UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX 1. Advertisement Ref: 226 School of Media, Film and Music Sussex Humanities Lab (SHL) Programme Research Fellow in Digital Humanities/Digital Performance Full time, Fixed term for 4 Years Salary range: starting at 31,342 and rising to 37,394 per annum Expected start date: 1 September 2015 The Sussex Humanities Lab in collaboration with the School of Media, Film and Music at the University of Sussex wishes to appoint a fixed-term (4-year) fellowship (Research Fellow) in Digital Humanities/Digital Performance. While based in the School of Media, Film and Music, the appointee will work across the Sussex Humanities Lab in collaboration with colleagues in History, Art History & Philosophy, Informatics, and Education and Social Work. The University of Sussex has recently committed to the creation of a new research centre, The Sussex Humanities Lab, bringing together staff with expertise in the digital humanities from across the University. The successful candidate will work with Lab members, individually and with colleagues in the School of Media, Film and Music and the wider University, to develop a portfolio of digital projects, both on their own, and in collaboration. They will also have an opportunity to teach at undergraduate level, both in digital humanities, and in other areas suited to their expertise. The School of Media, Film and Music combines rigorous critical and historical studies of media, film, music/ sound art, and culture, with opportunities for creative practice in a range of musical, sonic and performing arts, and interactive art forms, using media including photography, film, radio, digital imaging and sound, net art and live coding. The ideal candidate will have a demonstrable track record of work in performance technologies as a theorist and/or creative practitioner, with clear evidence of technical expertise in all cases. Candidates with knowledge of one or more of the following: creative software (e.g. Max/MSM or PD, SuperCollider), app development, graphic and games programming (e.g. Open GL, Unity), physical computing, are particularly encouraged. A secondary expertise in a field of research connecting with the expanded field covered by the SHL is also required. For instance engagement with corporeal or media archaeology related computing. The person appointed will work within a lively and intellectually vibrant research centre to help deliver a new vision of the humanities as a field with digital resources and critiques at its heart. Good communication skills, a commitment to innovation, and an ability to work productively as part of a cross-disciplinary team are essential for this position. For an informal discussion of the post, please contact the Professor of Performance Technologies, Sally Jane Norman, in the first instance by email at: s.j.norman@sussex.ac.uk Closing date for completed applications: 13 July 2015 The University of Sussex is committed to equality of opportunity For full details and how to apply see www.sussex.ac.uk/jobs 1
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 Sussex Humanities Lab The Lab is a University Research Centre is a four year, centrally funded programme designed to support research in the digital humanities, by bringing together staff from four of the University s constituent schools, as well as the Library. The Lab is charged with delivering a step change in the University s engagement with the digital humanities through a coordinated series of projects that encompass the development of new digital resources and the critique of the impact of the digital on culture and scholarship more broadly. Working with the individual schools, the Lab seeks to redefine the role of the digital, and in the process, the traditional sub-disciplines of the humanities. To achieve these ends, the University has invested 2.9 million over four years, to bring in new staff, and to create new types of relationships and new spaces for scholarship. Besides creating a state of the art physical lab space, the SHL encompasses twenty existing faculty in history, media studies, performance, informatics, and social work. In total six lectureships will be offered across the subject areas that contribute to the Sussex Humanities Lab, form the core academic community charged with delivering a new kind of humanities. As a result the appointees will be expected to work across schools and across disciplines. The activities associated with these staff are organised in to four strands: 1. Digital History/Digital Archives This strand seeks to move beyond the provision of digital archives to the re-analysis and presentation of inherited materials. Big Data, distant and close reading of digital materials (text, place and objects), re-configuring search and archival structures, and exploring new ways of presenting history online, will form the core activities of staff in this strand. Drawing on the extensive experience of digital creation in the School of History, Art History and Philosophy, including the work of Tim Hitchcock, Rob Iliffe and Lucy Robinson, responsible, respectively for the Old Bailey Online, the Newton Project and Observing the 80s; this strand seeks to develop new forms of historical research and writing. 2. Digital Media/Computational Culture Strand: This strand is concerned with the transformative moment in humanities and social science research when computation becomes not only an everyday part of the research process, but also the condition for the research to be undertaken. Adopting a critical approach to the development and dissemination of digital media in all forms, the strand will interrogate: the materiality of computational technology; the relationship between symbol and signal; computation and epistemic change; and finally power and activism in relation to digital technologies. The strand will develop a number of projects, including: BBC and the Digital 2
