Postdoctoral Research Associate in Theological Education

The University

At Durham University we are proud of our people.  A globally outstanding centre of educational excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other. We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things professionally and personally.

Across the University we have a huge variety of roles and career opportunities, which together make us a large and successful community, which is a key hub of activity within our region and nationally.  We would be thrilled if you would consider joining our thriving University. Further information about the University can be found here  

The Role and Department

The Department of Theology and Religion is one of the very best in the UK with an outstanding reputation for excellence in teaching, research and employability of our students.   We were recently ranked sixth in the world in the QS World University Subject rankings and we came fourth in the country in the last UK assessment of research.  The Department has a welcoming and collegial atmosphere, and is sited between the Cathedral and the Castle on the World Heritage Site in the centre of the city of Durham.

The Common Awards scheme

In 2013, Durham University was contracted by the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England to provide validation arrangements for a suite of academic programmes in Theology, Ministry, and Mission, offered at a number of Theological Education Institutions (TEIs) around the country, and to provide academic resources and services to staff and students based at these institutions.

The partnership covers more than 500 members of staff and more than 2,500 students spread across TEIs from Exeter to Edinburgh. Students at these TEIs are training for a variety of forms of ministry, lay and ordained, formal and informal, in a number of churches (Anglican, Methodist, URC, Baptist, Pentecostal, etc).

In 2019, the University and the Archbishops’ Council signed a renewed contract for Common Awards, for the period from 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2024; that has since been extended to 31 August 2027.

The Common Awards team includes an academic support team led by Alyson Bird (the Quality Assurance Manager) based in the University’s Curriculum, Learning and Assessment service, and a small academic team currently comprising Prof. Mike Higton (Professor of Theology and Ministry) and Dr Selina Stone (Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Theological Education), based in the Department of Theology and Religion.

The Common Awards team is committed to working with TEIs to create and strengthen learning environments that celebrate diversity and inclusion in theological education. The aim of this strategy is to advance equality through inclusive practice and pedagogy and to encourage a culture of learning where students from diverse backgrounds can feel as though they are not only included but that they truly belong.

Diversifying the Common Awards curriculum

The present post has been created as part of a project to diversify the Common Awards curriculum.

In response to the 2021 report of the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce, From Lament to Action, the Common Awards team is working with the Church of England’s Ministry Development Team and with the TEIs to ensure that the curricula encountered by those training for ministry involve substantial engagement with a wide variety of Global Majority Heritage voices from around the UK, and with a wide variety of voices from across the global church.

There is no general lack of resources (books, articles, videos, podcasts, blogs) in which UK Minority Ethnic/Global Majority Heritage voices speak (though there are some curriculum areas in which UK voices in particular are sparse). The primary challenges lie, instead, in:

• ensuring that such resources get into the hands of those who teach in our TEIs, and into their students’ hands;
• ensuring that those teachers and students are able to engage well with such resources; and
• ensuring that the gift and challenge of such voices is not muted or marginalised by the ways in which they are presented.

The present project will resource the Common Awards team in Durham to help TEIs meet these challenges. It provides for

• gathering existing resources and curating them, to make them easily findable by TEI staff and students;
• creating or commissioning new resources from UKME/GMH scholars in curriculum areas where such voices are under-represented;
• creating new resources to help TEI staff and students make good use of all this material;
• working with TEI staff to ensure that the resources gathered are usable within their teaching, and to help them learn how to use them well; and
• working with TEI staff to identify and overcome barriers in their curricula, pedagogy, and culture to deep engagement with these resources.

Funding for this post was received from the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England.

The Role

Applications are invited for the post of Postdoctoral Research Associate in Theological Education.  This role is full-time, but we will consider requests for flexible working arrangements including potential job shares.

The post-holder will be directly responsible to the Head of Department of Theology and Religion but will work closely with the Professor of Theology and Ministry as part of the Common Awards team.

Applications will be considered from candidates who can demonstrate

• a high level of expertise in engagement with diverse voices in some subject area central to the Common Awards curriculum;
• experience of innovative pedagogical approaches, encouraging students to engage with diverse voices in this subject area; and
• familiarity with current research on cultural and pedagogical barriers to a truly diverse and inclusive curriculum.

