Poet in Residence

The University of Surrey is delighted to announce a renewal of the Surrey Poetry Fellowship, as part of the institution’s longstanding commitment to establishing Guildford as a centre for the creation, performance, publication and study of poetry.

This year’s poet in residence will build upon the legacy of the university’s first teacher of poetry, Morag Morris, and the work of previous Surrey Poetry Fellows, Amy De’Ath, Sophie Robinson, Stephen Mooney, Jessica Pujol, Nicholas Johnson, Prudence Chamberlain, Jow Lindsay-Walton, James Davies, Verity Spott, Robert Kiely, Karenjit Sandhu, Briony Hughs and Peter Jaeger.

The Poet in Residence will play a key role in organising the Surrey Poetry Festival, will organise five or six regular poetry workshops for students and possibly other members of the university and beyond, will introduce the guest speaker at the Morag Morris Poetry Lecture, and may participate in other projects within the Department. The postholder’s first objective, however, will be to write poetry which engages with the research culture in the department, particularly in the field of contemporary and innovative literature. See https://www.surrey.ac.uk/school-literature-languages

The Poet in Residence will also convene and teach the 1st Year Understanding Poetry module offered by the Department of Literature and Languages.

The current expectation is that the post-holder will need to be present on campus to deliver the poetry workshops (five to six spread across both semesters) as well as to teach classes on the Understanding Poetry module on one or two mornings or afternoons per week over Semester Two (February to May 2026), as well as convening the module (this will involve responding to student queries about the module via email in a timely fashion and having a regular online office hour for student consultations). The teaching semester is 11 weeks long.

Overall, this part-time post will amount to appx 65-70 hours for poet in Residence work, plus module teaching hours over the course of the academic year amounting to appx 49 hours.

An honours postgraduate degree or equivalent professional qualification is required. A postgraduate qualification/teaching qualification would also be desirable. Teaching experience and event management experience is essential. Good organisational and IT skills are necessary as well as the ability to work independently.

Informal enquiries may be made to Dr Stephen Mooney, s.mooney@surrey.ac.uk

For more information and to apply online, please download the further details and click on the 'apply online' button above.

Closing date for applications: Monday, 16th June 2025

Interviews will take place: Monday, 30th June 2025, 10am-12pm, 3pm-4:20pm slots.

At Surrey, we are committed to providing an inclusive environment that offers equitable opportunities for all, in the pursuit of Surrey’s vision to be a leading global University. We work together to create a truly inclusive culture. We place great value on diversity and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. We are seeking to increase the diversity within our community and would particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups, such as people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and people with disabilities. Appointments will always be made on merit.

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