Research Associate
University of Sheffield – Faculty of Social Sciences – Department of Sociological Studies
Summary:
Are you interested in working for a world top 100 University?
The Department of Sociological Studies is committed to understanding society and social change, and to research and teaching that improves people’s lives, especially those of the most vulnerable. We are proud to be one of the top social science research departments in the UK, with a long history of high profile contributions to theory, policy and practice. The Department has a major international reputation for excellence in research and teaching across Sociology, Social Policy, Social Work and Digital Society.
The Department of Sociological Studies wishes to recruit a fixed-term Research Associate to work with Dr Ozge Ozduzen and the rest of the project team on the EU Horizon funded project entitled DRad: DeRadicalisation in Europe and beyond: Detect, Resolve and Reintegrate.
Applicants should have a PhD in a relevant discipline with strong communication skills, both written and verbal with knowledge of expert debates relevant to the current project (e.g. in media and radicalisation).
This post is part-time working 60% and available from 15th September 2022 or as soon thereafter until 30th June 2023.
We are committed to enabling our employees to work in a hybrid model with flexibility over when, where and how to achieve the required outputs, in discussion with your manager.
We’re one of the best not-for-profit organisations to work for in the UK. The University’s Total Reward Package includes a competitive salary, a generous Pension Scheme and annual leave entitlement, as well as access to a range of learning and development courses to support your personal and professional development.
We build teams of people from different heritages and lifestyles from across the world, whose talent and contributions complement each other to greatest effect. We believe diversity in all its forms delivers greater impact through research, teaching and student experience.
To find out what makes the University of Sheffield a remarkable place to work, watch this short film: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LblLk18zmo, and follow @sheffielduni and @ShefUniJobs on Twitter for more information.
APPLY HERE >>
Introduction to D.RAD:
Glasgow Caledonian University leads the EU Horizon funded project, D.Rad: DeRadicalisation in Europe and Beyond: Detect, Resolve, Reintegrate. The project is delivered in 17 European and non-European sites; Austria, Bosnia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia Hungary, Italy, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Prof. Umut Korkut leads the project in Glasgow, UK along with Principal Investigators in the 16 other countries.
Visual Mapping
As part of our exciting project, we would like some of our project findings developed into interactive digital visualisations. Findings from multiple work packages should be brought together to create a visual repository of work – ideally in the form of an interactive visual map.
We are therefore seeking a highly skilled digital artist or graphic designer who can transform our gathered data into actionable insights within a visual display that is innovative, interactive, and creative while being accessible to an inclusive audience.
What we want
The map should be complex enough to hold multiple data, in both textual and visual form, and the installation should showcase the project findings while also highlighting the added-value of interaction between social science, arts and humanities.
This aims to be a large and multi-layered interactive map, holding data in multi-media formats. We envisage hundreds of geographically pinned markers – displaying various data. Users should be able to zoom in and out of specified countries in order to identify particular features, reports, and visualized information on the map. The map should be visually creative and functional across desktop computers, tablets and mobile phones.
What we require from you
Working with our curator and researcher, Dr Maggie Laidlaw, we invite you to work with our research data to create a digital interactive online map. This project will be ongoing until November 2023, however, the work required should be delivered in stages:
- December 2022
- July 2023
- October 2023
The first instalment of the map should be completed by December 2022, and as the project continues, emerging data will be required to be added. The completed map should be able to be embedded within our website.
Contact
Artists/individuals interested in this call are requested to email Maggie.laidlaw@gcu.ac.uk with the following information:
- A short CV with key experiences or specific digital skills as identified above.
- A cover letter showing your interest and a basic idea of what you envisage our map could look like – or examples of similar work you have done.
- An email address that we may contact you to arrange a virtual conversation.
- An approximate quotation for the work.
Closing date: 12th July 2022 (12 noon UK)
Introduction to D.RAD
Glasgow Caledonian University leads the EU Horizon funded project, D.Rad: DeRadicalisation in Europe and Beyond: Detect, Resolve, Reintegrate (https://dradproject.com/). The project is delivered in 17 European and non-European sites; Austria, Bosnia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia Hungary, Italy, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Prof. Umut Korkut leads the project in Glasgow, UKalong with Principal Investigators in the 16 other countries.