We will aim to ensure that the post-holder has expertise that covers different subsets of the main subject areas that are central to CA curricula: e.g., mission, pastoral studies, biblical studies and homiletics, theological reflection and reflective practice, church history, Christian doctrine.

Responsibilities: 

Over the course of three years, and working closely together with the Common Awards team, and with the Church of England’s Ministry Development Team, the post-holder will

•  work with the Professor of Theology and Ministry to develop research methods, and to plan and conduct individual and collaborative research and development projects, that will further the following agenda:
  - to engage with TEI teaching staff to identify their pedagogical approaches, the relevant existing resources and good practice that they employ, and the additional resources they need to diversify the curriculum;
  - to identify, gather, create, commission and curate additional resources, developing methods and materials that will make these resources easily findable by TEI staff and students;
  - to work with TEI staff to ensure that the resources gathered are usable within their teaching, and to help them think well about how to use them;
  - to work with TEI staff to identify and overcome barriers in their curricula, pedagogy, and culture to deep engagement with these resources;
  - to inform all of this work by planning and managing their own research activity into the transformations of theological curricula, pedagogy and culture needed to overcome exclusion and marginalisation on the basis of race, while attending to the intersections with other forms of exclusion and marginalisation;
  
• engage staff and students from around the Common Awards partnership, and other theological educators and potential theological educators, in the co-production, discussion, and dissemination of this research, and to form relationships for future research collaboration;
• deal with problems that may affect the achievement of these research objectives and deadlines by discussing with the Professor of Theology and Ministry and offering creative or innovative solutions;
• understand and convey material of a specialist or highly technical nature to academic and non-academic audiences through the presentation of research papers at conferences and other events;
• prepare high-quality outputs for publication, including papers for submission to peer reviewed journals, under the direction of the Professor of Theology and Ministry;
• contribute to fostering a collegial and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect;
• engage in wider citizenship to support the department and wider discipline;
• engage in continuing professional development by membership of departmental committees, etc. and by attending relevant training and development courses.

This post is fixed-term for three years from 1 September 2023, as that is the limit of the funding available for this project from the Archbishops’ Council.

The post-holder will be employed to work on a research project which will be led by another colleague (the Professor of Theology and Ministry). Whilst this means that the post-holder will not be carrying out independent research in his/her own right, the expectation is that they will contribute to the advancement of the project, through the development of their own research ideas and approaches.

Successful applicants will, ideally, be in post by 1 September 2023.

Contact Information 

Department contact for academic-related enquiries 

For informal enquiries please contact Professor Mike Higton ([email protected]). All enquiries will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Working at Durham 

A competitive salary is only one part of the many fantastic benefits you will receive if you join the University: you will also receive access to the following fantastic benefits: 

•    30 Days annual leave per year in addition to 8 public holidays and 4 customary days per year – a total of 42 days per year.  
•    The University closes between Christmas and New Year. 
•    We offer a generous pension scheme, As a new member of staff you will be automatically enrolled into the University Superannuation Scheme (USS).
•    No matter how you travel to work, we have you covered.  We have parking across campus, a cycle to work scheme which helps you to buy a bike and discount with local bus and train companies.
•    There is a genuine commitment to developing our colleagues professionally and personally.  There is a comprehensive range of development courses, apprenticeships and access to qualifications and routes to develop your career in the University.  All staff have dedicated annual time to concentrate on their personal development opportunities. 
•    Lots of support for health and wellbeing including discounted membership for our state of the art sport and gym facilities and access to a 24-7 Employee Assistance Programme.
•    On site nursery is available and children’s clubs in the summer holidays.
•    Family friendly policies, including maternity and adoption leave, which are among the most generous in the higher education sector (and likely above and beyond many employers).
•    The opportunity to take part in staff volunteering activities to make a difference in the local community
•    Discounts are available via our benefits portal including; money off at supermarkets, high street retailers, IT products such as Apple, the cinema and days out at various attractions. 
•    A salary sacrifice scheme is also available to help you take advantage of tax savings on benefits. 
•    If you are moving to Durham, we can help with removal costs and we have a dedicated team who can help you with the practicalities such as house hunting and schools.  If you need a visa, we cover most visa costs and offer an interest free loan scheme to pay for dependant visas.

