Research Assistant position in African Heritage Remote Sensing and GIS

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available until 31 March 2024 in the first instance.

The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research invites applications for a fixed-term, full-time Research Assistant to work within the international multi-partner research project Mapping Africa's Endangered Archaeological Sites and Monuments (MAEASaM) https://maeasam.org/about/ The project is generously supported by Arcadia - a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin (https://www.arcadiafund.org.uk/).

Key tasks will include: the identification of archaeological sites and monuments through the use of remote sensing analyses and desk-based research on existing site registered and from published and grey literature; the creation of digital records of these sites and monuments following a standardised format; the identification of past, present and potential future threats to the integrity of these sites; assisting with field visits to ground-truth features identified using remote sensing; assisting in-country partners with the development of enhanced monitoring and protection measures in the target countries and; assisting with the dissemination of project information via social media. The geographical scope of the work will possibly encompass all countries in the project (see below for a complete list) with a focus in Eastern Africa. The post may involve travel to one of the project countries. For a detailed description of tasks, please see the 'Further Particulars' document.

Applicants must hold a MSc/MA/MPhil degree in archaeology, geography, heritage studies or a related field with relevant experience in and knowledge of African archaeology and/or heritage management. Experience in computational and/or digital approaches in archaeology, in remote sensing, and GIS (ideally QGIS, and/or ArcGIS) and experience in archaeological field documentation and archaeological survey techniques, especially image interpretation, ideally within sub-Saharan Africa are essential. Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write good English text for publication, present research proposals and results, and represent the research group at meetings and excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability of working efficiently in a diverse team are required alongside experience with the use of digital and social media communications channels and website content management systems (CMS). Knowledge of written and spoken Amharic, French, Arabic and/or Kiswahili will be an advantage.

Starting date: 1 April 2023 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Once an offer of employment has been accepted, the successful candidate will be required to undergo a health assessment.

Closing date for applications is 20 March 2023.

We particularly welcome applications from women and/or candidates from a BAME background for this vacancy as they are currently under-represented at this level in our department.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Applications are a two-stage process (see further particulars by following the link below for details). Please do not apply without consulting the further particulars as these give you essential information about the procedure and the documents you need to submit. Informal inquiries may be addressed to the project's Principal Investigator Professor Paul Lane (pjl29@cam.ac.uk) or the Project Manager Dr Stefania Merlo (sm399@cam.ac.uk)

Please quote reference JC35584 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.