Reference: ARTS444921
Interview Date: Wednesday, 8th December 2021
Closing Date: Thursday, 25th November 2021
Job Type: Research
Department: Classics & Archaeology
Salary: £31406 to £35326 per annum (pro-rata if applicable) depending on skills and experience.
We are seeking a Research Fellow for the Creative Adaptive Solutions for the Treescapes Of Rivers (CASTOR) project to work with Dr Hannah O’Regan in the Department of Classics and Archaeology, University Park Campus, University of Nottingham.
The CASTOR project is highly interdisciplinary and is funded by Natural Environment Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council under the Future of UK Treescapes Programme (NERC grant NE/V021117/1). The project is being led by Dr Matthew Dennis (University of Manchester).
The CASTOR project aims co-produce knowledge and identify pathways to resilient riparian treescapes by:
- Mapping the potential for riparian treescape expansion in the UK and identifying ecological, historical and socio-economic connections associated with riparian corridors;
- Mapping literary, historical, ecological, and cultural heritage values in the context of expanding/changing treescapes;
- Exploring the use of Social Arts Practice and participatory methods to co-produce knowledge on multi-scalar perceptions, values and motivations associated with riparian treescapes;
- Critically evaluating financial incentives and opportunities for stakeholders; engaging with land-managers in rural areas;
- Developing alternative scenarios (explored through virtual reality, arts installations, workshops and web-based GIS) related to natural and assisted regeneration (rewilding) of river corridors;
- Developing spatial models (of connectivity, hydrology, species diversity, regeneration stage) to assess the resilience of riparian treescapes, as self-organizing systems;
- Exploring through engagement with arts practitioners (e.g. creative writing, artists in residence) the community connections – temporal/spatial – to riparian woodlands.
These aims will be achieved through six work packages: (1) Building a better baseline for “natural” functioning riparian treescapes; (2) Changing water storage and management; (3) Valuation of outcomes for the expansion of riparian treescapes; (4) Participatory approaches to capturing long-term cultural landscape perception; (5) Storytelling for identifying and supporting stewardship and care of Treescapes; (6) Spatial ecology of resilient treescapes.
The successful candidate will be contributing to Work Package 1 – Building better baselines, by identifying the extent and impact of anthropogenic landscapes from the Neolithic – medieval periods in key regions of northern England. This will involve collating and analysing geospatial datasets alongside archaeological, archaeozoological and archaeo/palaeobotanical data. In doing so, we will establish the likely local palaeoenvironmental parameters for these key regions through time and will work closely with other members of the CASTOR team, particularly at the Universities of Leeds and Manchester to feed these data into the broader CASTOR models. The Nottingham PDRA will also contribute to project dissemination, including (but not limited to) conference presentations, publications and public events.
Applicants should have a PhD or equivalent experience in Environmental Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Quaternary palaeoecology or similar, and knowledge of GIS/ geospatial analyses.
This is a full-time, fixed-term 24 month post. The post starts on 01 January 2022, or as soon as possible thereafter. Job share arrangements may be considered.
The interviews will be held via MS Teams.
Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr Hannah O’Regan: [email protected]. Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted.
Our University has always been a supportive, inclusive, caring and positive community. We warmly welcome those of different cultures, ethnicities and beliefs – indeed this very diversity is vital to our success, it is fundamental to our values and enriches life on campus. We welcome applications from UK, Europe and from across the globe. For more information on the support we offer our international colleagues, see our Moving to Nottingham pages.
For successful international applicants, we provide financial support for your visa and the immigration health surcharge, plus an interest-free loan to help cover the cost of immigration-related expenses for any dependants accompanying you to the UK. For more information please see the our webpage on Financial support for visas and the immigration health surcharge.
