Appointment of a Research Officer in European Waterscapes as Cultural Heritage (0.7 FTE)
The school The University is committed to transforming the lives and experiences of people and their environments through research that drives positive change and economic and social benefits. Based in the College of Life, Health and Physical Sciences, The School of Environment and Technology is focussed on producing applied, multi-disciplinary research that informs policy, practice and benefits the student experience.
Based in the Cockcroft Building on the Moulsecoomb site, there are 49.25 academic, 6.1 research, 7.9 technical and 12.2 administrative staff within the school covering a wide range of activities within Geography, Geology, the Built Environment and Civil Engineering.
Members of staff are active in their professional fields, acting as external examiners, validation panel members and HEFCE assessors.
Research
The School specialises in multi/interdisciplinary applied research which is grouped around 5 broad themes:-
· Applied geosciences
· Ecology,landscape and pollution management
· Society, space and environment
· Ground, water and structural engineering
· Sustainable construction and environmental planning
Staff within each of these themes also contribute to the Aquatic Research Centre which is an interdisciplinary centre focusing on resolving key issues associated with marine and freshwater systems in both the natural and built environment.
In the 2014 REF 40% of the staff from the School were submitted via 4 Units of Assessment (B7 – Earth Systems & Environmental Sciences -12.25 fte, C22 – Social Work and Social Policy – 2.0 fte; C26 – Sport & Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism – 2.0 fte, D34 – Art & Design: History, practice and theory – 3.0 fte) and the following quality profile was generated:-
4* = 11.2% 3* = 50.9% 2* = 34.0% 1* = 3.6% U/C = 0.3%
The School attracts around £1 million of external funding each year from UK Research Councils (EPSRC, NERC, AHRC), the European Union, local and national government (DEFRA, Environment Agency, SDNPA) and industry. In many cases staff within the School are leading large multi-partner European projects and they play a key role in the peer review process (e.g.RCUK Review College) and in academic societies hosting national and international conferences.
The school provides an excellent environment to support the development of early career researchers with pump priming funds being made available to develop research activities. The School also supports in excess of 60 postgraduate research students and postdoctoral researchers.
Courses
The school offers a wide range of research led courses to over 1200 students at Masters and Undergraduate Degree level which cover the subject areas of architectural technology, building surveying, construction management, civil engineering, environmental sciences, geography, geology and environmental management.
The undergraduate programmes are modular in structure and split into two semesters of 15 weeks’ duration. All of the courses make use of fieldwork and industrial placements and these are integrated into the teaching programme. Many of the courses are accredited by professional bodies (ICE, RICS, IEMA, Geol Soc) and have key transferable skills integrated into the programme. As a consequence the graduating students have an excellent record in securing appropriate employment.
Staff within the school also have close links with industry, the local community and the relevant professions, with highly qualified staff offering consultancy, short courses and CPD opportunities to the South East region.
Facilities
The school is strongly supported by the university and as a consequence has seen significant investment (£8.3 million) in new laboratories and capital equipment over the last five years. Key facilities include:
· Geochemical suite (XRD, XRF, XPS, AAS, ICP-OES, ICP-MS)
· Geology Laboratory
· Environmental Sciences Laboratory
· Public Health Laboratory
· Research Laboratory
· Hydraulics laboratory with 6 flumes
· Experimental River basin
· Heavy Structures Laboratory
· Geotechnicial laboratory including a centrifuge
· Concrete laboratory
· Drawing Studio
· Computer Laboratories including Autocad and GIS
· Surveying Equipment (Total Stations, dGPS)
· Field based monitoring equipment including a 4 wheel drive vehicle and coring equipment
· Instrumented monitoring sites for hydrogeology, wetlands and estuarine environments.
The refurbishment of the Cockcroft Building provides new offices, laboratories and social learning spaces as well as providing a building with a low carbon footprint.
Support Staff
The academic activities are supported by a range of administrative and technical staff. The laboratories and computer systems are supported by highly qualified technical instructors who support teaching and research activities. Similarly the teaching and research administrative activities are supported by the School Office together with two Student Support Tutors. In addition the school can call upon support from the Centre for Collaboration and Partnership which focuses on working with industry (KTPs) and student placements.
