The University of Leicester invites applications for two Research Associate positions to conduct extensive and original research for the European Research Council-funded project 101001429-DoSSE (Domestic Slavery & Sexual Exploitation in the Households of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, from Constantine to C. AD 900 / AH 287). You will work closely with other scholars as part of an innovative research team, under the direction of the principal investigator (PI), Erin Thomas Dailey. As a Research Associate, you will play an essential role in the delivery of this major research project and contribute substantially to its outputs, thereby advancing the field of scholarship and your own research profile.

You will apply your expertise in the historical analysis of source materials from the greater Mediterranean world (Europe, North Africa, and the Near East) in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (c. 300–900 AD) in order to investigate the sexual exploitation of people enslaved within domestic contexts. As part of a collaborative research team engaged in comparative analysis, you will deepen the scholarly understanding of this influential social practice, and contribute to a new model for interpreting the transformation of the late Roman Empire into the societies that emerged as its heirs: Latin Christendom, the Byzantine Empire, and the Islamic Caliphate.

Successful applicants will have a PhD in History or a related discipline, which is chronologically focused on the medieval or late ancient period and have relevant, peer-reviewed publications in print or that are forthcoming. In addition, applicants will have proficiency in two or more of the following ancient languages: Latin, Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Coptic, Hebrew, or Aramaic.