Postdoctoral Researcher: Digital Humanities and Digital History – Radboud University

Job description

Are you interested in working in an interdisciplinary team? And do you want to strengthen the field of digital humanities? Then join us as a postdoc in the project “Arenas of Belonging: Sports Heroes as Models of Aspiration, Inspiration, and Participation”!

Join our dynamic and innovative digital humanities team at Radboud University. We are looking for a talented and independent researcher to support our NWO-funded project ‘Re-Presenting Europe: Popular Representations of Diversity and Belonging’.

As part of the work package on sports history, you will develop and apply digital humanities methodologies for text mining and database construction to uncover the experiences and stories of non-white athletes considered as positive models of belonging.

Your main task will be to conduct text mining and quantitative data analyses to identify representation styles and patterns in historical data sets, both at the club and national team level. The geographical focus is on the Netherlands and its interactions with former colonies and overseas territories, using a transatlantic and postcolonial framework. You will apply distant reading methods to reveal long-term continuities and patterns in the ways athletes from diverse backgrounds have been discussed in large data sources such as historical newspapers, sport magazines, and other periodicals. This may also include analysis of non-textual sources. You will also be responsible for collecting and curating research findings in a database that will be used by other researchers in the consortium, and for developing publicly accessible formats such as a virtual Hall of Fame for sports heroes from the Dutch Antilles. Finally, you will have a small teaching load of up to 15 percent of your working time.

You will be part of the department of History, Art History and Classics. As a member of the Radboud Institute for Culture & History (RICH), you can join its newly founded Legacies of Colonialism research group, as well as contribute to the  Applied History group. This will also offer you the opportunity to contribute to the Institute’s digital humanities team as a whole. As a postdoctoral researcher, you will have the opportunity to publish your research in academic journals, conference proceedings, or edited volumes.

We are looking for a talented and independent researcher with a specialisation in digital humanities, digital history, and text mining, who is interested in contributing to our team. Join us in our mission to uncover and analyse positive examples of belonging in popular sports and culture and contribute to the field of digital humanities.

Requirements

  • You hold a PhD in a relevant field.
  • You have demonstrable expertise in Digital Humanities and text mining. Additionally, expertise in sport history, cultural history and transnational history, and an interest in historical issues of diversity are recommended.
  • You have a track record of international scholarly publications.
  • You are fluent in academic English (both spoken and written) and have a working knowledge of Dutch (level C1). Knowledge of Papiamentu or Sranantongo would be of added value.
  • You are willing to live in the Netherlands during the contract period.

Conditions of employments

Fixed-term contract: It concerns a temporary employment for 27 months.

  • It concerns an employment for 1.0 FTE.
  • The gross monthly salary amounts to a minimum of €3,974 and a maximum of €5,439 based on a 38-hour working week, depending on previous education and number of years of relevant work experience (salary scale 11).
  • You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
  • It concerns a temporary employment for 27 months.
  • You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services. Our Dual Career and Family Care Officer can assist you with family-related support, help your partner or spouse prepare for the local labour market, provide customized support in their search for employment and help your family settle in Nijmegen.
  • Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.

Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University’s primary and secondary employment conditions. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.

Employer

The Faculty of Arts is committed to knowledge production with a significant scientific and social impact. With over 500 academic and support staff, we teach and conduct research in the fields of history and art, languages and cultures, and linguistics and communication, using innovative methodologies and working in close collaboration between the disciplines. Our research is embedded in two research institutes: the Centre for Language Studies (CLS) and the Radboud Institute for Culture & History (RICH). We currently have approximatively 2,500 students, enrolled in three departments: the Department of History, Art History and Classics, the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, and the Department of Language and Communication. We aim to contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive world, which is why we especially seek applications from candidates who bring diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills that will be assets to our study programmes and research profiles.

Radboud University
We want to get the best out of science, others and ourselves. Why? Because this is what the world around us desperately needs. Leading research and education make an indispensable contribution to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all. This is what unites the more than 24,000 students and 5,600 employees at Radboud University. And this requires even more talent, collaboration and lifelong learning. You have a part to play!

Additional information

For questions about the position, please contact Jaap Verheul, Professor in Transatlantic Relations, at  jaap.verheul@ru.nl. Alternatively, you can contact Harm Kaal, Associate Professor of Political History, at 024 361 29 21 or harm.kaal@ru.nl.
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