Research Fellow in the Ideas of Anti-Autocratic Movements Ref: 43480 (Fixed Term)

About The Role

NEWREPUBLIC is a research project funded by the European Research Council. It asks: what ideas animate anti-autocratic movements in Africa? As the Research Fellow in the Ideas of Anti-Autocratic Movements, you will play a central role in that project alongside the principal investigator, a second postdoctoral researcher, a PhD student and a project officer.

You will co-lead the project's content analysis. You will work closely with the principal investigator to generate and analyse a large multi-country dataset of movement speech. In parallel, you will undertake your own autonomous research project on the ideas of anti-autocratic movements in Africa, which will extend, enrich or complicate the foundational ideas of NEWREPUBLIC. Altogether, you will co-author three or more publications in highly-regarded journals based on this research.

More widely, you will be pivotal to the success of NEWREPUBLIC. You will present at conferences, contribute to practitioner-oriented events and outreach worldwide, and help co-develop follow-on funding applications. The role is intended to setup the post-holder for a career in academia.

You, and NEWREPUBLIC, will be located in the Politics Department, which also houses the world-leading Centre for the Study of Corruption. NEWREPUBLIC has close ties to this centre, alongside Sussex’s prestigious Institute for Development Studies, and the School for Progressive Futures. You will also receive proactive support oriented towards early-career researchers through the Sussex Researcher School.

About You

The ideal candidate will want to put the animating ideas of anti-autocratic movements at the heart of their research agenda, for the duration of the project, and for years to come.

You will have a PhD in political science or a closely related subject and have a record of publications in peer-reviewed journals, commensurate with career stage.

You will be fluent (to at least C1 level) in a language spoken in Africa, other than English. It would be particularly advantageous if you were fluent in French, Portuguese, Luganda, or Swahili.

You will have expertise in autocratic politics and/or democratic struggle in Africa and will have expertise in methodologies of rule-bound content analysis of text. You will have expertise in the analysis of ideology, discourse, performance or another lens onto meaning-making.

You will have an excellent proposal for an independent research project to extend, enrich or complicate the foundational ideas of NEWREPUBLIC (no more than 1,000 words, excluding references).

It would be advantageous if you had expertise in the politics of francophone, lusophone, or eastern Africa and if you had experience in management, supervision, or quality-control within or beyond the academy.

It would also be advantageous if you had experience of public engagement, for example in op-eds, policy briefs, or public seminars.

About Our Division

Politics is a well-established and successful research-led department with a record of excellence in research assessment exercises and in teaching. The department is home to 20 faculty and around 600 students. We have a thriving Masters in Corruption and Governance course which recruits between 15-20 students per year, together an online distance learning version of the degree. The department is home to the internationally renowned Sussex European Institute and the Centre for the Study of Corruption, and also has research strengths in British politics, party politics, citizenship and migration, and various phenomena that challenge the existing political order such as populism, anti-politics and protest politics. In the most recent REF, 96% of the department’s outputs were regarded as either world-leading or internationally excellent and the department’s GPA rose from 2.90 in 2014 to 3.38 in 2021. We performed in the most recent NSS improving our scores in almost every category with 85% of respondents evaluating our teaching positively.

Please find further information regarding the School of Law, Politics and Sociology on our website.

Why work here

Our university is situated off the A27, next to the beautiful South Downs where you will enjoy everything that our 150-acre campus has to offer. We are accessible by public transport; Falmer train station is a five-minute walk to campus and several bus stops are located within campus. We also have dedicated cycling paths and encourage our staff to use these with our offering of a cycle to work scheme.

Sussex is a renowned, multi-accredited, research-led International University and this is only possible because of the people that work here. Whether you are a member of Faculty, part of a Professional Services team or a Student, it’s our people that make us great and we want you to be part of that.

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Further Key Information

Please contact NEWREPUBLIC principal investigator, Dr. Dan Paget, at d.paget@sussex.ac.uk for informal enquiries.

Please submit a cover letter of no more than two pages, a CV, a writing sample of no more than 10,000 words, and a research proposal of no more than 1,000 words (excluding references).

For full details and how to apply see our vacancies page.

The University of Sussex values the diversity of its staff and students, and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

Eligibility

Visa Sponsorship Queries: This role has been assigned an eligible SOC code and meets the salary requirements for Skilled Worker Sponsorship if full time and appointed at Grade 7.4. Please consult our Skilled Worker Visa information page for further information about Visa Sponsorship.

The University requires that work undertaken for the University is performed in the UK.