Public Sphere; the Digital Economy of Vertically Organised Ecologies of Data (Stacks); Opacity, Presence and Digital Culture; and Sonic Interfaces and Cultures. 3. Digital Technologies/Digital Performance Strand: This strand addresses digital technologies in the arts, and prioritizes practice-led research geared towards artistic processes and productions. It explores live performance, and the use of interactive, online, and locative media. Real-time sensors and algorithmic processes, motion capture and live coding, artificial intelligence and artificial life techniques will be investigated through creative digital renderings of motion and gesture in sonic and visual arts, extending to haptics and multimodal forms. Research will address digital performance archives and datasets pertaining to other forms of live cultural heritage, and the novel kinds of performance / performativity emerging via locative and distributed media, and aggregated big data. 4. Digital Lives/ Digital Memories Strand: This strand explores how digital technologies and their affordances form part of the fabric of everyday lives, creating new logics of practice that may be realised in different and unexpected ways. A core element of this Strand will be the theme of digital childhoods, involving documenting and analyzing contemporary childhoods and exploring the interplay between dynamic processes of technical and biosocial maturation. Digital temporalities are Also an analytic focus, and the use of longitudinal, cross generational and archive based methodologies will enable exploration of cultural transitions between analogue and digital environments. A third focus will be on forms of context collapse (Boyd) afforded by digital technologies, which disrupt many of the cultural boundaries of modernity and associated forms of expertise - e.g. those between public and private, home and the school, professional and the client, the developed and underdeveloped world, and the old and the young. The Lab is designed to break down the boundaries between individual fields, and to facilitate radically trans-disciplinary work. In particular, the programme is designed to bring together Humanities, Social Sciences and STEM researchers; combining art with code, history with informatics, aesthetics with statistics. The Programme is led by Professor Caroline Bassett. She will be supported by a Core Management Team (CMT) including Co-Investigators; Reader in Digital Media, David M. Berry, and Professors Tim Hitchcock, Sally-Jane Norman, and Rachel Thomson. The full launch and programme of activities associated with the Lab will run from September 2015 to September 2019. 4. The School The School of Media, Film and Music combines rigorous critical and historical studies of media, film, journalism, the digital, music and culture with opportunities for creative practice in a range of musical forms and the media of photography, film, radio, and interactive digital imaging. It provides: (a) a subject mix that combines aesthetic and critical practice and cultural critique with an emphasis on the social functions of media and culture; (b) researchbased excellence across the whole of its subject mix and across all levels of curriculum provision. Media and Film The School has a firmly established reputation for excellence in both teaching and research. Sussex saw its first undergraduate programmes in Media Studies introduced in 1987. Today 3
we offer single honours programmes in Film Studies, Media and Communication, and Media Practice, and from 2014 in Journalism. We also offer Joint degrees in Film Studies, Media Studies, and Cultural Studies. In addition, members of the Department contribute to interdisciplinary programmes in Gender Studies. Media and Film is regularly rated among the top departments in league tables: we were ranked in the top 10 places to study in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2013, in the top 15 in the UK in The Sunday Times University Guide 2012 and The Complete University Guide 2014, in the top 25 in the UK in The Guardian University Guide 2014, and in the top 100 in the world for communication and media studies in the QS World University Rankings 2013. Studying the media in all forms has a long history at the University of Sussex as an interdisciplinary subject. The formation of the Department of Media and Film within the School of Humanities in 2004 enabled the introduction of both single honours and joint honours degrees in Media Studies, Media Practice, and Film Studies, and the launch of new MA degrees. These developments built on existing expertise and entailed the