Postdoctoral Research Fellow

This RENEW funded post is available from 1 April 2023 until 1 April 2026. 

We welcome applications from candidates interested in working part-time hours or job-sharing arrangements.

The post

The College wishes to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to participate in in the ‘Communities’ team of the NERC-funded project “Renewing biodiversity through a people-in-nature approach (RENEW).” The wider RENEW partnership seeks to develop solutions to one of the major environmental challenges for humankind, the renewal of biodiversity. It is funded by NERC and involves 33 project partners. The programme includes academics and partners across environmental sciences, data science, environmental intelligence, social sciences, humanities, arts, and business.

The post entails investigating how creative writing may take participants and communities on a journey from the page to action that renews biodiversity. We want to explore how poetry makes things happen. You will be responsible for co-designing and delivering creative-writing projects with our partners, including The Book Trust, Poetry Society and National Trust. You will produce your own creative outputs as well as lead, deliver and evaluate community engagement projects for which you are responsible. Extending from your research interests and RENEW’s priorities, you will use your public engagement and pedagogical skills to explore how narratives and metaphors for biodiversity may alter according to individual and collective experiences of biodiversity. You will collaborate with ecologists exploring links and gaps between biodiversity and human experiences of it. The holistic evidence drawn from your research will shape our research focus and the narratives RENEW presents to the public.

The successful applicant will work closely with Dr John Wedgwood Clarke and Dr Regan Early in the ‘Communities’ Theme 2 Team, who will be co-ordinating their own creative practice and ecological research into biodiversity mapping and renewal.

Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification on our website for full details of this role.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commitment

With over 27,000 students and 6,400 staff from 180 different countries we offer a diverse and engaging environment where our diversity is celebrated and valued as a major strength. We are committed to creating an inclusive culture where all members of our community are supported to thrive; where diverse voices are heard through our engagement with evidence-based charter frameworks for gender (Athena SWAN), race equality (Race Equality Charter Mark), LGBTQ+ inclusion (Stonewall Diversity Champion) and as a Disability Confident employer. Whilst all applicants will be judged on merit alone, we particularly welcome applications from groups currently underrepresented within our working community. Reasonable adjustments are available for interviews and workplaces.

For further information please contact Prof. John Wedgwood Clarke, j.w.clarke@exeter.ac.uk

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