This announcement from the University Council For Languages (UCFL) is for a post we are funding as part of our contribution to national policy in the field.

Postdoctoral researcher
(closing date: 17:00 on Monday 15 July 2024)

Thanks to the very generous award of a Special Research Grant by the MHRA, UCFL is in a position to appoint a postdoctoral researcher to take forward recommendations from the Languages and Policy: Building Collaborations between Academics and Policymakers report. In particular, the postdoc will work on a project to produce short, readable summaries of research in languages for policymakers. The objective of the post is to provide such summaries, as well as templates and models for researchers.

The postdoctoral researcher will be hosted by UCFL and will be supervised by Professor Wendy Ayres-Bennett and Professor Charles Forsdick, allowing them to benefit from the expertise of the British Academy, ILCS and UCFL. UCFL (university-council-modern-languages.org) was established in 1993 and is the overarching national organisation representing the interests of modern languages, linguistics, cultural & area studies in Higher Education throughout the United Kingdom. UCFL advocates for and on behalf of its members who are primarily Subject Associations, Schools and departments or units of modern languages. Its membership currently numbers 71 Higher Education providers and 30 Subject Associations, representing a total of ca 4000 individual researchers and teachers. The Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA), which is funding the project, exists to promote high-quality scholarship in English and the Modern Languages. It does this by publishing journals and monographs and by supporting major research projects.

The post is suitable for a postdoc who would be able to conduct this work alongside teaching, research or other administrative type roles. This will provide an exceptional opportunity for an ECR to develop relationships with key government stakeholders, and to have access to the expertise of policy specialists through UCFL, ILCS and the BA. They will develop invaluable skills in writing policy summaries and in the translation of research into policy, enhancing this employability for future roles in which there is a focus on research impact. They will gain expertise in interviewing and in convening a workshop. The outputs will be the templates and guidelines for researchers; an initial database of summaries; and a report for the MHRA. Given the nature of the project, applicants from the modern languages community defined broadly are particularly welcome.

Applicants should have an interest in the translation of research into accessible formats; fluent English, with good drafting skills; the ability to synthesize and summarize a broad range of information; good interpersonal skills; and the ability to respond quickly and efficiently to queries. They should ideally also have experience in conducting interviews or focus groups; in impact work; and/or in creating databases. The post is available from 1 October 2024. It will be paid in the form of an honorarium of £12,000 in three instalments at the beginning, middle and end of the project. Research expenses of up to £2,000 will also be available for travel and other associated costs. We would expect the postholder to work three days per week (21 hours per week) for six months, which would be an ideal timescale in which to complete the project. Interested candidates are invited to consult Professor Wendy Ayres-Bennett (wmb1001@cam.ac.uk) and/or Professor Charles Forsdick (crf41@cam.ac.uk).

The application form can be downloaded as a Word document here.

Details of the Post’s Duties

  1. Scope out and consult on the ideal format, content, etc. of edited summaries of research findings aimed at policy makers, identifying examples of existing good practice. From the government side, we have offers of help from the Department for Education and, on the Parliamentary side, from POST. The postholder should also consult with UPEN, NCLE, CsaP, with whom we have good contacts, as well as the languages academic community.
  2. Pilot some examples of these summaries with government and researchers and revise them on the basis of their feedback. The collection of feedback will include the organization of an online workshop.
  3. Provide some models, guidelines and a template for researchers in which to put the summaries of their research.
  4. Build up an initial database of the research summaries for policy makers and put them on the UCFL website so that they can then be linked through to the Languages Gateway.
  5. Write a report for the MHRA.

full news feed • subscribe via RSS