to exercise a degree of innovation and creative problem-solving. 6. Excellent organisational and administrative skills. 7. Ability to prioritise and meet deadlines. 8. Excellent IT skills. ESSENTIAL ROLE-SPECIFIC CRITERIA 1. Ability to transcribe historical records 2. Ability to manage quantitative data sets 3. Experience of conducting quantitative research 4. Experience in the use of Excel and Stata 5. PhD (or recently submitted) in economic history, economics or a related field DESIRABLE CRITERIA 1. Emerging track record of high-quality publications in reputable journals and other appropriate media of similar standing. 2. Experience of generating research or knowledge exchange income. 3. Ability to map and manipulate spatial information 4. Knowledge of British history since Familiarity with the human biology of growth and/or anthropometric history 6. Experience in the use of GIS software (preferably ArcGIS) 7. Experience of working in historical archives 8. Experience of managing a research project 9. Mathematics or Statistics to A level (or equivalent) or above 10. Interest in research into the history of living standards and health