Postdoc in linguistics: language documentation and transient material culture - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Description of the workplace

The Faculties of Humanities and Theology at Lund University host a research platform, Digital Integration Across Disciplines: Advancing Cultural Heritage Documentation (DIAD), a collaborative initiative between the fields of language documentation and digital archaeology. The research platform has its departmental home at the Centre for Languages and Literature and the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, and also has close ties to the Humanities Lab and the Digital Archaeology Laboratory. The research team, which is made up of around eight colleagues based at the faculties in Lund, develops and implements new principles and techniques for digital documentation of cultural heritage across disciplinary boundaries. The position being advertised plays a central role in the group, focusing on innovative documentation of transient material culture, and contributes to a dynamic research environment characterised by scientific curiosity and excellence.

Work duties and areas of responsibility

Your duties will include research into transient material culture (artifacts and structures made when needed and with only a short period of use) and associated knowledge from a theoretical, methodological, and documentary perspective. The approach is linguistic, anthropological, as well as archaeological, and you are expected to study and document transient material culture in the field in an extant traditional hunter-gatherer community. Your work will benefit from a combination of modern techniques for data collection and documentation: (1) audiovisual recording and annotation (to capture dynamic intangible expressions, in particular linguistic ones); (2) 3D/spatial recording and analysis (to document and visualise representations of a material but transient character, especially everyday artifacts and structures; (3) geotagging (for geographical mapping); and (4) digital archiving in a user-friendly corpus environment. Teaching, supervision, and other administrative duties comprise a maximum of 20% of the position.

Required qualifications

• A Ph.D. or an international degree deemed equivalent. This requirement must be fulfilled no later than two months after the application deadline and the applicant is responsible for supplementing his/her application within this time with documentation that proves the completion of the doctoral degree. The supplement should be emailed to Arthur Holmer ( https://www.sol.lu.se/en/person/ArthurHolmer). The position is a career development appointment and its purpose is to act as an initial step on a career path. Therefore, the candidate most likely to come into question is one who has completed a doctoral degree no more than three years prior to the last date for applications. If special grounds exist, the degree can have been completed earlier. Special grounds include leave of absence because of illness, parental leave, positions as elected representative in trade union organisations, military service or service/assignments relevant to the subject area. In such cases, certification concerning this is to be submitted in connection with the application.
• A doctoral degree in a subject relevant to the research task (e.g. anthropology, linguistics or archaeology).
• Expertise and experience from: (1) field-based anthropological and/or linguistic research and documentation, (2) an empirical environment in the form of an extant hunter-gatherer community.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English at academic level.

Assessment criteria

The grounds for assessment are a good ability to develop and conduct high-quality research, and teaching skills. The main criterion for a postdoctoral fellowship is research expertise. In all other respects, the assessment will be based on the requirements specified for the post. As documentation for the assessment of qualifications, applicants are to submit a project plan of the research they intend to carry out during their appointment. Only applicants whose research plan and previous work could strengthen the research team and the project as a whole will be considered for the position of postdoc.

Desirable qualifications:

• Experience of documentation within one or more of the following areas: (1) audio/video, (2) material culture, (3) geotagging.
• Proficiency in the language spoken in the community that is to be studied.
• Experience of an empirical environment in the form of an extant hunter-gatherer community.

Instructions for application and research plan

The application must include:

• A CV.
• A copy of the Ph.D. degree.
• A list of publications (including DOI, ISBN or ISSN numbers).
• A plan of no more than 1500 words (not including list of references) of the research project the candidate intends to pursue during the appointment.

The research plan is to contain a description of:

• Aim and research question.
• Theory and method.
• Relation to the international research front including the most important international work in the field of research.
• How the plan relates to the content of the vacancy announcement.
• Which aspects of material culture could be relevant in the speech community in question.
• Schedule and expected results.
• The applicant’s qualifications and competence to conduct the project.

The applicant is responsible for making sure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions above and for submitting it to the University by the application deadline through the recruitment portal.

Conditions

The appointment is limited to two years and involves full-time employment in accordance with the central collective agreement on fixed-term employment as a postdoctoral fellow between the Swedish Agency for Government Employers and OFR/S, Saco-S, 19 November 2021.

Lund University is a public authority which means that you receive specific benefits, generous annual leave, and an advantageous occupational pension. Read more on the University website about being an employee at Lund University Work at Lund University.