Andrew W. Mellon and King’s College Junior Research Fellowship in Punishment 2020-2024, UK

A Junior Research Fellowship is a postdoctoral position tenable for up to 4 years. Applications are welcome from graduates of any university. Candidates will usually have completed their PhD, but must not have undertaken more than 2 years of postdoctoral work by 1st October 2020 (i.e. your PhD cannot have been granted before 30th September 2018).

This competition is receiving applications from 24 July 2019. The closing date for applications, including references, is 9 a.m. on Thursday, 5th September 2019.

Further Particulars

Assisted by the generosity of the Mellon Foundation, which is funding the first two years of this Fellowship, King’s College Cambridge is able to invite applications for a four-year Junior Research Fellowship from those who are completing or have recently completed a doctorate and who intend to pursue a research project on some aspect of the study of punishment.

Notwithstanding Foucault’s ground-breaking and much-cited work, there is remarkable little understanding either of the historic or of the current rationale for conventions regarding punishment (by which we mean all forms of punishment, not merely punishments mandated by law), on the one hand, or of its effects (on the society which metes out the punishments as well as on those punished). Yet decisions about who to punish for what and in what ways massively shape all political societies at every level, and have major ramifications for personal and societal relations and attitudes. Punishment is therefore an urgent political and social question, begging to be addressed from across the disciplines in the arts, humanities and social sciences, as a philosophical, theological, psychological, sociological, anthropological, legal, historical problem and indeed a problem in literary and visual culture.

This post-doctoral fellowship is intended to encourage research into punishment by enabling the successful candidate to complete a substantial research project on their chosen aspect of punishment in the context of any Arts, Humanities or Social Science discipline, broadly conceived: viz. anthropology, archaeology, architecture, classics, criminology, economics, English and other literatures, history, the history of art, the history of science, law, linguistics, musicology, philosophy,  psychology, sociology, theology.

The ideal candidate for this Junior Research Fellowship will have a strong background in one or more disciplines within the Arts, Humanities, or Social Sciences and have completed an outstanding doctoral thesis. It is not a requirement that the candidate’s doctoral studies or the work that they submit in support of their application should have concerned questions of punishment, but candidates will be expected to show in their applications both how their future work relates to the work that they have already done, and to explain clearly how their proposed project relates to existing studies on punishment. The successful candidate will be expected to engage broadly with the whole college community and to organise academic activities in the form of seminars/workshops/conferences (for which the College is able to provide modest funding).

The successful candidate will join a lively body of post-doctoral research Fellows working across a wide range of ‘grand challenge’ problems that affect societies in an interconnected world, and facilitating a flow of critical knowledge from the university into the community by bringing major community issues into the university. Our existing Arts and Humanities JRFs work on issues of Urban Studies, Gender Studies, Race, Equality, Representation and Immateriality. It is the aim of these projects to develop and consolidate crucial fields of study that are currently too narrowly restricted in their practitioners and/or their objects of analysis, and to strengthen the intellectual framework for international and global approaches to the humanities by tackling related issues that can only properly be understood when tackled globally.

King’s is advertising simultaneously for JRFs in punishment and in prejudice. A candidate who wishes to be considered in both competitions should complete two applications with two separate appropriate projects. Referees may submit the same references fo both competitions but are asked to submit them separately.

Junior Research Fellows are members of the Governing Body, with full privileges of Fellows. In addition to pursuing research, a Junior Research Fellow is required to live in Cambridge or close by and to participate in College life and activity. Privileges include all meals, limited financial support for expenses associated with research, the possibility of an office and accommodation in College properties. Although these are research posts, Junior Research Fellows are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to undertake a small amount of University and/or College teaching.

The stipend attached to all Junior Research Fellowships is £21,716 (pre award of doctorate) rising each year to a maximum of £27,949, according to age and academic qualification. Additional payment is made for teaching. A living-out allowance of £4,000 is made to those not living in college.

Eligibility

Graduates of any university are eligible. Candidates will usually have completed their PhD but must not have undertaken more than 2 years of postdoctoral work by 1st October 2020 (i.e. your PhD cannot have been granted before 30th September 2018).

Dates

The closing date for application is 9 am on Thursday, 5th September 2019. Applications received after this date and time will not be considered. Short-listed candidates will be invited for interview on either Wednesday, 15th January 2020 or Thursday, 17th January 2020. Please ensure that you will be available for interview on these dates, as it is not possible to arrange other times for interviews. The Fellowship will begin on 1st October 2020 and will run until 30th September 2024.

For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.