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Job Description - Assistant Professor in Anthropology of Data Science (Research & Education) (ANT_01) (25000142)
Department of Anthropology
Open-Ended/Permanent - Full Time
Working Arrangements: On campus (all teaching related activity is delivered in person) with remote working when applicable
Closing Date
21-Mar-2025, 11:59:00 PM
Disclosure and Barring Service Requirement: Not Applicable.
Working at Durham University
A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a warm and friendly place to work, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other.
As one of the UK’s leading universities, Durham is an incredible place to define your career. The University is located within a beautiful historic city, home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and surrounded by stunning countryside. Our talented scholars and researchers from around the world are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives.
We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things in the world. Being a part of Durham is about more than just the success of the University, it’s also about contributing to the success of the city, county and community.
Our University Strategy is built on three pillars of research, education and wider student experience, but also on our keen sense of community and of inspiring others to achieve their potential.
We want our University to be a place where people can be free to be themselves, no matter what their identity or background. Together, we celebrate difference, value one another and are each responsible for creating an inclusive community that is respectful and fair for all.
The Department
The Anthropology Department at Durham University has an outstanding international reputation for teaching and research. We are one of the largest and most diverse Anthropology Departments in the UK, with nearly 40 permanent academic staff working within and across social, evolutionary and health anthropology. Each year, we welcome over 130 undergraduate students and around 70 postgraduate students from around the world.
We seek to appoint a full-time Assistant Professor on a permanent contract from 1st September 2025. We welcome applications from those with research and teaching interests in the broad field of social anthropology or medical anthropology, with a focus on the anthropology of data and data science.
This post offers an exciting opportunity to make a major contribution to the development of internationally excellent research and teaching in a supportive, inclusive environment that will enable you to fulfil your potential.
Assistant Professors at Durham
Assistant Professors on the Education and Research track are encouraged to focus on research and teaching, but are also expected to engage in wider citizenship to enhance their own development, support their department and discipline, and contribute to the wider student experience.
Academic colleagues are supported to publish excellent research in their area of interest with a focus on high quality outputs (including monographs and journal articles), rather than quantity. We aim to support your research needs, including practical help such as resources to attend conferences and to fund research activities, as well as a generous research leave policy and a designated mentor.
Durham University is also committed to ensuring outstanding teaching quality, stimulating learning environments, and innovative curricula for all our students. You will be supported to develop your teaching expertise and skills.
Applicants must demonstrate high quality research in the field of Anthropology, with the ability to teach our students to an exceptional standard and to fully engage in the services, citizenship and values of the University.
Key Responsibilities:
- To pursue research that is high quality in terms of originality, significance and rigour.
- To develop clear plans for the pursuit of national and international funding opportunities to support research and end-user engagement.
- To play a role in relevant teaching and research supervision, and contribute to ongoing curriculum development.
- To lead on and teach a module offering anthropologically-informed critical perspectives on Data Science to students on Durham University’s interdisciplinary Masters in Data Science programme.
- Contribute to enhancing the quality of the research environment in the Department, the wider University and beyond through collaborative research activity.
- Demonstrate a willingness to contribute to the administrative work, citizenship and values of the Department.
- To deliver lectures, seminars and tutorials at undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels, as well as engaging in related activity such as assessment.
- To fully engage in and enhance the values of the Department.
- To contribute to attracting and supervising research students, and to enhance the Department’s commitment to its vibrant and inclusive postgraduate culture.
- Carry out other duties as specified by the Head of Department.
Person Specification
Candidates will have completed their PhD (or be close to completion) and should outline their experience, skills and achievements to date, which demonstrate that they meet the essential criteria.
Research
- Qualifications – a PhD (or close to completion at the time of application) in Anthropology OR a PhD in a related subject with a first degree or Masters in Anthropology.
- Outputs – evidence of high-quality outputs, some of which are recognised as internationally excellent or world-class.
- Personal Research Plan – an ambitious and feasible research plan for the next four years, which may include the completion of work-in-progress, development of new projects, preparation of outputs, funding applications and impact initiatives.
Education
- Quality – evidence of the development and delivery of effective and engaging teaching.
- Innovation – experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate your contribution to new programme development and innovation in the design and delivery of high-quality teaching and assessment of learning.
- Strategic – evidence of strategic teaching development, or achievements that demonstrate the potential to engage in the design of excellent teaching programmes which are research informed and led.
- Specialist skills – evidence of relevant knowledge, skills and experience to teach a Masters-level module on the anthropology of data science to students with diverse academic backgrounds and interests (including non-social scientists).
Services, Citizenship and Values
- Citizenship contribution – evidence of participation in the citizenship/administrative activities of an academic Department, Faculty or University.
- Leadership – experience, skills and/or achievements that demonstrate engagement in activities that contribute to the administrative functioning of an academic Department, Faculty, University and/or discipline.
- Communication – candidates must have excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to engage with a range of students and colleagues across a variety of forums.
Contact Information
Department contact for academic-related enquiries: Professor Jamshid Tehrani, Head of Department. Email:
Contact information for technical difficulties when submitting your application: If you encounter technical difficulties when using the online application form, we prefer you send enquiries by email. Please send your name along with a brief description of the problem you’re experiencing to
University contact for general queries about the recruitment process: If you have any queries about the recruitment process please contact the recruitment team on .
How to Apply
We prefer to receive applications online.
Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement Job Applicants/Potential Job Applicants - Durham University which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.
What to Submit
- A covering letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out above (maximum 2 pages).
- Personal research plan (maximum 2 pages)
- Two of your most significant pieces of written work.
Where possible we request that you provide accessible web links to your publications, which the hiring Department will use to access your work. The application form contains fields in which to enter each of the web links.
Please ensure that your PDFs are not larger than 5mb. Your work may be read by colleagues from across the Department and evaluated against the current REF criteria.
We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails.
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