Lecturer in Observational Astronomy (Research & Education) (

Job Number:

25000906)

Department of Physics

Grade 8: – £46,735 – £55,755 per annum

Fixed Term – Full Time

Contract Duration: 5 years

Contracted Hours per Week: 35

Closing Date

: 18-Aug-2025, 10:59:00 PM

Disclosure and Barring Service Requirement: Not Applicable.

Working at Durham University

A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a warm and friendly place to work, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other.

As one of the UK’s leading universities, Durham is an incredible place to define your career. The University is located within a beautiful historic city, home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and surrounded by stunning countryside. Our talented scholars and researchers from around the world are tackling global issues and making a difference to people’s lives.

We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things in the world. Being a part of Durham is about more than just the success of the University, it’s also about contributing to the success of the city, county and community.

Our University Strategy is built on three pillars of research, education and wider student experience, but also on our keen sense of community and of inspiring others to achieve their potential.

Our Purpose and Values

We want our University to be a place where people can be free to be themselves, no matter what their identity or background. Together, we celebrate difference, value one another and are each responsible for creating an inclusive community that is respectful and fair for all.

Find out more about the benefits of working at the University and what it is like to live and work in the Durham area on our Why Join Us? – Information Page

Discover more about our total rewards and benefits package here.

The Department

The Department of Physics at Durham University is one of the top UK Physics departments with an outstanding reputation for excellence in teaching, research and employability of our students. Ranked in the top 10 in REF2022 in terms of power, 96% of Durham Physics research was considered either to be of “internationally excellent quality” or “world leading”.

The Department of Physics is investing in excellence and seeks to appoint a talented scientist to the role of Lecturer for a fixed term of five years. We welcome applications from those with research and teaching interests in the broad field of observational astronomy and we are particularly eager to hear from applicants with a focus on exploiting both the current and next generation of astronomical observatories such as the ESO VLT and ELT, VRO LSST, SKA, Euclid, DESI and 4MOST, in which Durham is heavily involved.

This post offers an exciting opportunity to make a major contribution to the development of research and teaching Astronomy at Durham. It will also allow you to participate in internationally excellent research and research-led teaching while giving you unrivalled opportunities to progress and embed your career in an exciting and progressive institution. For more information, please visit our Department pages at www.dur.ac.uk/physics.

To create the right platform to advance our research, we have invested in physical infrastructure. In 2017, our astronomy groups, the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy and the Institute for Computational Cosmology, moved into the new Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics, designed by the world-renowned Studio Daniel Libeskind. The University has invested in centralised machine rooms to host our high performance computers.

The Department is committed to research-led and small group teaching. The Complete University Guide ranks Durham’s Physics Department in fourth place nationally based on entry standards, student satisfaction, research and graduate prospects.

The preferred start date for the successful candidate is October 2025.

Lecturers (Fixed Term) at Durham

The role of a fixed term Lecturer at Durham provides the opportunity to deliver outstanding education and research within an inclusive and supportive environment that is staffed by world class colleagues. Lecturers will be supported to develop their academic careers by training and financial support in research and education, guided by a designated mentor. The primary focus of this role is on research and teaching but there will also be the opportunity to engage in wider citizenship within the University and beyond. The role of Lecturer is for a fixed term of 5 years, to provide cover for a colleague who will be undertaking another tole. It is not anticipated that this period would be extended beyond the initial fixed term.

Applicants must demonstrate research excellence in the field of observational astronomy, with the ability to teach our students to an exceptional standard and to fully engage in the services, citizenship and values of the University.

The University provides a working and teaching environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate these key principles as part of the assessment process.

Key responsibilities:

• Pursue research that is world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour, commensurate with the Department’s continuing emphasis on international excellence;
• To developing clear plans for the pursuit of suitable national and international funding opportunities to support research and end-user engagement;
• Play a role in relevant teaching and research supervision, and contribute to ongoing curriculum development;
• Contribute to enhancing the quality of the research environment in the Department, the wider University and beyond through collaborative research activity;
• Demonstrate a willingness to contribute to the administrative work, citizenship and values of the Department;
• Offer lectures, seminars and tutorials at undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels, with the opportunity to teach more widely within the Department, as well as engaging in related activity such as assessment;
• To fully engage in and enhance the values of the Department;
• To contribute to attracting and supervising research students, and to enhance the Department’s commitment to its vibrant international postgraduate culture;
• Carry out other duties as specified by the Head of Department.

Durham University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion

Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are a key component of the University’s Strategy and a central part of everything we do. We also live by our Purpose and Values and our Staff Code of Conduct. At Durham we actively work towards providing an environment where our staff and students can study, work and live in a community which is supportive and inclusive. It’s important to us that all colleagues undertake activities that are aligned to both our values and commitment to EDI.

We welcome and encourage applications from those who are currently under-represented in our work force, including people with disabilities and from racially minoritised ethnic groups.

If you have taken a career break or periods of leave that may have impacted on the volume and recency of your research outputs and other activities, such as maternity, adoption or parental leave, you may wish to disclose this in your application. The selection committee will take this into account when evaluating your application.

The University has been awarded the Disability Confident Leader status. If you are a candidate with a disability, we are committed to ensuring fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. We will make adjustments to support the interview process wherever it is reasonable to do so and, where successful, reasonable adjustments will be made to support people within their role.

Person Specification

Candidates must outline their experience, skills and achievements to date which demonstrate that they meet all of the essential criteria.