The Division of Geography and Geology
Staff in the Division of Geography and Geology integrate research and teaching across the full spectrum of geography, earth and environmental sciences. There is also growing expertise in archaeology.
Research
The 32.3 staff within the Division are all research active and 60% were submitted in the 2014 REF. The research is applied in nature and it has been judged to have outstanding impact with considerable societal reach. Our staffing policy was viewed positively in terms of its commitment to equality and diversity and the specialist support it provides for early career staff. There are currently 35 MPhil/PhD students directly supervised by staff within the Division.
More details on research themes and successes are provided on the School website http://www.brighton.ac.uk/set/research/ and within the University of Brighton publication Making Research Matter https://www.brighton.ac.uk/research/research-films-and-publications/making-research-matter/index.aspx
Academic staff
The successful candidate will be joining a dynamic team of 32 academic staff supported by 3 postdoctoral research fellows and 3 research assistants. The research foci of the current full time academic staff within the Division are summarised below, with further details available via the individual staff web pages at http://www.brighton.ac.uk/set/contact/.
Professor Philip Ashworth
Research focuses upon river dynamics, hydraulics and depositional style. He currently works on large sand-bed braided rivers in Argentina and Canada with NERC and oil industry support.
Dr Graeme Awcock
Research focuses on the analysis and utilisation of satellite remote sensing imagery. He is particularly interested in engaging in collaborative research with industry using mechanisms such as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.
Dr Gary Bilotta
Research focuses upon the interactions between hydrology, geomorphology and ecology. He is particularly interested in the effects of particulate matter on freshwater ecosystems.
Dr Matthew Brolly
Research focuses on the use of active remote sensing techniques to infer forest parameters and inform on the dynamics of vegetated surfaces.
Professor Kath Browne (Assistant Head Publicity and Recruitment)
Research focuses upon social and cultural geographies and geographies of difference. She is particularly interested in geographies of genders, sexes and sexualities, sport and leisure.
Dr Niall Burnside
Research focuses upon the development of Geographical Information Systems for landscape evaluation and the wider use of GIS in habitat suitability mapping.
Dr Jon Caplin
Research focuses upon the microbiological quality of recreational waters and on developing methods to rapidly identify and quantify aquatic pollution incidents.
Dr Chris Carey
A geo-archaeologist with research interests in archaeometallurgy, geoprospection and the preservation of archaeological sites in fluvial systems.
Dr James Cole
An archaeologist with research interests in hominin behaviour through the material culture/fossil record and Palaeolithic archaeology from a landscape perspective.
Professor Andrew Church
Research focuses upon tourism and leisure geographies. His research has included projects on leisure and natural resource management and public access to the countryside.
Professor Andy Cundy
Research focuses upon the development of new technologies for contaminated land remediation, recent tectonics and coastal change.
Dr Leila Dawney
Research focuses on the geographies of landscape, embodiment, practice and performativity, migration, racism and postcolonial cultural forms.
Dr James Ebdon
Research focuses upon the development and implementation of novel low-cost tools for identifying sources of bacterial, viral and chemical pollutants in aquatic environments.
Dr Jenny Elliott
Research focuses upon sustainable development in the developing world. She is also researching curriculum change in HE with respect to education for sustainable development.
Dr Becky Elmhirst
Research focuses upon the social geography of sustainable development. Her main interests concern natural resource management, migration and gender in Southeast Asia.
Dr Paul Gilchrist
Research focuses on the historical geographies of leisure and culture, and on the geographies of contemporary lifestyles.
Dr Laurence Hopkinson (Reader)
Research focuses upon natural analogue-based carbon sequestration technologies, electrokinetic treatment of contaminated land and laboratory synthesis of industrial minerals.
Dr Chris Joyce (Reader)
Research focuses upon the environmental management and biogeography of wetlands, particularly wet grasslands, floodplains and saline lagoons, with studies in Europe and the USA.
Dr Jason Lim
A social and cultural geographer whose research interests lie in the politics and ethics of difference in everyday life.
Dr Lorna Linch
Research focuses on glacial sedimentology and in particular micromorphological analysis of glacial sediments.
Dr Hannah Macpherson
Research focuses ondisability, the body, nature andlandscape. Her work draws onpost-structural and post-phenomenological theory and contributes to debates on the body and non-representational geography.
