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Home , Arthur Lewis Building, Environmental science, Geography, Human geography, Manchester One

UNIVERSITY OF

SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

PARTICULARS OF APPOINTMENT

LECTURERSHIPS IN PHYSICALGEOGRAPHY (two posts)

(1) Quaternary

(2) Geographical

1. The invites applications for the above posts.

2. Salary will be within the Lecturer scale 6.

3. Informal inquiries may be made to the Acting Head of , Professor Noel Castree (0161 275 3627; [email protected] ). For the Quaternary post Professor Jamie Woodward can also be contacted ([email protected]), for the GIS post Dr. Sarah Lindley can be contacted ([email protected]). For further information about Geography see http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography/

4. Applications should be returned by May 14 th 2010 to:

The Directorate of Resources HR Lime Grove (W113) The Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL

Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, it is not possible for the University to acknowledge applications or contact all unsuccessful applicants. If you have not been contacted by May 21 st 2010 you should assume that, on this occasion, your application has not been successful. We would, however, like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in The University of Manchester.

WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE DIRECTORATE OF HUMAN RESOURCES

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The University of Manchester School of Environment and Development

Geography

(1)

(2) Geographical Information Science

The School wishes to make two appointments of outstanding individuals to contribute to our established research and teaching strengths in (see www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography/research ).

Quaternary Science The Quaternary Environments and Research Group has a growing international reputation. Over the last few years, researchers in this group have secured substantial research funding (PIs and Co-PIs >£600 k) from the NERC, AHRC, Leverhulme Trust, Australian Research Council and bodies. Research in Quaternary science is a key strength of physical geography at Manchester and links to the School’s broader environmental thematic priority. It also has strong links across the University in the School of , Atmospheric and Environmental , , and the .

We seek to appoint a lecturer of exceptional promise as a researcher and teacher with expertise in long-term environmental change that complements and extends our expertise in Quaternary Science and global change (e.g. , continental palaeohydrology, palaeoecology, modern and ancient glacier dynamics, geoarchaeology and micromorphology). Appointment criteria will emphasise a clear potential for securing external funding.

Geographical Information Science Applications are invited for a lecturing post in Geographical Information Science. The person appointed will be establishing an outstanding research reputation and will have a growing publication record which shows evidence of an emerging international profile. The post- holder will be expected to actively seek research funding to support their research activities and to publish in leading international journals. The post-holder will also be expected to attract & supervise research postgraduates.

In teaching terms the Lectureship is strongly connected with Geography’s MSc in Geographical Information Science. The MSc was established in 2007 and already attracts over 20 students per year from within the UK and from overseas. Staff and students have support from the School of Environment and Development’s Spatial Data Officer who provides technical assistance, such as in geospatial data acquisition and processing and systems administration such as the of software updates. The successful applicant is expected to make a significant contribution to the MSc with a view to becoming its Director in the short to medium term. The post therefore represents an exciting opportunity to help shape the next stage of development of this successful and popular postgraduate programme. Although the appointment is strongly associated with the MSc GISc, the appointee will also contribute to other Geography undergraduate teaching and administrative duties.

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Specialisms can be in any area of GISc, such as , geocomputation, or GIS (including development as well as geospatial data analysis). Existing research and teaching track records can be associated with pure or applied Geographical Information Science but a preference will be shown for candidates able to clearly demonstrate existing or potential links to one or both of our physical geography research groups, notably those working in upland or urban environments ( Environmental Processes ) or in a range of palaeoenvironments ( Quaternary Environments and Geoarchaeology ).

1.0 Geography at the University of Manchester The University of Manchester is to one of the UK’s most dynamic groups of geographical researchers, scholars and teachers. Geography at Manchester has risen to become one of the top tier institutions for its size, and our twenty-five staff and our research fellows are widely recognised for the quality of their contributions to the international research community. In RAE 2008 94% of our outputs were considered internationally- recognised, with an exceptionally high proportion (65%) judged to be internationally- excellent or -leading. Geography at Manchester also sets international research agendas in other ways. Over half our staff members hold editorial positions with leading research publications, including the editorship of eight major journals such as , Area, Geoarchaeology, , and Progress in . Manchester is known too for the impact and influence of its post-docs and PhD students. Recent graduates have been appointed to Chairs at leading in Europe, North America and the Far East, while others now shape national and international policy environments through their work in government agencies, research institutes and activist organisations.

