Teaching Fellow in Ethics and Political Philosophy

The Role and Department

The Department of Philosophy at Durham University seeks to appoint a talented early-career philosopher to a fixed-term Teaching Fellowship. We particularly welcome applicants with research and teaching interests in the broad field of Ethics and Political Philosophy. Since the Department’s teaching needs may change during the fellowship, we seek applicants who are flexible and have a broad range of teaching interests.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a department that pursues world-leading and world-changing research. The Philosophy Department at Durham University has concentrations of research expertise across four research clusters: Aesthetics, Ethics and Politics; History of Philosophy; Mind, Language and Metaphysics, and Science, Medicine, and Society. It is home to the Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society (CHESS) and has strong links with other interdisciplinary research centres and institutes at Durham.

At postgraduate and undergraduate levels, our students can choose from a wide range of teaching, spanning the whole discipline of philosophy and the history and philosophy of science and medicine. The Department’s undergraduate programmes are to be found among the top 10 in national rankings for philosophy (The Guardian, The Complete University Guide and The Times). The Department has one of the largest PhD programmes in the UK, and many of our students go on to pursue highly successful academic careers.

Benefiting from strong student recruitment, the Department has expanded significantly in recent years, investing in key research areas including philosophy of health and medicine, environmental philosophy and philosophy of Al and information. We are using this opportunity to create a scholarly community that is open, representative, and diverse: our commitment to this is expressed through the work of the Department’s Diversity and Inclusion Group, and our Faculty-level Athena Swan Silve r award. We have strengthened our research culture by consolidating and deepening current areas of strength with new appointments; further developing our collaborations with researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from other disciplines and beyond academia; and using external funding and University research centres and institutes to support innovative research and the environment it needs to flourish.

Applications are invited for a Teaching Fellow in Ethics and Political Philosophy. Teaching duties will include lectures, seminars, and discussion groups, in modules such as Ethics and Values, Political Philosophy, and Issues in Contemporary Ethics. We also have teaching needs in Ancient Philosophy. The teaching fellow will also be required to play an administrative role in the Department, which will be assigned by the Head of Department.

Teaching Fellowships offer the opportunity of valuable experience to those early in their academic careers and the University is keen to maximise the benefit to as many people as possible. The post of Teaching Fellow will involve a significant teaching load, which may extend into the summer period, and there may be related scholarship and the opportunity for administrative duties which relate to education and pedagogy.

The post is for a fixed term only, and it is not anticipated that the post will be extended beyond this fixed term.

The University provides a working and teaching environment that is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate these key principles as part of the assessment process.

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