Postdoctoral Research Associate in the History of Mathematics

Fixed term for 24 months, which could be extended for up to one more year

The Opportunity: 

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in the history of mathematics, within the School of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh. The post is available from 1st September 2025, for 24 months, with a possible extension of at most one year. The starting date can be negotiated. It is a fixed-term, full-time contract. The position is attached to the project “Rethinking the history and the historiography of mathematical symbolism,” which is supported by the British Academy’s Global Professorship held by Karine Chemla (Programme 2023, Award reference: GP23\100312). The project is described here, and the applicant is expected to contribute to at least one of the themes on which the project will focus in the next three years. 

The History of mathematics group at the School of Mathematics of The University of Edinburgh currently consists of Karine Chemla. The project is developed in relation with other partners at The University of Edinburgh (Michael Barany, Richard Oosterhoff), and, at the international level, with researchers such as Agathe Keller, Taro Tokutake (SPHERE, CNRS—University Paris Cité), Toni Malet (Institut d'Història de la Ciència, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and Zhou Xiaohan (Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Beijing), and we will develop further cooperations. In addition to working in collaboration with the grant-holder (Chemla), successful candidates will be encouraged to develop and pursue their own research, as described in the project for which they will have been offered the position. These positions also come with travel and research budgets.

Scholars of all nationalities are welcome to apply.

The post is full-time (35 hours per week); however, we are open to considering part-time or flexible working patterns. We are also open to considering requests for hybrid working (on a non-contractual basis) that combines a mix of remote and regular on-campus working.

Your skills and attributes for success: 

• An excellent research project
• A PhD or equivalent in history, history of science, mathematics, or any discipline relevant for their project, obtained prior to the start date of the position.
• A track record of research excellence, particularly in the subfields of the history of science related to the project.

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