D.Rad aims to identify the actors, networks, and wider social contexts driving radicalisation, particularly among young people in urban and peri-urban areas. D.Rad conceptualises this through the I-GAP spectrum (injustice-grievance-alienation-polarisation) with the goal of moving towards measurable evaluations of de-radicalisation programmes. Our intention is to identify the building blocks of radicalisation, which include a sense of being victimised; a sense of being thwarted or lacking agency in established legal and political structures; and coming under the influence of “us vs them” identity formulations.
The Call
The D.Rad project is looking to subcontract researchers to conduct secondary research in Jordan and the wider Middle-East. The task will involve writing a policy report on radicalisation trends, de-radicalisation strategies, social media trends, and radicalisation in security forces in Jordan and the wider Middle-East. This should provide policy makers and academic audiences with an overview of current de-radicalisation programmes and related policies being unrolled in the area. Furthermore, the report should make key recommendations based on the evidence as to the future of de-radicalisation policy and related initiatives in the wider Middle East. We are expecting to receive two reports in English and an Arabic translation of the same report and they will be published on D.Rad website.
Report Structure
We propose that the report be made up of the following sections:
- Summary
- Introduction
- Overview of current policy trends
- The role of media in radicalization
- Radicalisation in security forces
- Overview of current de-radicalisation programmes
- Evaluation of the situation
- Key recommendations
The report should be written in both English and Arabic languages.
We expect this work to be completed by July 28th 2022
Interested parties are requested to email umut.korkut@gcu.ac.uk by 31st May 2022 with the following information:
- A short CV with key experiences as identified above.
- A quotation for the work including a breakdown of the projected budget. This should include all staffing costs.
- An overview of how the report will be structured and produced by the team.
- Contact details.
Glasgow Caledonian University are not bound to accept the lowest priced or any quote and shall not be bound to accept the supplier as sole supplier. Prices quoted shall remain firm for the duration of the contract. Value Added Tax (VAT) should be shown separately.
The quotation will be evaluated using the following criteria and weightings:
Evaluation Criteria | Weighting |
Quality | 60% |
Price | 40% |
By providing us with a quotation you agree to be bound by Glasgow Caledonian University Terms and Conditions which will apply to any contract awarded to you after you have provided us with our quotation.
Introduction to D.RAD
Glasgow Caledonian University leads the EU Horizon funded project, D.Rad: DeRadicalisation in Europe and Beyond: Detect, Resolve, Reintegrate (https://dradproject.com/). The project is delivered in 17 European and non-European sites; Austria, Bosnia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia Hungary, Italy, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Prof. Umut Korkut leads the project in Glasgow, UK alongwith Principal Investigators in the 16 other countries.
D.Rad aims to identify the actors, networks, and wider social contexts driving radicalisation, particularly among young people in urban and peri-urban areas. This large-scale international research project involves secondary research as well as intervention work packages to test out a number of social inclusion programmes designed by the project team. The project benefits from a vast array of expertise and includes scholars, legal experts, deradicalization practitioners and community organisers.
Curatorial Concept for the D.RAD Exhibition
As part of this exciting project, D.Rad will utilise the universal language of art as a means of exploring the concept of ‘Complicating the Narrative’, while also engaging with the overall concept of D.Rad. These works will culminate in an exhibition of works in Paris and Belgrade in December 2022. The core concepts of the exhibition are that of complicating extremist binary narratives of the other: to disrupt toxic narratives and shine a light on commonalities between, and the complexities of, perceived them-and-us characters, including highlighting shared grievances, but also how the fear of the other feeds not only one’s own imagined cause, but paradoxically, the ‘other side’ also. Complicating the narrative means finding and including the details that don’t fit a coherent narrative — on purpose – and exploring how stories and narratives of the other can unite or divide us.
The exhibition aims to get at the slippery, difficult-to-determine characteristics of the binary narrative portrayed by extremist hate groups being explored by D.Rad. The artworks should challenge the single us-versus-them story and unpick the overlapping narratives of individual and shared identity. Across all sectors of the global world, individuals share common interests: the clothes that they wear, the music they listen to, the movies they watch and the technologies they prefer. We have shared favourite authors, styles of clothing, favourite foods, and hobbies. Far from being situated in simple binary opposites, human beings share commonalities in the very ways in which we live our lives. The exhibition should endeavor to compare, negotiate and reflect the self and others – and discover how others’ worlds of meaning might differ, and/ or correspond to one’s own’.