Durham University is committed to equality diversity, inclusion and values

Our collective aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and we believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work.  As a University equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are a key part of the University’s Strategy and a central part of everything we do.  We also live by our values and our Staff Code of Conduct.  At Durham we actively work towards providing an environment where our staff and students can study, work and live in a community which is supportive and inclusive. It’s important to us that all of our colleagues are aligned to both our values and commitment to EDI.

We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.  If you have taken time out of your career, and you feel it relevant, let us know about it in your application.  If you are a candidate with a disability, we are committed to ensuring fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. We will make adjustments to support the interview process wherever it is reasonable to do so and, where successful, reasonable adjustments will be made to support people within their role.

Contact information for technical difficulties when submitting your application 

If you encounter technical difficulties when using the online application form, we prefer you send enquiries by email.  Please send your name along with a brief description of the problem you’re experiencing to [email protected]  

Alternatively, you may call 0191 334 6801 from the UK, or +44 191 334 6801 from outside the UK. This number operates during the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 Monday to Friday, UK time.  We will normally respond within one working day (Monday to Friday, excluding UK public holidays).  

University contact for general queries about the recruitment process 

Michele Groark, HR Administrator (Recruitment) [email protected]

How to Apply  

To progress to the assessment stage, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification below. It will be at the discretion of the recruiting panel as to whether they will also consider any desirable criteria, but we would urge candidates to provide evidence for all criteria.  

While some criteria will be considered at the shortlisting stage, other criteria may be considered later in the assessment process, such as questions at interview.  

Submitting your application 

We prefer to receive applications online.   We will update you about your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to make sure you have not missed any of our updates.

What to Submit 

All applicants are asked to submit: 

• a CV and cover letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out below; 
• two of your most significant pieces of written work, published or submitted since 2014; and
• a statement (of no more than 500 words) outlining your approach to transforming theological curricula, pedagogy and culture to overcome exclusion and marginalisation on the basis of race.

Next Steps 

The assessment for the post will include a 20 minute presentation to colleagues on the transformation of theological curricula, pedagogy and culture needed to overcome exclusion and marginalisation on the basis of race. The presentation will be followed by an interview.

In the event that you are unable to attend in person on the date offered, it may not be possible to offer you an interview on an alternative date. 

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.durham.ac.uk/about-us/governance/information-governance/privacy-notices/privacy-notices/job-applicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.   

When appointing to this role the University must ensure that it meets any applicable immigration requirements, including salary thresholds which are applicable to some visas.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

Qualifications

• A doctorate (or be close to submission) in theology, biblical studies, or a related subject.

Experience

• Experience in conducting high quality academic research.
• Demonstrable ability to write material of a quality commensurate with publication in highly-ranked journals.
• Demonstrable ability to present research papers at national and /or international conferences and communicate complex information to specialists and within the wider academic community.
• Demonstrable potential to develop good working relationships with staff in the partner TEIs and church bodies, and to contribute to the development of their theological education provision.
• A track record of excellent engagement with diverse voices in particular subject area central to the Common Awards curriculum (such as mission, pastoral studies, biblical studies and homiletics, theological reflection and reflective practice, church history, or Christian doctrine).
• Experience of innovative pedagogical approaches, which encourage engagement with diverse voices.
• Familiarity with current research on identifying and overcoming cultural and pedagogical barriers to a truly diverse and inclusive curriculum.

Skills

• Demonstrable ability to work cooperatively as part of a team, including participating in research meetings.
• Ability to work independently on own initiative and to strict deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

Desirable Criteria:

Experience

• Strong publication record in peer-reviewed journals, commensurate with stage of career.
• A track record of presenting research at conferences, symposia, or meetings, commensurate with stage of career.
• Demonstrable ability to develop research proposals and designs in collaboration with other academics.
• Familiarity with the church-related theological education sector in the UK, and with the challenges and opportunities facing it.

Skills

• Demonstrable ability to plan and manage independent research. 
• Demonstrable ability to create and edit audio-visual materials for online distribution.
• Demonstrable experience of creative website development.