Foresighters MSCA Cofund Early Stage Researcher

This position is part of the FORESIGHTERS Doctoral Training Programme (Future ORiEnted Skills, Innovation for Governance for Health, Technology, Energy, Cities and Creativity) which will provide world-class advanced research training, with an innovative emphasis on skills such as futures literacy, foresight, systems thinking, citizen engagement, and other transferable capabilities. Each Early-Stage Researcher (ESR) will play an active role within a collaborative inter-disciplinary cohort of researchers to undertake a high impact doctoral research project addressing a significant social, environmental, cultural, or economic issue. ESRs will be awarded a 42-month contract, funded through the prestigious Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) COFUND programme, with match funding provided by a Northern Ireland Department for the Economy studentship.

You will work primarily under the theme of Creativity, undertaking a dedicated research project. Successful appointees will demonstrate and develop skills for working in inter-disciplinary environments and engage with research undertaken across all the thematic areas in FORESIGHTERS.

The Creativity Theme is based on the idea that future is imagined before it can be realised. It will explore how creativity can be further embedded in inter-disciplinary approaches to managing key future challenges; what potential they have for solution-finding and how they can reveal new modes of sustainable creative practice. Under this theme, projects may include a range of artforms and/or new creative technologies working across other disciplines or with non-creative sector partners. They may seek to deploy creative methods, undertake practice use arts, humanities or social sciences approaches to engage across disciplines and sectors in creative thinking.

Interviews are scheduled to take place on Friday 9 October 2026.

More information (including advice about the application and assessment and decision making processes) can be found on https://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/foresighters/.

ESRs will be highly motivated, and expected to deliver high‑quality, high-impact, cutting-edge research, within the field of Futures research. ESRs pro-actively engage with their inter-disciplinary supervisory team, undertake advanced training and collaborate with intersectoral, non-academic partners to help shape the direction of their research.

Essential criteria include (full list available in Job Specification):

• Hold (or be about to be awarded) a degree equivalent to a 1st class or 2.1 Honours degree from a UK Higher Education Provider, or an equivalent qualification from outside the UK that is acceptable to the University.
• Meet MSCA career stage requirement and not yet have been awarded a doctorate level qualification.
• Meet MSCA mobility requirements (i.e. must not have resided or carried out main education and/or employment activity in the UK for more than 12 months in the 3 years prior to appointment).
• Demonstrate competence in written and spoken English in accordance with the University’s English Language Requirements.
• Be eligible and qualified for enrolment in the PhD programme at QUB.
• Sufficient breadth or depth of specialist knowledge in available techniques for investigation of proposed research topic within a Futures framework and in an inter-disciplinary context.
• Possess relevant experience with research methods and techniques appropriate to the proposed project.
• Demonstrable evidence of analytical and problem‑solving abilities relevant to research.
• Able to communicate complex information clearly.

To be successful at shortlisting stage, please ensure you clearly evidence in your application how you meet the essential and, where applicable, desirable criteria listed in the Candidate Information.

This post is available for 42 months in the first instance.

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