UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
HUMANITIES DIVISION
MELLON POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN DIGITAL HUMANITIES

Salary: £29,099 – £30,870 (As at 1 October 2011)

A two-year research and teaching appointment in Digital Humanities from October 2011 for an outstanding academic at an early stage of his or her career.

These fellowships are funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as part of a wider Oxford University initiative which is designed: to provide an intensive and supported career development opportunity for outstanding academics at an early stage of their career; and to promote equality of opportunity by helping to create a more diverse pool of potential candidates for future academic posts at Oxford.

Applicants must have obtained his or her doctorate by 1 October 2011, and should not normally have completed it earlier than 1 October 2007.

We welcome applications from all whose research is in the digital humanities, involving the innovative and productive application of digital tools or resources to research questions in any subject under the Humanities Division (see http://www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/).

The Fellow will be employed by the Faculty closest to his/her academic interests. A college association will be arranged for this post, and he/she will also become a Research Associate at the OeRC (http://www.oerc.ox.ac.uk/).

For further details, information about how to apply and an application form, please visit: http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/jobs/research/index/230311/arrs7423j/

Applications must be received by midday on Wednesday 23 March 2011.

Posted by: Marjorie Burghart (Marjorie.Burghart@ehess.fr).

With apologies for cross-posting. Please note that this is *not* the post-doctoral position which was announced in December but is a new PhD studentship on the same project.

The Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King’s College London, is pleased to announce a PhD studentship in digital methods in palaeography funded by a European Research Council project, the ‘Digital Resource of Palaeography, Manuscripts and Diplomatic’. The studentship is to be held in CCH as part of a PhD in Digital Humanities.

Context

The aim of Digital Resource of Palaeography is to bringing the methods and resources of digital humanities to bear on palaeographical exploration, citation and teaching of late Anglo-Saxon script. It involves a web resource which will allow scholars to rapidly retrieve digital images, verbal descriptions, and detailed characterisations of the writing, as well as the text in which it is found and the content and structure of the manuscript or charter. It will incorporate different ways of searching, using images, maps, timelines and image-processing as well as conventional text-based browsing and searching. The palaeographical content will focus on a case-study of vernacular English script from the eleventh century, but the project will allow scholars to test and apply new general developments in palaeographical method which have been discussed in theory but which have hitherto proven difficult or impossible to implement in practice. Some further details of the project are av!

ailable on the KCL news pages.

The studentship

Applicants should propose a research project which can benefit from and contribute to the Digital Resource in Palaeography project but which remains distinct from it. Possibilities may include the detailed study of a particular manuscript or small group of manuscripts. A comparative study could apply the research methodologies of the ERC project to a different corpus, perhaps focusing on the products of a single scriptorium or scribe, looking at variance and variation in script; or focusing on a corpus (such as manuscript fragments) that has proven difficult to manage with conventional approaches. Another possibility may be more methodological, focusing on the possibilities and limits of Digital Humanities in palaeographical scholarship.

The student will be based at King’s College London, in the Centre for Computing in Humanities and will benefit from the CCH PhD Seminar. A second supervisor will be assigned according to the requirements of the project. It is also expected that the student will maintain contact with other departments in King’s, such as History or English. The student will also have access to resources and seminars across the University of London more widely, including Senate House Library and its Palaeography Room, the Institute of Historical Research’s seminars and library, and seminars and expertise at the Institute of English Studies.

Value

For the three years of the studentship (starting no later than October 2011) the grant is c. £14,000 per annum. Students liable to pay fees at the overseas rate are welcome to apply, but should make sure that they can cover the difference between the award and the full overseas fee. The studentship must be held full-time.

Eligibility, Timetable & Application Process

Applicants for these awards are expected to begin PhD study on 1 October 2011. Applicants should hold (or have nearly completed) a Master’s degree or equivalent in Old English, Anglo-Saxon/early Anglo-Norman history, or another relevant area of medieval studies. A good knowledge of the language(s) of the manuscripts under study is required (Old/Middle English and/or Latin), and a background or demonstrable interest in manuscript studies is highly desirable.

Applicants must submit the following documentation by the deadline of 1 March 2011:

1. An Admissions Application form & all supporting documents – submitted to the Centre for Arts & Sciences Admissions (CASA) via the online admissions portal at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/graduate/apply/
2. A one page statement of interest including a description of the proposed research, submitted to peter.stokes@kcl.ac.uk
3. A one-page statement of your research training, background and suitability to the project, submitted to peter.stokes@kcl.ac.uk
4. A sample of written work (3000-5000 words), submitted to peter.stokes@kcl.ac.uk

An interview will be arranged with shortlisted applicants, either face to face or by teleconference, after the closing date.

Enquiries

Please email Dr Peter Stokes at peter.stokes@kcl.ac.uk or telephone him on +44 (0)20 7848 2813 in the first instance with any queries about this studentship.

Posted by: Marjorie Burghart (Marjorie.Burghart@ehess.fr).