Lecturer - Teaching Focused - School of Government and Society

International Development Department

School of Government and Society

College of Social Sciences

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £40,792 to £48,677. With potential progression once in post to £54,765 a year

Grade 8

Full Time

Fixed Term Contract up to 12 months

Closing date - 3.9.19

Job Summary

You will contribute to teaching and administration. Teaching is likely to include a substantial contribution to: (a) the management, development (including programme/module review) and delivery of teaching and assessment; and (b) enhancement of the student experience or employability. The role will typically also involve developing and advising others, including: (a) providing expert advice to staff and students, (b) supervising and examining PhD students, and (c) developing and advising others on learning and teaching tasks and methods.

Management and administration is likely to involve contributions at Departmental and School level, and/or making an important contribution to some managerial/leadership activities (e.g. working groups) within the University. This may include developing and making substantial contributions to knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, public engagement, widening participation, schools outreach, or similar activities at Department/School level or further within the University.

Main duties

Learning and Teaching

Using a variety of methods in teaching and advising individuals and groups of undergraduates, postgraduates, or CPD students, including (as appropriate):

• Teaching and examining courses at a range of levels, on campus and via distance learning;
• Planning and reviewing your own teaching approaches and encouraging others to do the same;
• Developing programme proposals and making substantial contributions to the design of teaching programmes more widely;
• Where appropriate, undertaking and developing the full range of responsibilities in relation to supervision, marking and examining;
• Developing and advising others on learning and teaching tasks and methods;
• Developing and making substantial contributions to knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, public engagement activities or similar on own specialism that enhances the student experience or employability and which benefits the College and University;
• Devising and supervising projects, student dissertations and practical work.

Management/Administration

Contributing to Departmental/School administration, including:

• Contributing to the administration/management of research and/or teaching across the Department/School;
• Leading and managing a team to devise and implement a new and/or revised process (e.g. new programme or a recruitment drive);
• Advising on personal development of colleagues and students;
• Making a major contribution to some administrative activities within the University (e.g. appeals panels, working groups);
• Managing enterprise, business development, and public engagement activities;
• Developing and making substantial contributions to knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, public engagement, widening participation, schools outreach.

Person Specification

• Normally, a higher degree relevant to the research/teaching area (usually PhD) or equivalent qualifications
• Extensive research/teaching experience and scholarship within subject specialism
• Proven ability to devise, advise on and manage learning/research
• Skills in managing, motivating and mentoring others successfully at all levels

Teaching

• Ability to design, deliver, assess and revise teaching programmes
• Extensive experience and demonstrated success in developing appropriate approaches to learning and teaching, and advising colleagues
• Experience and success in knowledge transfer, enterprise and similar activity that enhances the student experience or employability

Management Administration

• Ability to contribute to School/Departmental management processes
• Ability to assess and organise resources effectively
• Understanding of and ability to contribute to broader management/administration processes

Informal enquiries welcome: Professor Fiona Nunan (Head, IDD) f.s.nunan@bham.ac.uk .

Further Information

International Development Department

The International Development Department (IDD) is looking to appoint a Teaching-focused Lecturer for one year, for the academic year 2019-2020. The successful applicant should have training and experience in an area relevant to the teaching and research of the department, and an ability to teach development theory and practice.

IDD has a reputation for excellence in postgraduate teaching, research and policy advice, with expertise in the politics of development, aid policy and relations, political analysis and leadership, post-conflict reconstruction, and democracy and development.

The department was formed over fifty years ago and delivers postgraduate teaching on campus and via distance learning, in international development and public administration to a vibrant mix of overseas and UK/EU students. Staff in IDD receive funding from diverse sources, including UK Research Councils, the UK Department for International Development, the Leverhulme Trust, the Australian Government and the EU, and are engaged with policy advice at local, national and international levels.

IDD provides a supportive environment, enabling colleagues to engage internationally, build networks and deliver excellent teaching and research. Staff are encouraged and supported to be innovative in their teaching, enabling students to thrive and build firm foundations in the field of international development. Resources and support are provided to encourage and assist staff in writing, grant capture and impact and engagement activities.

