CLOSED – POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

STEMMA: Systems of Transmitting Early Modern Manuscript Verse, 1475–1700

School of English and Creative Arts

Ref. No. University of Galway 141-23

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for a full-time, fixed-term position as a Postdoctoral Researcher for the project ‘STEMMA: Systems of Transmitting Early Modern Manuscript Verse, 1475–1700’, led by Professor Erin A. McCarthy, School of English and Creative Arts at the University of Galway, Ireland. The successful candidate will be expected to start on 3 January 2024.

This position is funded by a European Research Council Consolidator Grant awarded to Professor McCarthy and is available from 3 January 2024 to contract end date of 31 December 2026.

Project Description

This project develops and applies a data-driven approach in order to provide the first macro-level view of the circulation of early modern English poetry in manuscript. It focuses on English verse manuscripts written and used between the introduction of printing in England in 1475 and 1700, by which time the rapid changes in both literary taste and publishing norms ushered in by the Restoration had fully transformed literary culture. The project includes manuscripts circulating in England and anywhere else English was spoken and read, including Ireland, the North American colonies, and continental exile communities. It develops innovative computational models and quantitative methods for studying the social and material forces that informed literary culture.

Whereas the current state of the art has seen the scholarly community address manuscripts primarily as case studies, STEMMA seeks to open new frontiers in manuscript research by facilitating the identification of patterns and trends at scale. To that end, the project begins by synthesizing six of the most comprehensive datasets about early modern English manuscripts in preparation for advanced literary, material, and quantitative analyses. This first work package sets the stage for four further, interlocking work packages, to which the doctoral and postdoctoral positions are allocated: networking early modern manuscript poems; early modern literary communities in the English-speaking world; rolling archetypes, computational text analysis, and scholarly editing; and textual circulation between manuscript and print. The research team will comprise the PI, three postdoctoral researchers, and one PhD student with expertise in literary history, textual studies, computational text analysis, and social network analysis. They will be based in the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Studies, located in the Hardiman Research Building.

Job Description:

The successful candidate will focus on Work Package 3, ‘Early Modern Literary Communities in the English-Speaking World’. Manuscript transmission offered authors greater control over the circulation of their works, but texts could—and did—escape their intended readership to reach a wider audience. Moreover, while scholars have identified discrete groups in which manuscript poems circulated, the paths texts took between these groups are less well known. This work package aims to create, visualize, and analyse a mathematical model of early modern manuscript verse circulation using concepts from network analysis and graph theory. The successful candidate will, in collaboration with other members of the project team, develop and test hypotheses about early modern manuscript communities. This will include the calculation and interpretation of metrics drawn from network analysis as well as the application of structural concepts from graph theory, including community detection and bibliographic coupling. The researcher will also work with the software developer to design and implement appropriate data visualizations.

Duties:

  • Development of conceptual and logical data models
  • Collaboration with technical staff on implementation of models
  • Analysing data and results
  • Providing support with quantitative methods to project team as needed
  • Creating data visualizations
  • Preparation of papers for presentation and publication
  • Preparation of joint-edited essay collection
  • Contribution to the project website
  • Associated administrative duties
  • Any other duties assigned commensurate to this level of post.

Qualifications/Skills required:

Essential Requirements:

  • PhD in a social science field with a strong quantitative emphasis OR PhD in data science, computer science, mathematics, physics, or related field
  • Significant experience in quantitative and statistical methods, especially social network analysis and graph theory
  • Excellent IT skills
  • Excellent writing and communication skills
  • Peer-reviewed publication record
  • Ability to work well both collaboratively and independently
  • Highly motivated, with excellent organisational skills

Desirable Requirements:

  • Experience with literary, historical, and/or archival research
  • Coursework (any level) or research in literature and/or history, with preference for pre-1800 European literature or history
  • Experience collaborating with humanities researchers or working on interdisciplinary teams

Salary: Postdoctoral Researcher pay scale €42,032 – €54,153 per annum, (subject to the project’s funding limitations), and pro rata for shorter and/or part-time contracts.

The default position for all new public sector appointments is the 1st point of the salary scale. This may be reviewed, and consideration afforded to appointment at a higher point on the payscale, where evidence of prior years’ equivalent experience is accepted in determining placement on the scale above point 1, subject to the maximum of the scale.

 Research Salary Scales – University of Galway).

Start date: Position is available from 3 January 2024.

Continuing Professional Development/Training:

Researchers at University of Galway are encouraged to avail of a range of training and development opportunities designed to support their personal career development plans. University of Galway provides continuing professional development supports for all researchers seeking to build their own career pathways either within or beyond academia.  Researchers are encouraged to engage with our Researcher Development Centre (RDC) upon commencing employment – see HERE for further information.

Further information on research and working at University of Galway is available on Research at University of Galway

For information on moving to Ireland please see www.euraxess.ie

Further information about the school of English and Creative Arts is available at School of English and Creative Arts – University of Galway. 

Informal enquiries concerning the post may be made to Professor Erin A. McCarthy (erin.mccarthy@universityofgalway.ie).

To Apply:

Applications to include a covering letter, CV, a sample of academic written work (e.g. published article, thesis chapter), and the contact details of three referees should be sent, via e-mail (in word or PDF only) mooreinstitute@universityofgalway.ie.

Please put reference number University of Galway 141-23 in subject line of e-mail application.

Closing date for receipt of applications is 5.00 pm (Irish Time) 14th August 2023.

Interviews are planned to be held on 1st September 2023

We reserve the right to re-advertise or extend the closing date for this post.

University of Galway is an equal opportunities employer.

All positions are recruited in line with Open, Transparent, Merit (OTM) and Competency based recruitment