Research Fellow (After the Single Use)

Fixed term (from January 2025 for a period of 42 months to end no later than August 2029)

Full-time (35 hours per week)

The Opportunity:

You will lead a case study on international governance and regulation of plastics, waste and sustainability in health care, and plan, conduct, analyse, and disseminate primary and secondary historical and ethnographic research. 

The Wellcome-funded ‘After the Single Use: Rethinking Medical Devices for Reuse, Resilience and Renewal’ project will study sustainability transitions within the global medical devices industry, with a focus on the social and environmental impacts of single-use and plastic medical devices, and opportunities and challenges for developing re-usable alternatives.

This post is fixed term from January 2025 for a period of 42 months to end no later than August 2029.  This post is full-time (35 hours per week). A three-month archival research placement in Geneva, Switzerland is required. Travel internationally for ethnographic fieldwork is also required.

Your skills and attributes for success:

• PhD (or equivalent), awarded or submitted prior to application deadline, in social anthropology, history of medicine, science and technology studies or other relevant field (e.g. sociology, geography, history). 
• Demonstrated track record of academic research publication in relevant field. 
• Experience of designing and carrying out either archival and/or ethnographic research. 
• Demonstrable knowledge of global issues and politics related to health care waste, sustainability and single-use plastics, and of relevant fields of literature e.g. waste studies/discard studies.
• Ability to travel internationally for short-term ethnographic fieldwork, and to carry out a three-month archival research placement in Geneva, Switzerland.

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