School of Languages, Linguistics and Film
Lecturer in Comparative Literature (Teaching & Scholarship)
Further Particulars
The School of Languages, Linguistics and Film at Queen Mary University of London intends to make a fixed-term one-year appointment a Lectureship in Comparative Literature (Teaching and Scholarship). The successful candidate should be able to take up his or her appointment by 1 September 2016, or as soon as possible thereafter.
The College
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is one of the largest Colleges of the University of London and prides itself on the high quality of its academic teaching and research. The College is entirely independent and self-governing, funded directly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. QMUL has around 17,840 students studying for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in three faculties: Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Engineering, and the School of Medicine and Dentistry. Its Strategy 2014 commits the College to building on its distinctive position as a leading research-based higher education institution with a strong commitment to engagement in its London location. In 2012 QMUL joined the Russell Group, which represents 24 leading UK universities; it performed very strongly in the REF 2014 assessment of research quality in UK higher education institutions.
The College has its roots in four older colleges: Queen Mary College, Westfield College, St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College and The London Hospital Medical College. The main campus at Mile End was historically the home of Queen Mary College, which began life in the 1880s as the People’s Palace, a philanthropic attempt to provide East Londoners with a centre of education, cultural and social activities. The College is situated on four main campuses. The Mile End and Whitechapel campuses are sited just one mile and two miles respectively from the City of London, and only a short journey from other parts of central London. The West Smithfield and Charterhouse Square campuses are located on historic sites in the City of London itself. The College identifies strongly with both its international ambition and its regional context; it is actively committed to participating in the development and regeneration of its local community. In addition to the College’s strong local links in the East of London, QMUL has a distinct transnational character, making for a stimulating and cosmopolitan atmosphere.
The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
The Faculty was created in 2010 to support and enhance the work of its eight very successful Schools. The Schools within the Faculty are: Business and Management; Economics and Finance; English and Drama; Geography; History; Languages, Linguistics and Film; Law; and Politics and International Relations. The Faculty is committed to achieving a ranking within the top ten UK universities for most of its research areas by 2020, and to placement within the top decile of UK universities in the National Student Survey.
The School of Languages, Linguistics and Film
The School is located in the Arts One and Bancroft Buildings on the Mile End campus. It currently consists of 54 academic members of staff, as well as around 60 academic-related staff. The current Head of School is Professor Adrian Armstrong. There are Chairs of departments immediately responsible for particular areas (Comparative Literature and Culture, Film Studies, French, German, Iberian and Latin American Studies, Linguistics, Russian and the Language Centre). Support staff currently include 17 full- or part-time administrators and assistants. There are excellent technical facilities provided for Film Studies, Linguistics and language teaching, including a multi-media language resources centre, equipped with digital language laboratories and staff resources rooms, a linguistics laboratory with behavioural testing suites (including eye-tracking, sound proof recording, and access to ERP equipment), a state-of-the-art 41-seat cinema, two film studios, two edit suites and professional film production and post-production equipment. In pursuance of its Strategic Plan (2011-16), the School offers intellectually challenging single and joint honours undergraduate programmes in Comparative Literature, Film Studies, French, German, Hispanic Studies, Linguistics and Russian, as well as joint honours programmes involving Catalan Language and Portuguese. The School is responsible for postgraduate taught programmes in Anglo-German Cultural Relations, Comparative Literature, Documentary Film, Film Studies, Linguistics, and Applied Linguistics for English Language Teaching.
The School has an excellent record in research and teaching, as shown by its consistently high performance in research assessment exercises, with strong evidence of national, international and world-class recognition in all its disciplines. The School's research strategy is to produce high-quality research in literature, film, linguistics, cultural studies, and intellectual history.
The School has a thriving research culture. There is a wealth of seminars on a wide variety of relevant themes, and several annual lectures. The School currently has some 50 research students. QMUL’s Doctoral College awards research studentships annually on a competitive basis. The Doctoral College works in partnership with academic Schools and Institutes, the Researcher Development team at the Centre for Academic and Professional Development (CAPD), Queen Mary Careers, and the Students’ Union, to offer a wide range of flexible training and development activities, careers support and social events for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. A Graduate Centre, providing state-of-the-art teaching, study, social and IT space, will be built at the Mile End campus in the near future. The Lock-Keeper’s Cottage provides comfortable study areas, networked computer facilities, a seminar room, and a common room for PhD students in the School and in the School of English and Drama. The School is ideally placed to benefit from the incomparable research facilities available in London: there are good holdings in the Library at QMUL, to which can be added the libraries of the various other colleges of the University, the University of London Library (Senate House), the British Library, the Institute of Modern Languages Research, the British Film Institute, and the many other specialized libraries and institutes in the capital city.
