The  Governing  Body  of  The  Queen’s  College  invites  applications  from  graduates  of  any university for election to a three year post-doctoral position as a Junior Research Fellow in Manuscript and Text Cultures, with a research specialism in knowledge-production and text-transmission in pre-modern literate societies. The Fellow will be expected to work on manuscript and text cultures in one or more of the following areas: the ancient and early medieval Near and Middle East, the ancient and early medieval Mediterranean, the ancient and early medieval East, South, and South-East Asia, and early medieval Europe. She or he will examine material aspects of writing and text-production, as well as transmission and the interface between the oral and the written, across the pre-modern literate societies within their area of expertise.

As well as engaging in their own research, the Fellow will be expected to take an active role in the interdisciplinary research Workshop on Manuscript and Text Cultures (WMTC) at Queen’s, a platform for international specialists and research students to engage in close dialogue across areas of expertise and inform each other about different approaches and theories of knowledge-production and text-transmission in pre-modern manuscript cultures. The Fellow will be asked to take on light administrative duties for WMTC, such as workshop and conference organisation in tandem with their mentor at Queen’s, as well as looking after the website of WMTC and liaising between WMTC and relevant departments of the University. It is further expected that between the second and third year of their fellowship the Fellow will play a major role in convening an international interdisciplinary conference relevant to the activities of WMTC, and contribute to the subsequent scholarly publication.

Fellowships are intended to support those at an early stage of their academic careers, and will normally be awarded to those who have recently completed their doctoral research, or are very close to completion. Candidates must not have accumulated more than seven years in full-time postgraduate study of research, nor have already held a post-doctoral research fellowship elsewhere.