Research at Manchester makes significant contributions to some of the most important intellectual and practical issues facing society, through four areas of expertise. Current research strengths in Quaternary Science include the analyses of glacial and fluvial sediments and , pollen, charcoal, fungal spores and diatom analyses, tephrochronology and palaeovolcanism. These approaches are applied to projects investigating long-term changes in ice sheet dynamics, environmental changes in the sub-Arctic, peatland archives of change and geoarchaeology. Study include a focus on the Mediterranean and projects in Alaska, Greenland, the Balkans, North and the UK, with key themes of palaeoclimate reconstruction and human-environment interactions. Current specific projects include the fluvial and archaeology of the Nile , glacial history of the High and Mesolithic palaeoecology in north west Europe.

Research on Environmental Processes is carried out in upland and urban settings. Much existing staff expertise covers / , freshwater , remote sensing and geographical information science and makes important contributions in two areas: understanding upland environments as systems that are highly sensitive to environmental change (focusing on the degradation and restoration of peatland systems), and the spatial modelling of environmental processes. Work in this area has reconceptualised peatland systems by establishing and geomorphology as central controls on a range of processes, identified the significance of geomorphic controls on the mobilisation of legacy atmospheric , and integrated spatial models within assessment methodologies for more effective modes of environmental management. Environmental process research also includes the inter-disciplinary study of contemporary and future urban environmental hazards. This work particularly focuses on climate, climate adaptation and air

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pollution and has a strong GISc dimension. Research on environmental processes has attracted funding from NERC and EPSRC as well as from the EU, national and local government.

Urban physical geography research is carried out in collaboration with the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil (MACE), School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Science (SEAES) and the Research School of Translational as well as with external Universities such as UEA, Manchester and Sheffield.

Our work in Geographical Political examines the material, social and cultural processes that shape and transform of production, reproduction and . This research has, among other things, re-conceptualised the meaning and significance of geographical scale within , pioneered critical analyses of commodification and the neoliberalisation of the biophysical world, and developed a comprehensive conceptual framework – Global Production Networks – for analysing transnational production systems.

Research on Urban Life and Living focuses on understanding processes of urban change and transformation. Key contributions include analyses of the articulations between the material (buildings, technology ), natural (environment, resources) and social (economy, , governance) fabric of , research on how software and digital code work to ‘securitize’ , and evaluation of the role that creative agents (architects, planners) and creative industries play in the production of the .

Geography has a central role in the School of Environment and Development, which was created in 2004 following the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST. From a strong disciplinary foundation, many of our staff work closely with colleagues in other disciplines and contribute to the work of a number of interdisciplinary Research Centres. These include the Global Urban Research Centre, the Centre for Urban , and the Centre for Urban and Regional . Geography also takes a key role in several cross-School initiatives, including the Society and Environment Research Group, the European Work and Employment Research Centre, and the Institute. Since 2006 we have been located in a new state-of-the- building which provides excellent opportunities for interaction with other units in the School of Environment and Development and with colleagues in the School of Social Science.

2.0 Geography Research and Staff The Geography staff currently includes 25 academic permanent positions at a range of levels. There is also an experienced team of administrative and support staff including laboratory, computing and cartographic technicians, between eight and twelve research staff, over thirty postgraduate research students and a number of highly active emeritus staff including Professors Brian Robson and Peter Dicken.

