[Posted in the "Jobs" section of www.morphometrics.org. -the Moderator]
Dear colleagues
I am pleased to announce a number of position openings in the Faculty
of Life Sciences at The University of Manchester. In today's issue of
Nature, the Faculty has advertised a total of 20 academic positions
throughout the life sciences, of which I am only highlighting those
that I think are most directly related to the readership of this list
(apologies for multiple posting). But I particularly encourage
couples who are looking for two jobs in the same place to have a look
at the whole list of jobs
(http://www.man.ac.uk/news/vacancies/academic.html#LS031)
We are advertising these positions broadly. Our priority is to employ
the best people rather than to target a specific subject area.
Should you be interested in more than one of the positions, I think
the safest thing to do is to submit a separate application for each
of them (I guess our office staff will be a bit overwhelmed with
applications, and may not be able to copy applications to all
relevant search committees). I definitely encourage such multiple
applications.
Further, more formal, information on individual positions is
available from the university's web site:
Lectureship in Evolutionary Biology
http://www.man.ac.uk/news/vacancies/LS036.pdf
Lectureship in Evolutionary Developmental Biology
http://www.man.ac.uk/news/vacancies/LS037.pdf
Lectureship in Anatomy
http://www.man.ac.uk/news/vacancies/LS033.pdf
Other positions include Gene Expression, Integrative Plant Biology
among others (http://www.man.ac.uk/news/vacancies/academic.html#LS031).
The application form can be downloaded as a PDF file:
http://www.man.ac.uk/news/vacancies/APPLICATION%20FORM%20June.pdf
or as an MS-Word file:
http://www.man.ac.uk/news/vacancies/APPLICATION%20FORM%20June.doc
The deadline for all these jobs is 31 March 2006. (Apologies for the
short notice.)
Additional information:
Because the ad does not contain much specific information about the
institution and the positions, I will provide some information from
my own perspective (this is my own experience and the best
information I have, but it is not legally binding!).
The Faculty of Life Sciences is very large organization (around 200
academic staff) engaged in both research and teaching. The University
of Manchester has resulted from the merger of the Victoria University
of Manchester and the UMIST, and the new university has ambitious
plans for growth and a substantial improvement of its research and
teaching profile. As part of these plans, we anticipate that our
Faculty should grow by a further 50% over the next decade. This size
and the plans for growth make us a very dynamic place -- new ideas
and research initiatives can be realized quickly.
The Faculty is structured into research groups
(http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/research/themes/), whose aim is to
facilitate research and collaboration (without impeding collaboration
across groups). Additional information on these groups is in the
Further Particulars for each of the positions.
The ad mentions single positions in each area, but it has happened
before that more than one than one person was hired, although only
one position was advertised (when I applied, four candidates were
interviewed for a single position, and three of us were hired!).
A Lectureship is a junior academic position, comparable to the rank
of Assistant Professor in North America. A difference is that tenure
is much less of a problem here. I have not yet heard of a person who
was denied permanent employment after the probationary period of 3-4
years. Promotion and permanent employment are not linked here (the
ranks are Lecturer -- Senior Lecturer -- Reader -- Professor).
Teaching loads here are comparable or lower than in most universities
in North America. An average teaching load includes around 25 hours
of lecturing per year, some small-group teaching (tutorials for
science students or problem-based learning for medical/dental
students), supervision of student projects, and some marking of
written work. Efforts are made to coordinate the teaching assignments
with the research interests of staff members, but this does vary a
bit from person to person.
The Faculty puts major emphasis on excellence in research. Research
funding in the UK is competitive, but as far as I know, it is about
as good as it gets anywhere these days. There is a range of funding
agencies including government research councils (NERC, BBSRC, MRC)
and charities (Wellcome Trust, Lister Institute among others)
including one charity that specializes if funding projects that are
hard to fund otherwise (Leverhulme Trust). Equipment grants can be
obtained from the Royal Society and other funding bodies (and
equipment can be included in normal grants). Research proposals are
shorter than in many other countries (up to 8 pages for a full
project description), and in my experience, the selection committees
do appreciate new ideas. Normal-sized research projects fund a
postdoc and a technician position for a period of three years, but
bigger projects are possible (but harder to get).
The Faculty has well-equipped central facilities
(http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/research/), and further investment is
currently going on. Collaboration among researchers in the Faculty is
encouraged.
Manchester is a vibrant city of about 2 million inhabitants. It is
culturally very diverse, and suits a variety of different life
styles. You can choose anything from living in the city centre, leafy
suburbs to living in the country side, all within a reasonable
commute from the university. Manchester has an international airport
with direct flights to the major centres in Europe, North America and Asia.
Chris Klingenberg
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Christian Peter Klingenberg
Faculty of Life Sciences
The University of Manchester
Michael Smith Building
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PT
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 161 275 3899
Fax: +44 161 275 5082
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: http://www.flywings.org.uk
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