In short, the artists/artworks should endeavor to reinvent, re-vigor and complicate narratives around…
- Identity (group & self/othering)
- ‘Getting-to-know-each other’ in shared spaces, and the everyday micro interactions that occur between individuals that are argued as the underpinnings of belonging – including the harmonies and tensions that exist is such spaces
- The ways in which different resources and environments (e.g. social media/physical spaces/common spaces) aid (or impede) the single story/binary narrative
- Challenging the symbolic power of negative online imagery (hash-tags, emoticons, video, etc) to make use of these in everyday physical settings – for more inclusive purposes.
*Please read the exhibition curatorial concept document (‘Complicating the Narrative (in a time of False Simplicity’) for a comprehensive understanding of the conceptual framework.
What we expect from artists responding to this call
Working with our curator, Dr Maggie Laidlaw, we invite you to work with our concepts and collected data to counter the appeal of efforts to divide societies into ‘us-versus-them’. We would like artists to advance the ideas already woven through our findings/concepts, and to interpret and communicate them to a broad international public in a show case of works. There is an underlying element of D.Rad, that explores how what happens in the physical spaces and communities affects the online (and vice-versa?), so there is an emphasis that artists’ should engage with offline in-person communities within their works.
Artists will be asked to advance the ideas already woven through our reports and to interpret and communicate the overarching conceptual framework to a broad international public. These media should aim at interpreting the concept in relation to our existing material, including but not exclusively, painting, aesthetic interpretations with photography, collage, digital prints, poetry, music, video, and collage techniques – and in collaboration with members of communities.
Timeline
We would ideally like you to start this commission by 30th May 2022. This project will be ongoing until November 2023, however, the work required should be delivered and ready to install in our Exhibitions in Paris and Belgrade in December 2022.
Contact
Artists/individuals interested in this call are requested to email Maggie.laidlaw@gcu.ac.uk with the following information:
- A short biography of your work and experiences
- A cover letter summarising ideas and skills in view of using the available material to produce community engaged/inspired artworks based on our themes
- An email address so that we may contact you to arrange a virtual conversation
- A quotation for the work
- For a comprehensive copy of the curatorial conceptual framework, please contact Dr. Maggie Laidlaw (as above).
Closing Date: 15th May 2022
We will select 4 artists to work with us on this project and will work with these artists individually after this date. We will then move swiftly to subcontract the selected artists following the Glasgow Caledonian University guidelines.
Before applying for this position, please download and read the full exhibition curatorial concept here >>
——————————
Présentation de D.RAD
Glasgow Caledonian University dirige le projet D.Rad: DeRadicalisation in Europe and Beyond: Detect, Resolve, Reintegrate, financé par EU Horizon (https://dradproject.com). Le projet est mené dans 17 pays européens et non européens ; Autriche, Bosnie, Finlande, France, Allemagne, Géorgie, Hongrie, Italie, Irak, Israël, Jordanie, Kosovo, Pologne, Serbie, Slovénie, Turquie et Royaume-Uni. Le professeur Umut Korkut dirige le projet depuis Glasgow, au Royaume-Uni, en collaboration avec des chercheur.e.s basés dans les 16 autres pays couverts par le projet. Pour la France, la recherche est dirigée par le professeur Stephen Sawyer de l’American University of Paris.
D.Rad vise à identifier les acteurs, les réseaux et les contextes sociaux au sens large, qui sont à l’origine de la radicalisation, en particulier chez les jeunes des zones urbaines et périurbaines. Ce projet de recherche international à grande échelle produit des recherches ainsi que des modules d’intervention visant à tester un certain nombre de programmes d’inclusion sociale conçus par l’équipe. Le projet bénéficie d’un vaste éventail d’expertises et réunis universitaires, experts juridiques, praticiens de la déradicalisation et organisateurs communautaires.
Concept de l’exposition D.RAD
Dans le cadre de ce projet, D.Rad propose de mobiliser le langage universel de l’art comme moyen d’explorer la notion de «complication du récit», tout en s’articulant autour des thèmes intéressant le projet D.Rad.
Ces œuvres seront exposées à Belgrade en décembre 2022 et à Paris durant le premier semestre 2023. Les concepts fondamentaux qui guident de l’exposition visent à compliquer les récits binaires extrémistes de l’altérité : perturber les récits toxiques et mettre en lumière les continuité et discontinuité dans les perceptions et discours qui construisent les distinctions entre le « nous » et le « eux ». Et ce notamment en mettant en évidence des griefs partagés, et la manière dont la peur de l’autre alimente non seulement sa propre cause imaginaire, mais paradoxalement, « l’autre côté ».