Research in the Geography discipline focuses on four themes:

• Geographical political economy • Urban life and living • Environmental systems and processes (including geographical information science) • Quaternary environments and geoarchaeology

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Full details of the research activities within Geography can be found on the School’s website (www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography ). The School is committed to high quality internationally recognised research. The School operates a teaching and administration allocation model that is reviewed annually to ensure an equitable distribution of staff workload and to protect staff research time. There are regular meetings of Research Groups to provide coordination, create a community of researchers, and to ensure information is available for external funding. Research sabbaticals are available for all staff and we currently plan for two staff in geography to be away each semester. Support from UK Research Councils for Geography research over the last few years include: Australian Research Council Discovery Award (Environmental Impacts of in the Nile Delta Basin Over the Last 30000 years); ESRC (Global production networks; Living and labouring in London and Manchester; Work, life and time in the new economy; Globalisation of the temporary staffing industry; e-Social Sciences hub), NERC ( Hyperspectral remote sensing of peat and peatland restoration; Response of Mediterranean basins to Pleistocene glaciation; Glaciations in Morocco, Montenegro, Croatia and the British Isles; Metal and lead isotope characterisation in upland streams), ESRC-NERC transdisciplinary (FIRES Fire interdisciplinary research in services), AHRC (Early agricultural practice in the uplands), EPSRC (Contaminated land construction and demolition; Adaptation strategies for climate change in urban environments). In addition, Geography research is currently supported by a variety of other organisations, for example British Academy (Contingent cities; Dynamics of local and regional governance; of use), Rockefeller Foundation (Working Communities Programme-Geographies of the temporary staffing industry), Leverhulme (Development, participation and ; The first farmers in Europe – a palaeoecological perspective), DETR (Runoff in restored peatland catchments) , DTLR (New deal for communities; London deprivation project), the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (Coalfields Regeneration trust evaluation), GM Waste ( materials derived from municipal waste), ODPM (Relationships between housing markets and asylum seekers), Environment Agency and National Trust (Hydrological benefits of moorland restoration), Natural (Carbon dynamics of upland ), Manchester Council (Community mapping), Moors for the Future (Impacts of gully blocking, ecological assessment of stream networks, peat patterns, fire risk mapping) and various awards from Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (Peter Fleming Award: Glaciations in Montenegro; Thesiger-Oman International Fellowship: Glaciations in the High Atlas, Morocco).

3.0 Facilities Geography Laboratories The School of Environment and Development has 5 dedicated Geography Laboratories situated on the ground floor of The . The suite of laboratories carry out the following functions:

Main Laboratory Used for general laboratory work and the teaching of laboratory practical classes. Can accommodate up to 50 students and is fitted with 3 fume cupboards and cold room for storage of samples.

Sediment Laboratory Mainly used for preparation of samples and has drying ovens furnaces and particle size analysis equipment.

Project Laboratory

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Fitted with a specialist fume cupboard for where particularly aggressive chemicals are required to be used. Also contains Microwave digestion equipment.

Analytical Laboratory Contains research quality analytical equipment such as: • Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emmision Spectrometer. (ICPOES) • Ion Chromatography • Total Organic Carbon Analyser • Laser Granulometer • Beckman Coulter Particle Size and shape Analyser.

Microscopy Laboratory We hold a good stock of 40 teaching microscopes and 3 research grade microscopes.

Field Equipment The School is equipped with a good stock of field equipment including • Livingston, Russian and gouge corers • 2 boats • EDM and various surveying equipment

IT The School of Environment and Development employs two IT Officers, one of them specifically for Spatial Data Research Support. This role’s responsibility is to facilitate, provide and support spatial data processing and related services in the school and across the University, working closely with academic staff and postgraduate students. Services include internal GIS consultancy and maintenance of software, PC clusters, and teaching materials. Specialist GIS and remote sensing software is provided through the school and/or IT Services and includes ESRI ArcGIS, MapInfo, ERDAS Imagine, Idrisi Kilimanjaro, and ITT ENVI.

4.0 Teaching and Learning

Geography is committed to excellence in teaching and learning, and currently offers the following courses:

BA and BSc Honours Degrees in Geography MSc in , Modelling and Reconstruction. MSc in Geographical Information Science MSc in

Further details can be obtained at: http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography .

At present there are around six hundred undergraduates studying Geography degree programmes at Manchester. Applications are very buoyant with incremental annual increases in the numbers of students applying to study Geography at Manchester in recent years. The School and the University are strongly committed to the further enhancement of teaching quality. The overall learning experience of the Geography teaching was rated as ‘excellent’ in the most recent Teaching Quality Assessment and was highly commended in the recent Quality Audit. The curriculum is characterised by progressive skills acquisition, choice, reflective learning and a diversity of learning opportunities with significant amounts of fieldwork and group work. The School seeks to facilitate curriculum innovation and

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development and to encourage continual enhancement of the quality of teaching and learning. We have received a number of awards within the University to develop our teaching and learning processes including the Personal Academic Development Programme and study skills acquisition. The School has also made significant contributions to the RGS/IBG, the Geographical Association, the HEFCE-funded Centre of Excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning, FDTL project to disseminate good practice in Geography teaching, and the DfEE Geography skills project.

Currently some thirty PhD students are registered in Geography. They are supported by a range of internal and external funding sources including NERC and ESRC. All research students participate in a generic research skills training programme and those on School bursaries are also employed as teaching assistants. We offer three Geography based masters programmes which recruit externally and attract students from across the University to take specific modules.

5.0 The School of Environment and Development The School of Environment and Development (SED) represents one of the most innovative new academic structures of the University of Manchester. It forges an interdisciplinary partnership combining the former Schools of Geography and and with the Institute of Development Policy and Management (IDPM) and the Manchester School of thus uniting research into social and environmental dimensions of human activity. The School of Environment and Development has over eighty academic staff (within a total staff complement of one hundred and twenty five), over eight hundred undergraduates and six hundred postgraduate students, of whom one hundred are research students. In 2007, the four discipline areas were co-located with the School of Social Sciences into a new building to accommodate anticipated growth in postgraduates, and academic and research staff. Since its formation a significant number of new appointments have been made within the constituent parts of the new School, including seven Geography appointments, six posts within IDPM, four posts in Planning and Landscape and five within the re-vitalized Architecture discipline.

The School hosts a number of elite, externally funded research centres. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) funds the Centre for Regulation and Competition (CRC) and the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funds the Global Poverty Research Group (GPRG) , and the European Union supports the Impact Assessment Research Centre (IARC) . In addition, the Environmental Impact Assessment Centre (EIA) networks across the School, and collaborative research ventures include the Centre for Urban Policy Studies (CUPS) and the Centre for Urban Regional Ecology (CURE) .

The University of Manchester has a long-standing tradition of research into social and . To build on this tradition, the University created in 2006 the Brooks World Poverty Institut e, a new multidisciplinary centre of excellence researching poverty, poverty reduction, inequality and growth. The Strategy Board of BWPI is chaired by Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph E Stiglitz who has joined BWPI on a part-time basis. The Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation has generously agreed to support the BWPI with a gift of £1.3M over three years which will be augmented by funding from the University of Manchester and external grants to generate a planned investment of £5 million over the first five years.

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The School of Environment and Development is therefore well positioned to continue to set research agendas, nationally and internationally, on issues including nature and society, global change, economic and social development, state restructuring, the urban environment, , environmental change, poverty alleviation, and the regulatory and policy dimensions of these issues.

6.0 The University The University of Manchester, formed in 2004 by bringing together The Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST, is Britain’s first chartered university of the 21 st century. With some of the highest quality teaching and research, and the broadest spread of academic subjects, the university will be able to compete with the best universities in the world. The University’s vision for the future is the creation of a 21 st century institution that will become an international research powerhouse and a favoured destination for the best students, teachers, researchers and scholars in the world. The merged University was established with an unprecedented £430 million capital programme to enhance research and teaching facilities and improve the campus. The new institution is the largest single-site institution in the country, offering students a greater choice of degree programmes and options, and even better facilities and support services. A landmark document, Towards Manchester 2015, sets out the dynamic plan for making The University of Manchester one of the top 25 universities in the world by that date.

Manchester offers extensive provision for research. Library facilities include the John Rylands University Library and the Manchester Central Reference Library. The John Rylands library is the largest non-legal-deposit academic library in the , providing services and resources to students, researchers and academic staff as well as members of the public, schools and commercial companies. It holds the widest range of electronic resources of any UK Higher Education library.

General information about the University may be found on the University website (www.manchester.ac.uk ).

