Lecturer in Early Modern English Literature and Culture

King’s College London is one of England’s oldest and most prestigious universities, founded within the tradition of the Church of England by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington who granted our royal charter in 1829.

King's has a proud history of inspiring and supporting those who seek to solve the world's most pressing problems. For almost 200 years, our community has been deeply rooted in the belief that learning and research should serve society.

This commitment to knowledge with purpose – using our expertise as a force for good – lies at the heart of our core mission at King’s. From research that led to the discovery of the structure of DNA, to developing life-changing therapies and making maths education available to underrepresented groups, we continue to have a transformational impact on society.

Fourteen people from King’s and its associated institutions have been awarded the Nobel Prize , including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for his role in South Africa’s anti-apartheid campaign, and Professor Michael Levitt for his joint work in developing multiscale models for complex chemical systems.

Notable alumni include British sprinter and world-record holder Dina Asher-Smith , biophysicist Dr. Rosalind Franklin , famous for her work in X-ray spectroscopy, and acclaimed children’s writer Sir Michael Morpurgo .

The Faculty of Arts & Humanities at King’s is distinctive in representing exceptional strength in both the longer established disciplines (such as Philosophy, Classics, Theology, English, History, Languages, and Music) and world-leading quality in more recently established fields (such as Digital Humanities, Film, Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts, and Culture, Media and Creative Industries).

The Department of English wishes to appoint a full-time Lecturer in Early Modern Literature for a fixed-term period of 12 months from 1 September 2024. The successful applicant will have a demonstrable research interest in the Early Modern subject area and proven experience of university teaching. They will be able to teach on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules, and although it is not possible to be definitive at the time of writing, these are likely to include the second-year modules 5AAEB092 Premodern Race and Gender, 5AAEB042 A Mad World My Masters: Performing Culture in Jacobean London , and 5ΑΑΕΒ066 The Poetry of Revolution ; the final-year module 6AAEC052 Shakespeare’s London ; and the taught postgraduate module 7AAEM836 Contested Voices , as well as contributing some sessions to the MA core course, 7AAEM641 Working with Early Modern Literary Texts ****. The postholder will also be required to convene the Shakespeare Studies MA , taught jointly between King’s and Shakespeare’s Globe. They will also supervise some UG and MA dissertations, and contribute as personal tutor to the pastoral care of students. They will be responsible to the Head of Department.

The Department of English at King's was one of the first university English departments ever to be established and is acknowledged as world-leading in both teaching and research. Students learn as part of a university that is shaped by research of the highest quality (90 per cent of the department’s research was rated as either ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ in REF 2021), and our undergraduates enjoy a syllabus which spans the seventh century to the present day and includes literature from English speaking countries around the world. At postgraduate level, long-established partnerships , such as that with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre , further enrich our teaching. 

This is fixed term full-time post (35 hours per week) from 1 September 2024-31 August 2025.

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

Desirable criteria

Full details of the role and the skills and experience required, can be found in the attached job description which is provided on the next page.

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit ’ pages.

This role does / does not meet the requirements of the Home Office and therefore we are / are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who require the right to work in the UK.