expansion of academic staffing in the School. A further restructuring initiative saw the creation of the School of Media, Film and Music in 2009, with four key subject areas of Media and Cultural Studies (now including Journalism), Media Practice, Film Studies and Music. The School currently has over 600 students on its single honours and joint degree courses, and some 200 on taught postgraduate courses. We offer MAs in Media & Cultural Studies, Digital Media (theory and practice), Gender and Media, Film Studies, Digital Documentary, Media Practice for International Development, and Filmmaking. We also offer four taught MAs in Journalism: MA Multimedia Journalism (NCTJ accredited); MA International Journalism; MA Journalism and Media Studies; and MA Journalism and Documentary Practice. In all, these degrees attract some 200 students per year, of whom the majority are full time. The School also has over eighty registered doctoral students, working in a rich and dynamic research culture. A programme of staff research seminars runs weekly throughout the academic year, bringing together academic staff, PhD students, and MA students, and there are also seminars, research groups and research symposia organised specifically by and for doctoral students. Research Research in the School of Media, Film and Music includes work on media theory, journalism, film studies, critical media practice, music and music technology, social and cultural theory, cultural studies, media sociology, the history of auditory and visual culture, digital culture, technology and innovation, new media theory, consumer culture, feminism, media history and documentary, and film studies. Within the School colleagues undertake social research, explore the history and contemporary development of media systems, consider their aesthetics, their role in public culture and the social world, their everyday use, and their possible future shape. Four Research Centres support these themes: the Centre for Material Digital Cultures, the Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre, the Sussex Centre for Cultural Studies, the Centre for Visual Fields, and the Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise we were rated eighth, with 100 per cent of our research activity in media and film rated as recognised internationally or higher, and 75 per cent rated as internationally excellent or higher. Staff in Media and Film Media and Cultural Studies Caroline Bassett, Professor of Media and Communications. Research interests include: narrative and hypermedia; gender; subjectivity and new technology; digital cultures/virtual spaces; and the politics of emerging media systems. 4
David M. Berry, Reader in Media and Communications. Research interests include critical theory, medium theory, software studies, digital humanities, and the materiality of computation. Michael Bull, Professor of Sound Studies and Subject Head of Media and Cultural Studies. Research interests include: new media, including ethnographic study of their use; sound and experience; the Frankfurt School. David Hendy, Professor of Media and Communications. Research interests include: broadcasting history, radio and sound studies. Ben Highmore, Professor of Cultural Studies and Head of Subject Area Media and Cultural Studies. Research interests include: the history and theory of everyday experience and, within this, forms of life writing. Current research is focused on domestic habits and routines, changes in work culture, and the aesthetics of daily experience. Malcolm James, Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies. Research interests include postcolonialism, race and racism, urban and youth cultures. Margaretta Jolly, Reader in Cultural Studies. Research interests include oral history, life histories and writing, feminist history. Kate Lacey, Senior Lecturer in Media Studies. Research interests include: history of the mass media; radio and cinema in Germany to 1945; gender issues and the media; listening publics. Eleftheria Lekakis, Lecturer in Media and Communications. Research interests include consumerism and cultural citizenship, social media, citizenship and consumerism, neoliberalism and its subjectivities. Sarah Maltby, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications. Research interests include military media management, war, memory and the media, media, war and conflict. Andy Medhurst, Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies. Research interests include: British cinema, 1945-60; popular television genres; film and television comedy; masculinities in the media; lesbian and gay studies. Monika Metykova: Lecturer in Media and Communications. Research interests include: changing European media landscapes and policies, transnational media practices, European media and political communication. Sharif Mowlabocus, Senior Lecturer in Media Studies. Sharif s research interests lie in the field of digital media and his specific focus is located at the intersection between queer studies and digimedia studies. Sally Munt, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies. Research interests include: cultural space and spatial theory, shame, social class, and sexuality. Kate O Riordan, Reader in Media and Film. Kate s research has included work on gender and gaming, web cameras, medical imaging, art and digital design. She has also published on sexuality and technology and the ethics of internet research. Pollyanna Ruiz, Lecturer in Media and Communication. Research interests include cultural theory, digital culture, political communication, political protest, the public sphere and public places. 5