7.0 The Faculty of Humanities With the creation of the new University of Manchester, a Faculty of Humanities has been formed encompassing academic areas as diverse as , Education, , Development, Social Sciences, Business and Management, and Information Technology. This is the largest Faculty in the University, with eight component schools: The Manchester Business School; Arts, and ; Law; Social Sciences; Environment and Development; Languages, and Cultures; Informatics; and Education. With a total income over £100m pa, over 15,000 students and some 900 academic staff, the Faculty is equivalent to a medium-sized university in the UK. The vast majority of the disciplines in the Faculty already have international reputations, and its formation represents a clear opportunity to strengthen links between Social Sciences and Business and Management, and Social Sciences and Arts, particularly in the consolidation of existing interdisciplinary research.

With 7 Units of Assessment in the Faculty rated 5* or better, 14 rated 5, and 7 rated 4, the Faculty’s research strengths were evidenced by the RAE 2001. These strengths were further recognised in the last RAE, in which the Faculty’s Schools performed exceptionally well. Furthermore, the Faculty is home to several Research Council funded, interdisciplinary research centres, including the ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation & Competition (CRIC), ESRC National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS), ESRC Centre for Research on

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Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC), and the Institute for Political & Economic Governance (IPEG). More recently, the Institute has been created, funded in large part by Tesco. http://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk

8.0 The City and Region Manchester is one of the great post-1800 European cities and the University’s main campus is located a short distance from the city centre. The city’s architecture represents one of the high points of Victorian achievement. The modern city is a major centre of banking, commerce and manufacturing. It has a highly cosmopolitan and its cultural life is internationally renowned. Within fifteen minutes walk of the campus, for instance, there are three outstanding professional theatre companies, the halls of the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic orchestras, the as well as other cinemas, and Europe’s fastest-growing Chinatown. Ten minutes in the opposite direction is perhaps the best stretch of road in the entire country for Indian and Pakistani food. Amongst recent developments enriching the area’s cultural life have been: the opening of the Lowry Centre at Salford Quays; the opening of the Bridgewater Concert Hall; the refurbishment of the City Art Gallery; the opening of in the centre of Manchester and of the Imperial War Museum North, designed by Daniel Libeskind, in Trafford.

Trafford, specifically Old Trafford, is known internationally for sport: it is a venue for Test cricket and the home of Manchester United FC, one of the world’s great football teams. The Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester in 2002 and were highly acclaimed. There is an abundance of new sports facilities; the University is a stakeholder in the Commonwealth Pool, which offers on-campus, world-class swimming facilities. The Commonwealth Stadium became the home of Manchester City FC in 2003. Housing is varied, plentiful and, by English standards, moderately priced. Schooling ranges from world-famous private schools (such as Manchester and Withington Girls School) to excellent sixth-form colleges and comprehensives.

Manchester is well served by a major international airport, with direct scheduled flights to many destinations in Europe as well as North America and . Manchester Piccadilly railway station has been refurbished and is served by inter-city and other train services – with a direct link to . The expanding network of Metrolink tram services offers an alternative mode of public transport from certain parts of the conurbation. Some of the most beautiful countryside in Europe is just over thirty minutes drive from the University, in the Peak District National Park, while the Lake District and Snowdonia are also within easy reach.

9.0 The Lectureships in Quaternary Science and GIScience Two permanent lectureships are being advertised. These appointments continue the ambitious plan for the strengthening of the research and teaching capacity of Geography at the University of Manchester. This plan has been implemented over a period beginning just prior to the formation of the ‘new’ University of Manchester in 2004. The objectives are:

• To ensure research activity in Geography can be regarded as excellent, where excellence is defined as 'setting the international research agenda'.

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• To maximise the number of staff working at the frontiers of research in their respective areas of the discipline, and setting research agendas.

• To foster the development of new centres of research excellence, including those based in the School of Environment and Development (see below) and by opportunities presented by the new University of Manchester and external collaboration.

• To ensure the UG and PG student experience at Manchester is comparable to the best in the world.

• To maintain the growth of PGR student numbers and external research funding, and to produce first rate doctoral researchers.