Dr Antonios Marsellos
A structural geologist with research interests in the active tectonics of the Aegean and the use of GIS and remote sensing in earth sciences.
Dr Norman Moles (Head of Division)
Research focuses upon metals in the environment, including the formation of metallic ore deposits in sedimentary environments and the dispersal of metallic materials in soils.
Professor David Nash (Head of Research)
Research focuses upon soils and geomorphology in arid and semi-arid regions and the evidence for Holocene to recent environmental change in southern Africa.
Professor Neil Ravenscroft (Director of Postgraduate Studies)
Research focuses on the geographies and dynamics of communities, with a particular interest in food and farming communities. Neil also has a long-standing research interest in strategic planning for water related recreation.
Dr Kirsty Smallbone (Assistant Head Quality)
Research focuses upon the distribution and dispersion of particulate air pollution and the associated risks to human health.
Dr Martin Smith
Research focuses upon the geochemistry of crustal fluids, particularly in relation to the formation and global distribution of ore deposits.
Professor Huw Taylor
Research focuses upon the health hazards associated with recreational waters, and the development of methods to distinguish sources of water pollution.
Dr Phillip Teasdale
Research focuses on recent sea level change, coastal and estuarine sediment processes, environmental geochemistry, radiometric dating and environmental radioactivity and marine micropalaeontology.
Dr Stewart Ullyott
Research focuses upon the development of silicified Cenozoic sediments, with particular interest in the origins of sarsens and puddingstones in southern Britain.
Dr Raymond Ward
An environmental scientist with research focus on the evolution of coastal wetlands in response to environmental changes.
Dr Judith Watson
Research focuses on Local labour markets, education and training markets, urban education and ethnicity and qualifications development.
Dr Ryan Woodard
Research focuses on recycling schemes, waste awareness and education, waste prevention and waste management.
Job Sharing The University of Brighton welcomes job sharers. Job sharing is a way of working where two people share one full-time job, dividing the work, responsibilities, pay, holidays and other benefits between them proportionate to the hours each works, thereby increasing access to a wide range of jobs on a part-time basis.
Potential job sharers do not have to apply with a partner. However, if a post is to be operated as a job share there must be at least two suitable applicants who wish to share the job.
A job share appointment will only be made if it has been demonstrated that both shortlisted applicants can do the job to the required standards and within a working pattern of hours that is agreeable to all parties. If one applicant is unsuitable, neither can be appointed unless an alternative potential job sharer has been shortlisted.
When applying as a job sharer please indicate this on your application form. Please also indicate on the additional information tab whether you are applying with a job share partner and the name of that person. It would also be useful if you could indicate whether you would be interested in the post on a full-time basis if no suitable partner can be found. If you have indicated that you would be willing to take up the position on a full-time basis then the normal recruitment procedure will be followed.
If you are interested in appointment on a job share basis, please contact Human Resources for a copy of the university's policy, procedure and guidelines for job sharing. Alternatively staff in Human Resources will be happy to answer any queries you may have.
The Job The Research Officer (AC1), will be expected to use a range of research methods to support a new EU Joint Programme Initiative (JPI) Heritage+ project on ‘European Waterscape Heritage. Re-evaluating European Minor Rivers and Canals as Cultural Landscapes’ (EUWATHER). This is a 24 month project with partners in Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, in addition to the University of Brighton.
At Research Officer level (AC1), staff are expected to be using a range of basic research methods to support research projects, including assisting with dissemination of results.
Research Officers are expected to:
· Support the research of others by undertaking basic research for example by contributing to the planning; preparing, setting up, conducting and recording the outcome of experiments and field work; developing questionnaires and conducting surveys; conducting literature and database searches; co-ordinating information, assessing its value and making recommendations; and administration of smaller project budgets including advice on cost-effective expenditure;
· Plan own day-to-day research activity within the framework of the agreed programme, co-ordinating with the work of others;
· Liaise with research colleagues, project partners and support staff on routine matters and to gather or exchange information;
· Deal with problems which may affect research objectives and contribute to decisions affecting the work of the team;
· Analyse and interpret results of own research and generate original ideas based on outcomes;
· May assist on collaborative projects by tracking progress in each institution against grant requirements;
· Write up results of own research and contribute to the production of research reports and publications;