Lee Salter, Lecturer in Media and Communications. Research interests include online journalism and the state, news culture, digital journalism. Niki Strange, Research Fellow in Media Studies. Research interests include: Research interests include: public service multi-platform broadcasting and independent production. Lyn Thomas, Professor of Cultural Studies. Research interests include narratives of class migration; media audiences; 'quality' media and fan cultures; radio soap opera and radio audiences online; the relationship between religion, spirituality and media in contemporary Britain. Janice Winship, Reader in Media and Cultural Studies. Research interests include: popular history/memory and constructions of feminine sexuality; consumption and the culture of shopping; design, material culture and everyday life; women's magazines; advertising. Film Studies Thomas Austin, Senior Lecturer in Media and Film. Research interests include: contemporary Hollywood; reception studies and popular audiences for film; screen documentary. Katie Grant, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies. Research interests include: Digital media object relations, including research by practice, film directing in contemporary world cinema, and recognition as concept, practice, motif, and scene in films and other audio visual culture. Frank Krutnik, Reader in Film Studies and Subject Head of Film Studies. Research interests include comedy, film noir, US cinema and popular culture. Michael Lawrence, Lecturer in Film Studies. Research interests include: Indian cinema, the child in film, world cinemas. Alisa Lebow, Reader in Film Studies. Research interests include: documentary, first-person filmmaking, exilic/diasporic cinema, activist media and globalization, gender and sexuality in representation Niall Richardson, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies. Research interests include Queer Cinema (especially Derek Jarman and Todd Haynes); the body (especially extreme bodybuilding, body manipulation and the grotesque); the representation of gender and sexuality in film and popular culture. Luke Robinson, Lecturer in Film Studies. Research interests include: documentary in the People s Republic of China, Sinophone cinemas, Chinese film festivals, the work of Wong- Kar Wai,. Sue Thornham, Professor of Media and Film and Head of School. Research interests include: film, gender and sexuality, narrative, television drama. Dolores Tierney, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies. Research interests include US and Latin American filmmaking, gender issues in classical Mexican melodrama, Mexican exploitation and contemporary Spanish horror film. Media Practice Joanna Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in Filmmaking. Research interests are in fiction and documentary filmmaking, filmmaking and/as philosophy. 6
Emile Devereaux, Lecturer in Digital Media Practice. Research interests are in the theory and practice of visual culture and media arts, and his practice work combines film, video, 2D/3D animation, performance and interactive/digital media. Melanie Friend, Senior Lecturer in Photography. Research interests are in the area of documentary photography, the representation of conflict, refugees and migrancy. Adrian Goycoolea, Senior Lecturer in Media Production and Head of Subject Area Media Practice. Adrian s work ranges from short, experimental, single channel pieces to multichannel art installations, and he has most recently extended his range to short and featurelength fiction films and screenplays as well as documentaries. Wilma de Jong, Lecturer in Media Production, specialising in theory and practice of video production. Research interests include: media and pressure groups, international public sphere, factual television, independent film production. Mary Agnes Krell, Senior Lecturer in Digital Media and Subject Head Media Practice. Research interests include photographic narratives; inhabited space on the internet and in digital media; interactive installation; the investigation of digital semiotics; sacred spaces in interactive realms. Martin Spinelli, Senior Lecturer in Radio Production. Research interests include experimental radio and sound. Lizzie Thynne, Senior Lecturer in Media Production. Producer of documentary, drama and experimental work. Interests include: film-making, gender and sexuality in visual representation, photography, surrealism, television industries. Music Martin Butler, Professor of Music; composer and pianist. Research interests include 20thcentury compositional techniques, improvisation and performance skills, music theatre. Richard Elliott, Lecturer in Popular Music. Research interests include popular musics of the world, music and technology, music and memory, cultural and critical theory, music and media, technoculture, space and place, urban musicology. Evelyn Ficarra, Lecturer in Music