The Department of Comparative Literature and Culture
Comparative Literature degrees have been offered in combination with a modern language, Film Studies, Linguistics, or History in the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film since 2006-07 and as a single honours programme since 2008-09. The undergraduate programme developed from the research interests of various staff from across the School in comparative and interdisciplinary studies, leading to collaboration in research and teaching, and resulting in the establishment of Comparative Literature and Culture as a fully independent department within the School in Spring 2010. Members of the department currently include Dr Will McMorran, Dr Angus Nicholls (Chair), Professor Leonard Olschner, Dr Shital Pravinchandra, Professor Galin Tihanov, and Dr Kiera Vaclavik. A new MA in Comparative Literature began in September 2012, and a PhD programme in Comparative Literature was launched in 2014.
Colleagues in other departments involved in Comparative Literature currently include Professor Adrian Armstrong, Professor Edward Hughes, Professor Shirley Jordan, and Dr Anna Kemp (French); Dr Robert Gillett, Professor Rüdiger Görner, and Dr Astrid Köhler (German); Dr Elena Carrera, Professor Omar García, Professor Parvati Nair, and Dr Rosa Vidal Doval (Iberian and Latin American Studies); Dr Jeremy Hicks and Professor Andreas Schönle (Russian).
The appointment
The appointee will be expected to deliver teaching and assessment across both undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes. S/he should have experience in teaching in the field of Comparative Literature,with a special emphasis on literary and cultural theory. Duties will include convening and teaching undergraduate modules, contributing to MA provision and undertaking administrative roles as required within the Department of Comparative Literature. The successful candidate will also be expected to contribute to the life of the School in a more general way, for instance by undertaking appropriate administrative and pastoral duties at School level. The post does not have a research element.
Job Profile
Core job informationJob Title / Lecturer in Comparative Literature (one year fixed term)
School / Languages, Linguistics and Film / Department: / Comparative Literature and Culture
Career Family / Academic (Teaching and Scholarship) / Grade / 5
Working hours per week / 1.00 FTE / Appointment period / 01.09.2016 – 31.08.2017
Reports to (job title) / Head of School / Current location / Mile End
Job purpose (Why does the job exist? What is it there to achieve or deliver?)
The post holder will be required to convene two compulsory undergraduate modules: Understanding Culture: An Introduction to Cultural Theory (at first year level), and The Scene of Reading (second year level) as well as managing a team of teaching assistants on these modules. Teaching of Understanding Culture will involve a sophisticated understanding of cultural theory of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including post-colonial theory, the Frankfurt School, and British cultural studies. The Scene of Reading is a second year introductory course on the theme of the reader, and requires knowledge of structuralist and post-structuralist literary theory and reader-response theory as well as the capacity to apply these theoretical models to European and non-European literary texts. The successful candidate may also be required to teach as needed on the MA in Comparative Literature and on other undergraduate modules such as European Literature and its Contexts, Introduction to Literature and Introduction to Comparison.
In addition to this the candidate will be expected to undertake administrative roles within the department as needed.
The post holder will be subject to the overall supervision of the Head of School who, in conjunction with him/her, will agree specific teaching and administrative duties and responsibilities and advise on career development.
This post has no research component.
Knowledge, Skills & Experience (work experience, qualifications, specialist training, key skills, disposition)
Requirements / Essential/Desirable
Qualifications / 1. Class 2.1 degree or above (or foreign equivalent) in a relevant field
2. PhD (completed or very near completion), or equivalent qualification, in a relevant field / Essential
Essential
Experience / 1. Experience of teaching at undergraduate level
2. Experience of teaching at postgraduate level
3. Experience of administration in higher education / Essential
Desirable
Desirable
Knowledge, skills & abilities / 1. Evidence of ongoing research activity at a high level
2. Ability to contribute teaching that will meet UG and PG teaching needs in Comparative Literature
3. Ability to work independently and show initiative, and to work collaboratively
4. Ability to prioritize and balance competing demands
5. Ability to undertake supervision of postgraduate students
6. Responsiveness to feedback
7. Knowledge of Comparative Literature pedagogy and research horizons
8. Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build effective relationships with colleagues and students
9. Presentation of specialist material in a logical, coherent and interesting manner, both to students and to fellow specialists.
10. Ability to teach at any level within area of expertise, and across a range of subjects at a more introductory level, and demonstrate enthusiasm and commitment in the process of teaching.
