Teaching Fellow, Department of Psychology

Department of Psychology

Grade 7: - £35,333 - £42,155 per annum
Fixed Term - Full Time
Contract Duration: 36 months
Contracted Hours per Week: 35
Closing Date : 17-Sep-2022, 6:59:00 AM 

Durham University

Durham University is one of the world’s top universities, boasting a welcoming and vibrant international community. Durham is an exceptional place in which to base your career. Our strengths across the Arts and Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences see us listed as a top 5 UK and top 100 global university with our students and our world leading academics sitting at the heart of delivering our ground-breaking work. As part of our ambitious strategy we are growing and we look forward to welcoming your application.

About Durham University

As one of the UK’s leading universities, Durham is an incredible place to define your career while enjoying a high quality work/life balance. We are home to some of the most talented scholars and researchers from around the world who are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives.

The University sits in a beautiful historic city where it shares ownership of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral, the greatest Romanesque building in Western Europe. A collegiate University, Durham recruits outstanding students from across the world and offers an unmatched wider student experience.

Less than 3 hours north of London, and an hour and a half south of Edinburgh, County Durham is a region steeped in history and natural beauty. The Durham Dales, including the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, are home to breathtaking scenery and attractions. Durham offers an excellent choice of city, suburban and rural residential locations. If you’d like to find out more about the University, please visit https://www.dur.ac.uk/jobs/recruitment/  

The Department

The Department of Psychology is an internationally recognised centre of research excellence and interdisciplinarity across the breadth of psychological and behavioural science. We are currently ranked in the top 100 of Psychology Departments world-wide according to the QS World Rankings. The department’s research groupings reflect our major areas of activity: Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Science, & Quantitative Social Psychology. Each group also leads a taught Masters programme, in addition to current development of a new Executive Masters in Behavioural Science. These programmes extend our research strengths into current professional practice and the next generation.

There is a vibrant research culture with a departmental weekly research seminar series, regular training opportunities and a commitment to open science. We pride ourselves on being a collegiate and welcoming department, committed to success for all who work here. This is illustrated by our Athena Swan Silver Award received in 2013 and renewed in 2017.

The University is investing heavily in the Department to support a growing undergraduate, taught postgraduate and research postgraduate community. Significant recent investment in staff and new research facilities will continue with planned development of new taught programmes, research centres and leading large scale interdisciplinary projects across the University and the region. The department’s broad approach to the discipline places it in an excellent position to take advantage of emerging opportunities and challenges and our collegiate approach allows staff to work across research areas to provide novel solutions to global problems.

With recent expansion into a second building and over £2M investment in research infrastructure over the past four years, the department has outstanding research facilities. Our major research facilities include a 3T fMRI scanner and mock scanner for piloting and habituating clinical populations, as well as excellent dedicated space for rodent behavioural neuroscience. We also have extensive research labs including dedicated TMS, tDCS, EEG/ERP, eye movement tracking, virtual reality, and various biophysiological recording set-ups. The department also has a large whole-body motion capture lab, a fully equipped molecular diagnostics lab, an echo-attenuated chamber, and a suite of observation labs. Our collegiate approach to research allows all members of staff access across our full range of research facilities, which are supported by award winning IT and mechanical technicians.

The department currently has around 65 academic staff members across our three research groups. The department benefits from substantial dedicated administrative support for research and teaching as well as the support of our award-winning technical team.

We offer a prestigious Psychology undergraduate programme (C800), a new undergraduate programme in Behavioural Science (C803), and contribute to a number of non-single honours degrees, as well as a suite of Masters programmes. We are committed to research-led and small group teaching. Our single honours Psychology programme achieved 91% satisfaction with our students in the 2020 NSS and we are privileged to work with outstanding students who are attracted to Durham from across the globe.

The Role

The Department of Psychology at Durham University is looking to recruit a Teaching Fellow for a fixed-term period of 3 year's. The position will involve delivery of teaching, assessment and supervision, at undergraduate and also postgraduate level. The role will mostly support the department’s undergraduate and masters programmes in Psychology and will require teaching across the breadth of the discipline

Teaching Fellowships offer the opportunity of valuable experience to those early in their academic careers and the University is keen to maximise the benefit to as many people as possible.  The post of Teaching Fellow will involve a significant teaching load, which may extend into the summer period, and there may be related scholarship and the opportunity for administrative duties which relate to education and pedagogy.

The post is for a fixed term only for 3 years, and it is not anticipated that the post will be extended beyond this fixed term.

Successful applicants will, ideally be in post by 1st November 2022.

The University provides a working and teaching environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate these key principles as part of the assessment process.

