Postdoctoral Researcher

Job title: Postdoctoral Researcher 

Department: Department of Anthropology and Sociology 

Contract Type: Fixed Term – 28 months (Feb 2025-July 2027)

Grade: 7

Salary: £42,217.29 - £49,381.29 per annum inclusive of London Weighting  

Location: Bloomsbury

Hours: 17.5

SOAS University of London is the leading Higher Education institution in Europe specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East.  SOAS University of London is positioned to play a leading role in reimagining higher education globally, with a new strategic plan in place as the basis for the renewal and revitalisation of the School which commits SOAS to both student responsiveness and research intensity. SOAS is moving towards a new model of international partnerships which is responsive to the transnational character of our global challenges.

About the Department:

The Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS is a world-leading, research-led department, ranked 5th in the UK and 16th worldwide (QS World University Rankings 2021). 

Its academics and research students work across a wide spectrum of anthropological, regional, and theoretical issues, including development, medical and psychological anthropology, food, migration, political economy, democracy, conflict, gender, race, the environment, critical theory and innovative ethnographic methods. 

One of the Department’s key strengths lies in fostering a supportive learning and teaching environment for its students. The department has more than one hundred and eighty undergraduates in single and combined honours degrees, one hundred and thirty full and part-time postgraduate (MA) students, and thirty research (MPhil/PhD) students. Our MA programmes include the MA Social Anthropology, MA Anthropology of Food, MA Migration and Diaspora Studies, and our newest, the MA Anthropology of Global Futures and Sustainability, MA in Medical Anthropology and Mental Health, as well as an MRes Social Anthropology.

The Department is home to two interdisciplinary research centres—the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies and the Centre for the Anthropology of Food—as well as the Helen Kanitkar Anthropology Library and Postgraduate Research Student Study Centre. Weekly seminar series include the Departmental Research Seminar, the Migration and Diaspora Studies Seminar Series, and the Food Forum. 

Further information online: http://soas.ac.uk/anthropology here: https://www.soas.ac.uk/anthropology/ 

About the Role

SOAS wishes to recruit a postdoc researcher to assist Dr Zerrin Ozlem Biner, senior lecturer at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology and co-director of the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies (CMDS). We seek an excellent candidate in visual anthropology/ anthropology/sociology/communication studies with knowledge and expertise in visual methodologies and approaches. The candidate should have experience in ethnographic documentary production and digital filmmaking.

The postdoc will be part of an interdisciplinary team working with the Principal Investigator, Dr. Zerrin Ozlem Biner, to deliver the research objectives of the AHRC-funded project, “Archives of Solidarity: Precarity, Creativity and Shared Future-making across Closed Borders”. This collaborative and innovative anthropology project aims to use oral history, ethnography, and literary and audio-visual methods to create a multi-modal digital archive of solidarity practices involving citizens and refugees in Turkey and the UK.

The post-doc will design and run training workshops in digital film-making for young people in the UK and Turkey, lead the visual component of the field research, conduct audio-visual interviews, contribute to the digital outputs and produce a documentary film on the project.

The post-holder will join a vibrant academic community in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS.

This is a part-time (50%), 28-month position (until 1st of July 2027) with a proposed start date of 1 February 2025.

Informal enquiries can be made to: Senior Lecturer Zerrin Ozlem Biner, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, zb59@soas.ac.uk

You can find further information on the key criteria for the role in the Job Description and Person Specification, along with a full list of duties and responsibilities, which can be found on the SOAS website.

How to Apply: 

Professional Services - Please complete the online application form and upload your CV and a supporting statement.

Closing date: 03/01/2025          

Interviews to be held: TBC

Further information

If you have any questions or require any assistance with regard to the application process, please contact us via the HR Contact Form | SOAS

'Successful candidates will need to demonstrate their eligibility to work in the UK or have limited leave to remain in the UK and associated right to work for the duration of their employment with SOAS, in accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006'.

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We are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.

We would particularly welcome applications from candidates from working class, first generation Higher Education, Black, Asian, other minority ethnic and underrepresented groups from within the UK and beyond. All appointment decisions will be m