11. Appropriate level of skill in use of IT / Essential
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Essential
Essential
Desirable
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Essential
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Essential
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Essential
Attitude & disposition / 1. Ability to work constructively and flexibly with colleagues
2. Enthusiasm for academic work
3. Ability to communicate effectively at all levels
4. Ability to organise co-operatively and efficiently
5. Professional attitude towards work
6. Willingness to assume appropriate load of teaching and administration
7. Willingness to teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses at all levels / Essential
Essential
Essential
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Essential
Other circumstances / Availability by 1 September 2016 / Desirable
Freedom to Act & Decision Making (depth of control, supervision received, use of judgement & initiative, analytical ability)
Main Duties and Responsibilities of the Role
Teaching
1. To organise and undertake teaching of undergraduate students in the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film as agreed with the Chair of the department of Comparative Literature under the overall supervision of the Head of School; this includes providing lectures, classes, and seminars, in a variety of combinations.
2. To organise and undertake teaching and supervision of MA students in the School under the direction of the relevant MA convenor, the Chair of the department of Comparative Literature, and the Head of School.
3. To set and mark examinations and coursework as appropriate, and attend examiners’ meetings.
Administration & Management
1. To undertake such administrative and other duties as are required by the Head of School.
2. To offer pastoral care and academic advice to students.
3. To attend meetings of the School and department, as well as those of other committees and relevant College and University boards as agreed with the Head of School.
General
1. To comply with College, School and departmental policies.
2. To undertake such other duties as may be reasonably expected by the Head of School.
3. To attend courses and other activities associated with staff and professional development.
4. To carry out responsibilities with due regard to the College’s Equal Opportunities and Health and Safety policies.
Working Environment (knowledge of special working practices, breadth of management skill required, customer impact, responsibility, efficiency)
Teaching
1. Contribute to innovations in teaching and learning through the development of teaching materials, of forms of pedagogy, or of appropriate teaching collaborations.
Administration & Management
1. Comply with relevant College policies and regulations regarding financial matters, harassment, equal opportunities, public interest disclosure, health and safety, intellectual property, data protection or any other rules, regulations or codes binding on the member of staff.
2. Participate in the College Appraisal Scheme and demonstrate a commitment to continuing professional development.
3. Undertake such other reasonable duties as may be required by the Head of School from time to time.
Freedom to Act & Decision Making (depth of control, supervision received, use of judgement & initiative, analytical ability)
Teaching
1. Organise and undertake teaching in the School as agreed with the Head of the School; this includes providing lectures, classes, and seminars, in a variety of combinations.
2. Set and mark examinations and coursework as appropriate, including attending examiners’ meetings.
3. Use experience and knowledge (and an understanding of students’ backgrounds and abilities) to design, deliver and assess teaching and learning.
Communication & Networking (liaison with others, type and level of communications)
Administration and Management
1. Attend School meetings as required as well other relevant College meetings and boards, as agreed with the Head of School.
With staff at Queen Mary within Department and School:
1. Liaise with academic colleagues over collaborative teaching, orally and in writing, in order to ensure efficient and successful course delivery as appropriate.
2. Liaise with, instruct and support part-time staff who contribute to School teaching programmes through written communication, formal and informal oral discussions and appraisal, both preceding and during term time.
3. Contribute to groups such as the Student-Staff Liaison Committee, or Teaching and Learning Committee.
With staff at Queen Mary outside the School:
1. Liaise with other administrative directorates in the College in order to support effective research, (e.g. Joint Research Management Office), teaching (e.g. Information Services, Dyslexia and Disability Service or the Registry), and knowledge transfer (e.g. Innovation and Enterprise regarding Intellectual Property protection, exploitation and other Knowledge Transfer).
With students:
1. Support, teach, advise and facilitate the learning of students in formal teaching sessions (e.g. lectures, seminars, fieldwork, tutorials, and one-to-one supervision) to help them achieve their best potential. Oral instruction, discussion, advice and response, written notes, questions, comments and feedback in a variety of media. Both in term time, and to a more limited extent, out of term time. Capacity to act as personal tutor to students.
2.
With external contacts:
1. Develop relationships with external organisations to maximise opportunities for Knowledge Transfer, for example:
· External teaching collaborations
· Student placements with external organisations
· Consultancy or policy advice given to business, professional bodies, government or regulatory bodies, not-for-profit organisations, or other users of research
Finance/Resource Management (budgeting, forecasting)
People Management (supervisory responsibility, human relations skills)
Teaching
· Supervise teaching assistants and other teaching support staff as may be required.
· Take pastoral responsibility for students in the School as assigned, and to support students in key aspects of personal development planning and the acquisition of relevant skills.
This job description sets out the duties of the post at the time it was drawn up. Such duties may vary from time to time without changing the general character of the duties or level of responsibility entailed. Such variations are a common occurrence and cannot of themselves justify a reconsideration of the grading of the post.