  Key responsibilities

• Teach modules in appropriate learning environments at undergraduate/postgraduate levels, demonstrating an increasing awareness of different approaches to and methods of teaching and supporting student learning;
• Assessing students' academic work providing constructive feedback;
• Demonstrate the ability to manage own teaching and designing, planning and writing teaching materials;
• Lead some aspects of modules and contribute to modules led by others by collaborating with colleagues on course development;
• Develop and deliver an inclusive curriculum and make an active contribution to an inclusive community in which diversity is embraced and celebrated;
• Seek and take on board feedback on teaching and engage with others in CPD;
• Supervise undergraduate student(s), and where appropriate act as part of a PhD supervisory team;
• Contribute to educational skill of colleagues, e.g. giving a seminar to colleagues or engaging in constructive discussion about a seminar;
• Build internal contacts and participate in networks to exchange information;
• Assisting other colleagues with the enhancement of their teaching
• Start to engage in scholarship (the creation, development and maintenance of the intellectual infrastructure of subjects and disciplines) e.g. develop online teaching resources;
• In addition to Board of Studies, membership of some departmental committees and professional body memberships;
• Student support, assessment of academic performance and provision of feedback, dealing with student disciplinary matters and complaints;
• Undertake effectively and efficiently any administrative role allocated by your Head of Department.
• To contribute to fostering a collegial and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.
• To engage in wider citizenship to support the department and wider discipline.
• Provide general teaching-related administrative support
• To engage in continuing professional development by attending relevant training and development courses.    

How to Apply  

For informal enquiries please contact Dr Mike Burt [email protected] .  All enquiries will be treated in the strictest confidence.

We prefer to receive applications online via the Durham University Vacancies Site. https://www.dur.ac.uk/jobs/

Applications are particularly welcome from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in the University .

 What to Submit  

All applicants are asked to submit:

• a CV and covering letter which details your experience, skills and achievements in meeting (or the potential to meet) the criteria set out above.
• a statement as to your aspirations as a Teaching Fellow in terms of what motivates you, what you would like to achieve and what your broad approaches to teaching excellence and innovation are (maximum 2 pages).

Referees

You should provide details of 3 referees and the details of your current line manager so that we may seek an employment reference (if they are not listed as an academic referee). 

Please note:

• We shall seek references during the application process.  Unless in the case of very early career candidates, referees should not (if possible) include your PhD supervisor(s) and include references from a University other than your own.
• We would ask that you alert your referees to this application as soon as possible so that we can quickly obtain references.  If you do not wish (some or all) of your referees to be approached during the recruitment process; you must clearly indicate this to us at the time of your application.
• References sought for candidates may be made available to the panel during the shortlisting process.
• We will seek a reference from your current line-manager if we make you an offer of employment (albeit you may have also nominated your line manager as an academic referee).  Please clearly indicate on the application form which referee is your current line-manager and indicate if we should only approach them once an offer has been made.

We will notify you on the status of 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 ensure you receive all emails.  

Next Steps

The assessment for the post will include a presentation and interview.

Person Specification

Candidates applying for a grade 7 post will have recently completed or be concluding their PhD and, while they may have limited direct experience of the requirements for the post, they must outline their experience, skills and achievements to date which demonstrate that they meet or that they have the potential to achieve the belowcriteria: 

Essential Criteria:

• A good first degree in the discipline. 
• A PhD (or be close to submission) in Psychology or a related subject, or equivalent demonstrable practitioner experience which may include appropriate certification and/or membership of a relevant professional body.
• Experience of teaching and examining at University level with positive student feedback gained.
• Experience of contributing to the development and delivery of high-quality teaching and/or assessment of learning, including the design and creation of successful learning environments and curricula.
• Demonstrable ability to participate in the collegial/administrative activities of an academic department and/or discipline.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to engage with a range of students and colleagues across a variety of forums.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of successfully developing innovative teaching methods for the design/delivery of high quality teaching,  including web-based/distance learning methods for UG, PG and or CPD programmes.
• Experience of successfully working in an administrative role within an organisation or department.
• Experience of providing high quality one-to-one student supervision.
• Evidence of work undertaken (or which would be undertaken) in preparation for teaching and keeping up to date with developments in the subject area, such as:
• active membership and engagement with a professional body;
• demonstrable innovation in educational practice;
• publication in a scholarly journal or relevant professional publication;
• Attending and presenting internal and/or external seminars or at a regional conference; and/or
• Materials/curriculum development for wider use in a department.
• Candidates may have, or should have the ability to attain the rank of Fellow of HEA.

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.