Research Fellowship, University of Nottingham, UK

Main Responsibilities

Co-design and undertake programme of research under Work package 2 of ESRC Project Space for Sharing under the direction of Dr Vanessa Pupavac.

Independently review relevant background literature of the use of social media within disaster and conflict situations, and contribute to the literature review.

Carry out qualitative analysis of the social media data on the case studies generated by work package 1 of the project. 

Contribute to the writing of working papers, research articles and conference papers. Deliver presentations about the work to academic and/or non-academic audiences. 

Liaise with other Research Fellows working on the several work packages comprising the “Shared Space and a Space for Sharing” project as a whole, maintaining positive and effective working relationships. Liaise with the Project Manager (University of Sheffield) and attendance of occasional project meetings elsewhere in the UK as required.

Any other duties, commensurate with the grade of the post.

Essential

Desirable

Qualifications/ Education

·       A PhD in International Relations (or equivalent subject)

Skills/Training

·         Fluency in English and Serbo-Croatian

·         Good IT skills

·         Understanding and enthusiasm for the aims and approach of the project.

·         Ability to work effectively with the project team.

·         Flexible approach to work load

·         Ability to co-write up research findings for academic and non-academic outputs.

·         Ability to conduct interdisciplinary research.

Experience

·         Extensive knowledge of SFR Yugoslavia and Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia.

·        UN and NGO work experience

·        Professional translation experience

The ‘Space for Sharing’ project is funded through the Emoticon programme of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and jointly funded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI). (See http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/press-releases/31370/empathy-and-trust-in-communicating-online.aspx ). The aim of the project is to provide a transdisciplinary understanding of the online sharing of personal information, emotion and resources in extreme circumstances (ranging from dangerous and addictive drug use, life-threatening illness, to suicidal ideation and disaster situations). The project involving six work packages will explore how, in such circumstances, these acts of sharing impact on the development of empathy and trust on and offline. The project will use diverse, but strategically selected, substantive and theoretical facets to develop a cohesive and transdisciplinary epistemology of sharing.

You will undertake research primarily in Work Package 2, to undertake a qualitative analysis of online information sharing in the context of disaster and conflict situations, focused on two case studies a) 2014 Balkan floods b) Ukraine conflict, as well as work with researchers in other universities on the project to develop a transdisciplinary understanding of online sharing of personal information, emotion and resources in extreme circumstances.