Compliquer le récit implique de trouver et inclure les détails qui ne correspondent pas à un récit cohérent – à dessein – et explorer la façon dont les histoires et les récits de l’autre peuvent nous unir ou nous diviser.
L’exposition vise à saisir les caractéristiques instables et indéterminées du récit binaire dépeint par les groupes haineux extrémistes explorés par D.Rad. Les œuvres d’art doivent remettre en question l’histoire unique du « nous contre eux » et démêler les récits qui se chevauchent entre identité individuelle et partagée. Dans tous les secteurs du monde globalisé, les individus partagent des intérêts communs : les vêtements qu’ils portent, la musique qu’ils écoutent, les films qu’ils regardent et les technologies qu’ils préfèrent. Nous avons partagé des auteurs préférés, des styles de vêtements, des aliments préférés et des passe-temps. Loin d’être situés dans de simples opposés binaires, les êtres humains partagent des points communs dans la manière même dont nous vivons nos vies. L’exposition doit s’efforcer de comparer, négocier et refléter soi-même et les autres – et découvrir comment les mondes de sens des autres peuvent différer et/ou correspondre au sien.
En bref, les artistes/œuvres d’art sont invités à explorer et compliquer les récits suivants:
- Identité (groupe et soi/autre/stigmatisation)
- « Trouver le commun » : réinventer et revitaliser « apprendre à se connaître » dans les espaces partagés (en ligne et hors ligne), et les micro-interactions quotidiennes qui se produisent entre les individus et qui sont présentées comme les fondements de l’appartenance – y compris la cohérence et les tensions qui existent dans ces espaces.
- Penser comment nous donnons un sens aux espaces collectifs en les ressentant et en les ressentant, et en apprenant à les connaître en tant qu’espaces réels et imaginaires.
- Comment les différentes ressources et environnements (par exemple, les médias sociaux/espaces physiques/espaces communs) aident (ou entravent) l’histoire unique/récit binaire.
Ce que nous attendons des artistes répondant à cet appel
En collaboration avec notre conservatrice, le Dr Maggie Laidlaw, nous vous invitons à travailler avec nos concepts et les données collectées pour contrer l’attrait des efforts visant à diviser les sociétés en « nous contre eux ». Nous aimerions que les artistes fassent avancer les idées déjà tissées à travers nos découvertes/concepts, et les interprètent et les communiquent à un large public international dans une série d’œuvres. Certaines questions qui sont sous-jacentes dans le projet D.Rad, explorent ce qui se passe dans les espaces physiques et les communautés en ligne (et vice-versa ?)- Il y a donc un accent sur le fait que les artistes devraient s’engager avec des communautés hors ligne au sein de leur œuvres.
Les artistes seront invités à faire avancer les idées déjà tissées dans nos rapports et à interpréter et communiquer le cadre conceptuel global à un large public international. Ces médias devraient viser à interpréter le concept par rapport à notre matériel existant, y compris, mais pas exclusivement, la peinture, les interprétations esthétiques avec la photographie, le collage, les impressions numériques, la poésie, la musique, la vidéo et les techniques de collage – et en collaboration avec les membres des communautés.
Chronologie
Nous aimerions idéalement que vous commenciez cette commande d’ici le 30 mai 2022. Ce projet se poursuivra jusqu’en novembre 2023, cependant, le travail requis devrait être livré et prêt à être installé dans nos expositions à Paris et à Belgrade en décembre 2022.
Contact
Les artistes/individus intéressés par cet appel sont priés d’envoyer un e-mail à Maggie.laidlaw@gcu.ac.uk avec les informations suivantes :
- Une courte biographie de votre travail et de vos expériences.
- Une lettre de motivation résumant les idées et les compétences en vue d’utiliser le matériel disponible pour produire des œuvres d’art engagées / inspirées par la communauté basée sur nos thèmes.
- Une adresse e-mail afin que nous puissions vous contacter pour organiser une conversation virtuelle.
- Un devis pour les travaux.
Pour obtenir une copie complète du cadre conceptuel de la conservation, veuillez contacter le Dr Maggie Laidlaw (comme ci-dessus).
Date de clôture: 15th Mai 2022
Nous sélectionnerons 4 artistes pour travailler avec nous sur ce projet et travaillerons avec ces artistes individuellement après cette date. Nous agirons ensuite rapidement pour sous-traiter les artistes sélectionnés en suivant les directives de la Glasgow Caledonian University.
Avant de postuler à ce poste, veuillez télécharger et lire le concept complet du commissariat de l’exposition ici >>