In order to achieve these objectives Geography at Manchester has been significantly restructured and strengthened with the most recent appointments being James Rothwell and Phil Hughes to lectureships in physical geography, and Jonathan Darling to a human geography lectureship. These posts and the currently advertised positions (i) consolidate current areas of research within the Geography discipline area and (ii) develop our capacity for new research opportunities arising from both the new School of Environment and Development and expanded University of Manchester.

10.0 Job Descriptions The posts of Lecturer in Quaternary Science and Geographic Information Science will contribute to future developments in the Quaternary Environments and Geoarchaeology Research Group and/or the Environmental Processes Research Group. In addition to the normal academic tasks of teaching and examining at all levels, and active engagement in research and publication, the person appointed will be expected to:

10.1 Quaternary Science Lectureship

• contribute to the international reputation of research in the School through regular publication in high profile academic journals and by other means of dissemination,

• develop research grant applications for external sources of funding,

• develop research in the field of physical geography, with an emphasis on long-to- medium term environmental change

• develop links between research and teaching activities in the School and with cognate Schools

• contribute to the teaching of physical geography at both undergraduate and taught masters levels

• take part in and, where necessary, lead physical geography field classes,

• demonstrate their willingness to adopt fresh teaching or assessment approaches.

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• contribute to the planning and development of programmes or modules within physical geography

• promote graduate studies by recruiting and supervising postgraduate research students,

• take an appropriate share of administrative and pastoral duties in Geography and/or the wider School.

• act in a collegial manner

Person Specification

It is essential to show evidence of:

• research activity in the field of physical geography with a record of research achievement and publication,

• a demonstrable programme of high-quality research in the immediate future and the longer term that complements or extends our existing research strengths,

• teaching experience in higher education,

• excellent skills,

• commitment to research-led undergraduate and postgraduate teaching,

• an interest in developing learning and teaching within the School,

• a commitment to collegiality.

It is highly desirable to show evidence of:

• a PhD in a relevant discipline,

• previous or almost-complete research grant applications

• success in securing external research funding

• the ability to teach and examine effectively in higher education,

• administrative ability,

• the ability to work as part of multidisciplinary academic teams,

• experience of postgraduate research supervision where available.

10.2 GIScience Lectureship Applicants must be in possession of a PhD in physical or human-environment Geography, or in a cognate field.

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• contribute to the international reputation of research in the School through regular publication in high profile academic journals and by other means of dissemination,

• develop research grant applications for external sources of funding,

• develop research in the field of GIScience with substantive inquiry and applications in physical geography

• develop links between research and teaching activities in the School and with cognate Schools

• contribute to the teaching of GIScience at both undergraduate and taught masters levels

• take part in and, where necessary, lead Geography field classes,

• demonstrate their willingness to adopt fresh teaching or assessment approaches.

• contribute to the planning and development of programmes or modules within GIscience as they relate to physical geography

• promote graduate studies by recruiting and supervising postgraduate research students,

• take an appropriate share of administrative and pastoral duties in Geography and/or the wider School.

• act in a collegial manner

Person Specification

It is essential to show evidence of:

• research activity in the field of Geographical Information Science with a record of research achievement,

• completion or near completion of a PhD in a relevant discipline,

• a demonstrable programme of high-quality research in the immediate future and the longer term that complements or extends our existing research strengths in physical geography,

• teaching experience in higher education,

• excellent communication skills,

• commitment to research-led undergraduate and postgraduate teaching,

• an interest in developing learning and teaching within the School

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• a commitment to collegiality.

It is highly desirable to show evidence of:

• the ability to teach and examine effectively in higher education

• completed or near-completed research grant applications,

• success in securing external research funding

• administrative ability,

• the ability to work as part of multidisciplinary academic teams,

• experience of postgraduate research supervision where available.

Application process For Informal inquiries and further details about these posts contact Acting Head of Geography, Noel Castree (0161 275 3627; [email protected]). For further information about Geography see http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/geography/

The closing date for applications is May 14 th 2010 and it is anticipated that interviews will take place the week of May 22 nd . The post is tenable from 1st September 2010

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