In line with the ambitious of the College, we would particularly welcome applications from female and black and minority ethnic candidates who are underrepresented in the School. We are happy to discuss flexible working.

Social Sciences at Birmingham

IDD is located within the School of Government and Society, which is in turn part of the College of Social Sciences. The College is a welcoming place to work. It is also highly successful - with good student satisfaction, an excellent record on employability, and a reputation for thought-provoking research which impacts on all areas of society. Our influence on society dates back to the University's civic roots. A century ago we pioneered business and social work education. More recently, we founded the UK's first University secondary school and we continue to expand our global reach being at the very heart of the University's new campus in Dubai.

The College has an exciting and ambitious growth and diversification plan for the next ten years. This includes investment in new academic posts, leveraging external research income from government, business and philanthropic sources, extending our links with the city and the region, as well as improving the quality of the student experience on campus, overseas and through digital education.

The College is currently home to almost 500 academic staff. Our proportion of female professors and readers has grown in the last three years and we have staff from over 53 countries around the world. But we are committed to doing more to improve equality and diversity and make the College a place that better reflects our city and the wider community. We will do this drawing on the world-leading research carried out in the College on this area, including within centres and institutes such as the Centre for Research in Race and Education (CRRE) and the Department of Inclusion and Special Needs in the School of Education, the Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) in the School of Social Policy, a strong research cluster on inclusivity in work in the Birmingham Business School, and our work on gender and feminist theory in the School of Government and Society.

We are happy to discuss flexible working.

Our offer

We want colleagues who join us to flourish and develop their academic career here.

We start by supplementing an induction session which is run centrally by the University with a structured induction in the College, including offering you an induction buddy who you can ask all those questions you may not want to ask a line manager.

If you are a Lecturer on probation (usually a three year term) we will give you protected time and a reduced workload in the first couple of years so you can really establish your research and/or teaching career. You will also have an academic mentor who will meet regularly with you. We are happy to provide other staff with a mentor if they feel it would be helpful.

We offer developmental programmes (including a series of seminars CoSS Essentials annually) to assist you to develop your career further, and when the time is right, we offer support to assist you in formulating an application for promotion.

We also have excellent support for research, both pre and post-award, for developing publications for the Research Excellence Framework and for impact development.

Social Sciences also has a staff-run Early Career Academic and Research Staff network which is run jointly with the College of Arts and Law and also hosts the WIN:WIN network - a bottom up initiative which has been in place since 2013 convened by and for academic staff which holds termly events. The University's Rainbow Network aims to provide a space for staff and PhD students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning, as well as friends and allies of these communities, to meet and develop contacts across campus, and we are leading work to develop a LGBTQ inclusive curriculum for our students.

We support flexible working, and offer enhanced maternity, parental and adoption leave and staff have access to two on-site nurseries, as well as a parent and carers network (amongst other network groups) . The College has a nursing and quiet room located in the School of Education.

On return from maternity leave we support female staff who can drop either teaching or research for a term in order to re-establish themselves in the workplace.

Our campus

Our beautiful campus is one of our greatest assets. Our 250-acres of parkland give the University an excellent working environment. Transport links are excellent, as we have our own train station on site and we are situated on a main route to the city centre.

Our city

Birmingham is a city on the up. It is one of the youngest cities in Europe in terms of its population profile and also one of the most diverse. It has coupled its proud heritage as the workshop of the world with a modern outlook.

Birmingham is a truly diverse city with a rich cultural mix which is reflected in its restaurants, shops and cultural activities. You can find more information on Birmingham's official visitor website.

Birmingham is within an hour's drive of Stratford-upon-Avon and the Cotswolds. From Birmingham International Airport, more than 50 different airlines operate scheduled services to 100 destinations worldwide. The University has its own dedicated railway station, while 50 million passengers a year use Birmingham New Street Station, and the city will be a major hub for the high-speed rail network. London is 80 minutes away by shuttle service, with trains every 20 minutes.