Post Doctoral Research Fellow
ABOUT THE ROLE
Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, you will support the Principal Investigator in delivery of research activity on the UKRI-funded Future Leaders Fellowship project, Towards a Global Women’s Book History 1600-1900. The successful candidate will be invited to join the team working on feminist book histories, past and present. The project aims to make more visible the diverse women who contributed to the history of the book, in order to inform and strengthen attempts to capture the increasing diversity of the creative economy today.
This role will contribute to the strand of the project that mobilises feminist book historical methodologies to consider equitable book futures, by focusing on current publishing practices and library collecting policies in the UK and Ireland.
The purpose of the position is to examine the role of women in the contemporary British and Irish publishing landscape, particularly exploring intersections with regional, micro/small presses and self-publication. It will interrogate the British Library’s Legal Deposit collection, and its archival collections of contemporary women-led presses, ensuring greater understanding and representation of the motivation and activities of women in this space.
Research Assistant, Northumbria University and the British Library
Women in Contemporary Publishing: Roles, Representation and Archiving in the National Collection
General Duties and Responsibilities
This role will be line managed and mentored by Dr Helen Williams and Dr Diletta De Cristofaro at Northumbria University and by Chloe Hemsley and Stella Wisdom at the British Library. The role is Newcastle based with regular travel to the British Library (primarily the Boston Spa branch, though there will be opportunities to engage with the team at St Pancras) and will become part of the wider team of staff at both institutions.
The British Library collects the publishing output of the UK and Ireland under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003. This project will combine exploration of existing collections and research on current publishing practices to discover the extent of female-led publishing represented in the British Library’s archives, whilst building a broader sense of women’s roles in publishing and book creation today.
This role will develop existing networks of knowledge around micro/small press and self-publication, with the potential for a regional focus. The role will have the opportunity to impact the Library’s collecting practices, informing publisher engagement and ensuring greater representation of women-led publishing in its collection.
The project calls for an interdisciplinary approach encompassing critical archival studies, research and engagement with the publishing industry, and feminist historiography to interrogate the research questions outlined below.
The successful candidate will be embedded within the Contemporary British and Irish Publications Team at the British Library, working to understand and engage with women’s publishing activities, and the contemporary collection. Case studies will contextualise and deepen analysis of female-led presses within the publishing landscape.
Ultimately, the candidate will be encouraged and empowered to devise their own focus area on women’s roles within publishing and book production, with particular reference to Legal Deposit collecting and improving representation in Library collections.
Research questions include
- What are the motivations and activities of women in the publishing landscape of the UK and Ireland?
- How is female-led publishing being represented in the national collection?
- What is the role of gender in determining whether presses are archived in the national library?
- How can the British Library ensure greater representation of women’s work in book production through its contemporary collecting practices?
This role is a fixed term appointment. The role will be undertaken on a part-time basis, for 15 hours per week, over 2 years.
In addition, the successful candidate will be eligible for an additional research allowance courtesy of the British Library, up to £1,000 per financial year or part-time equivalent, for the duration of the project.
Please click here for the job description
Further information about the wider research project can be available upon request.
ABOUT THE TEAM
This role is supervised by the Principal Investigator, Dr Helen Williams, Associate Professor of English Literature and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow. She is a book historian specialising in the recovery of hidden labour in the book trades. The role will be supported and mentored by Dr Diletta De Cristofaro, Assistant Professor of English Literature, and specialist in contemporary writings. At the British Library Boston Spa, the candidate will be line managed by Chloe Hemsley, Legal Deposit Publisher Liaison and supported by Stella Wisdom, Digital Curator for Contemporary British Collections.
This Research Project sits in the Department of Humanities, within the School of Humanities and Social Sciences:
Humanities at Northumbria brings together 80 academic staff and 800 students in English Literature, Creative Writing, English Language, History and Music.
As Postdoctoral Research Assistants in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the appointees will join a thriving research environment and one of the most exciting, growing, Book History communities in the UK. Beyond Dr Williams’s research team, the School currently hosts two other teams dedicated to Future Leaders Fellowships in Global History and many more early-career researchers funded through charities, research councils or Northumbria’s own ‘Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellows’ scheme.
Research mentoring and peer support are available for all, and the interdisciplinary research culture of the School is nurtured through our vibrant Institute for the Humanities, in which the team working with Dr Williams will play a full part.
ABOUT YOU
Applicants should hold a PhD in a related discipline (e.g. Literature, History, Art History, Publishing, Information Science).
The successful candidate will be based at Northumbria University's Newcastle campus whilst regularly visiting the British Library at Boston Spa (and potentially St Pancras).
Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in the museums, galleries, archives and library sector and potential and enthusiasm for developing skills more widely in related areas.
Northumbria University and the British Library are keen to encourage applications from a diverse range of people, from different backgrounds and career stages, and particularly welcome those currently underrepresented in postdoctoral research.
Further information about the requirements of the role is available in the person specification and in the project overview document.
If you would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact Dr Helen Williams, helen.williams@northumbria.ac.uk
To apply for this vacancy please click 'Apply Now'. Your application should include a covering letter, a CV, and a short Responsible AI statement.
Please note that this project does not permit the use of AI for research or for writing.
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