UCD Post-doctoral Research Fellow Level 1,

Applications are invited for a Temporary 48-month post of a UCD Post-doctoral Research Fellow Level 1 within UCD School of English, Drama and Film

This Postdoctoral Researcher will work on the Irish Research Council-funded project "Imaginative Literature and Social Trust, 1990-2025" under the supervision of Associate Professor Adam Kelly as the Principal Investigator (PI). The position will focus on the study of representations of social trust in Russian literature (primarily prose fiction) after 1990, as part of a groundbreaking comparative and transnational project studying representations of social trust in American, Irish, and Russian literature in the post-Cold War period.

You will participate in a research team undertaking the first study of social trust to address imaginative literature as its primary archive and body of evidence. Research on trust has accelerated across the social sciences in the past three decades, but while it has long been recognized that trust involves the faculty of imagination, little attention has to date been paid to the insights of imaginative literature. Addressing the literature of three nations - the US, Russia, and Ireland - that have seen significant changes since 1990, this project will marshal the key strengths and methods of literary studies to reshape our understanding of social trust, with a particular focus on the new modes of distributed trust that underpin social life in the global digital age. The project will update Benedict Anderson's famous argument for the novel's importance to the "imagined community" of the nation in order to examine the evolving relationship between the national and the global across three domains: digital communication, economic exchange, and literary circulation. Critically confronting its historical moment, "Imaginative Literature and Social Trust, 1990-2025" will look to literature to understand how social trust functions and how it fails, with a view to identifying better, more justified, and more sustainable forms of trust.

In this role, you will be guided by Associate Professor Kelly and will be expected to take the lead in developing research on Russian literature to be targeted at top international journals. You will also be expected to disseminate research at international conferences and workshops, and to co-organise international conferences at UCD. The project has received funding from the Irish Research Council (IRC) under the Laureate scheme. Interested applicants are welcome to contact the PI informally at the email address given below.

This is a research focused role, where you will conduct a specified programme of research supported by research training and development under the supervision and direction of a Principal Investigator.

The primary purpose of the role is to further develop your research skills and competences, including the processes of publication in peer-reviewed academic publications, the development of funding proposals, the mentorship of graduate students along with the opportunity to develop your skills in research led teaching.

POST DOC LEVEL 1: Salary: €39,522 - €40,083 per annum

Appointment on the above range will be dependent on qualifications and experience

Closing date: 17:00hrs (local Irish time) on 18th July 2022

Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time of 17:00hrs (Local Irish Time) on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system. UCD are unable to accept late applications.

UCD do not require assistance from Recruitment Agencies. Any CV's submitted by Recruitment Agencies will be returned.