Research

Candidates must have the capacity for developing their own program of internationally excellent research that will produce high-quality outcomes, including some work that is recognised as world-class.

Essential Research Criteria

1. Qualifications –- a good first degree and a PhD in Physics or a related subject.
2. Outputs – evidence of high-quality outputs, some of which is recognised as world-class. Candidates are asked to submit two research papers with their application (as outlined in the How to Apply section below). Candidates may additionally choose to submit evidence such as external peer review of their outputs.
3. Personal Research Plan – evidence of a personal research plan which supports and enhances the Department’s research strategy and complements our work in observational astrophysics.

Education

Candidates must demonstrate the development and delivery of high-quality teaching that contributes to providing a world class learning environment and curricula which encourage students to achieve their potential.

Essential Education Criteria

1. Qualification – candidates must be or have the ability to attain the rank of Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (https://heacademy.ac.uk/individuals/fellowship/fellow) which is the national body that champions teaching excellence.
2. Quality – evidence of the development and delivery of high-quality teaching.
3. Innovation – evidence of innovation in the design and delivery of high-quality teaching or assessment of learning including lectures, small group learning and/or using technology or other techniques to enhance learning and/or assessment.
4. Strategic – evidence of strategic teaching development – engagement in the design of excellent teaching programmes which are research informed and led.

Services, Citizenship and Values

1. Candidates must actively engage in the administrative requirements of the Department and positively contribute to fostering a collegial environment; as well as demonstrating their commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Essential Services, Citizenship and Values Criteria

1. Collegial contribution – evidence of participation in the collegial/administrative activities of an academic Department, Faculty or University. (Candidates may choose to evidence departmental or University roles, mentoring activity, engagement with widening participation, involvement in equality and diversity initiatives and membership or engagement with external bodies).
2. Leadership – engagement in activities that contribute to the administrative functioning of an academic Department, Faculty, University and/or discipline including leadership or responsibilities in an academic context. (Candidates may choose to detail any leadership roles which they have undertaken, preferably in an academic context).
3. Communication – candidates must have excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to engage with a range of students and colleagues across a variety of forums.

Desirable Criteria

The desirable criteria for this post (for which candidates should provide evidence of some if not all criteria) are:

1. Research Leadership – contribution to the leadership of research groups and the mentoring of early career researchers. (Candidates may choose to include information about research group leadership, mentoring of research colleagues, invitations to external events, engagement with international networks or projects).
2. PhD Supervision – involvement in the provision of excellent supervision for PhD students.
3. Research Impact – demonstrable evidence of the impact of the Candidate’s research beyond their institution.
4. Income Generation – evidence of engagement in the development of successful research project proposals.

Contact Information

Department contact for academic-related enquiries

Professor Alastair Edge, Head of Astronomy (alastair.edge@durham.ac.uk)

Contact information for technical difficulties when submitting your application

If you encounter technical difficulties when using the online application form, we prefer you send enquiries by email. Please send your name along with a brief description of the problem you’re experiencing to e.recruitment@durham.ac.uk

Alternatively, you may call 0191 334 6801 from the UK, or +44 191 334 6801 from outside the UK. This number operates during the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 Monday to Friday, UK time. We will normally respond within one working day (Monday to Friday, excluding UK public holidays).

How to Apply

We prefer to receive applications online.

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement Job Applicants/Potential Job Applicants – Durham University which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.

What to Submit

All applicants are asked to submit:

• A CV;
• A covering letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out above;
• A personal research plan;
• A statement (maximum 1 page) outlining how you will support the University’s equality and diversity initiatives to develop an inclusive and diverse research and learning culture within the Department;
• Two of your most significant pieces of written work, all of which published or submitted since 2020.

Where possible we request that you provide web links to these which the hiring Department will access to read your work. The application form contains fields in which to enter each of the web links.

In the event you are unable to provide accessible links to online hosting of your work, your work should be uploaded as PDFs as part of your application in our recruitment system. Please ensure that your PDFs are not larger than 2Mb. Please note that your work may be read by colleagues from across the Department and evaluated against the current REF criteria.

Please save all application documents with your name and document type as PDF files.

We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails.

Referees

You should provide details of 3 academic referees and the details of your current line manager so that we may seek an employment reference (if they are not listed as an academic referee). Please note:

• We shall via greenbean by NEG seek the academic references during the application process. Academic referees should not (if possible) include your PhD supervisor(s) and a majority should be from a University other than your own (save for early career applicants applying for their first post). We would ask that you alert your academic referees to this application as soon as possible, and provide them with a copy of the CV you submit with your application, so that we can quickly obtain references should you be progressed to the long list stage. As part of your application you will be asked whether you give your consent to your academic references being sought at the longlisting stage.
• Academic references sought for long-listed candidates may be made available to the panel during the shortlisting process.
• We will seek a reference from your current line-manager if we make you an offer of employment (albeit you may have also nominated your line manager as an academic referee). Please clearly indicate which referee is your current line-manager and please let us know if we should only approach them once an offer has been made.

Next Steps

All applications will be considered; our usual practice is for colleagues across the Department to read the submitted work of long-listed candidates.

Short-listed candidates will be invited to the University and will have the opportunity to meet key members of the Department. The assessment for the post will normally include a research presentation to staff and students in the Department, together with a demonstration of small-group teaching followed by an interview and we anticipate that the assessments and interviews will take place over two days in or around August 2025.

If you are unable to attend on the date offered, it may not be possible to offer you an interview on an alternative date.

Applicant Guidance

For further guidance on your application please see HERE

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