Theatre, Assistant Director of Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre, composer and sound artist. Research interests include collaborative projects, composition, experimental film music, installation, music theatre, sound art. Tim Hopkins, Research Fellow and Part-time Lecturer, Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre. Research interests include digital media in relation to opera, particularly intermedial relationships made possible by recent technologies. Ed Hughes, Senior Lecturer in Music, Head of the Music Department, composer. Research interests include large-scale and orchestral compositions, music theatre, and experimental film music. Thor Magnusson, Lecturer in Music. Research interests include software development, composition, and performance, underpinned by philosophy of technology and cognitive science, exploring embodiment and compositional constraints in digital musical systems. Sally Jane Norman, Professor of Performance Technologies. Research interests include theatre and performing arts history and practice, scenography, sound environments, transdisciplinary art-and-technology links, hybrid and multimedia live art forms. 7
Nicholas Till, Professor of Opera and Music Theatre, Director of Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre. Research interests include contemporary and historical opera and music theatre, modernism/postmodernism. Practice Teaching Fellows A team of seven practice teaching fellows complements the academic faculty in the delivery of our practice teaching and research. They have specialisms in sound, fiction and documentary filmmaking, photography, digital media and journalism. Technical staff A team of technical support staff provide additional support to staff and students in media practice, music and journalism. CORE JOB DESCRIPTION Job Title: Research Fellow in Digital Humanities/Digital Performance Grade: Research Fellow I, Grade 7 School: Location: Responsible to: Direct reports: Key contacts: MFM/SHL. SHL head of SHL through to Head of School n/a Members of research group, members of faculty within the School and University. 8
Role description: 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 and in collaboration with others, as appropriate, depending on the size and scope of the bid. 2. To contribute to School and/or SHL teaching activities to a maximum of 0.1 fte. 3. To contribute to the Sussex Humanities Lab research cultures with particular engagement with the Digital Performance Strand. KEY 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. 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. 2.2 Assist in the assessment of student knowledge and supervision of student projects if required. 9
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 Head of the SHL /or Head of School. 4. Role-specific duties 4.1 Use specialist knowledge in one or more areas related to the digital humanities to produce high quality collaborative and individual research that promotes interdisciplinary and innovative research. 4.2 Co-develop fundable research projects in areas of relevance to the Lab including the co-design of research bids, the implementation of research projects, publishing appropriate outputs, and pursuing impact. 4.3 Undertake academic administration for research projects as required, including for instance academic co-ordination of large bids. 4.4 Develop research networks and undertake research network activities as required. 4.5 Play a full part in the life of the Lab including, for instance, through collaborating with other post-doctoral fellows, and the co-development of seminar and other programmes. 4.6 Work on specific Lab projects as required. 4.7 Attend and play a full role in the formal programmes of the SHL. 4.8 Develop research skills and contribute to relevant academic research administration duties within the relevant School as required. 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. 10
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 in the area of the Digital Humanities broadly defined. 3. Excellent presentation skills, with the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, and in a range of online formats, 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 Specialist knowledge and active engagement with in one or more area of work of the expanded digital humanities. 2 Experience in and knowledge of specialist methods used in digital humanities work including for instance live coding, graphical and games programming, physical computing, advanced use of digital technologies in media practice work. 3 A developing track record of published work, 4 Evidence of sustained engagement with, and collaboration on, digital humanities projects, for instance contributing programming or other technical skills. 5 Understanding of databases, data management and digital tools. DESIRABLE CRITERIA 1 Experience of teaching in higher education. 2 Track record of successful grant capture 3 Experience of inter-disciplinary work. 4. Experience of open/networked forms of publishing and social media engagement. 11
5. Emerging track record of high-quality publications in reputable journals and other appropriate media of similar standing. 6 Experience of generating research or knowledge exchange income. 12