Call for Applications: Research Associate – PersDoc Project, Oxford University

We are looking for one researcher to join the project team for the AHRC-funded ‘PersDoc – Persian in Documents’ project. The project explores the nuances of Islamisation during the first 500 years of Islamic rule in the Islamicate East (a vast area that stretches from Islam to Tibet and includes parts of the modern states of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and of the wider Central Asian region). Project activities include Persian transcription, translation from Persian into English, and analysis of a variety of texts, most of which reflect every day, local use – from receipts to personal letters to legal opinions – and others are literary in nature.

Managing your own academic research and related administrative activities, you will examine unstudied or understudied texts from the pre-modern Afghanistan, identifying and categorizing texts, transcribing and translating documents of different genres, and entering and processing text in a specialist, digital project format. You will prepare reading and translation workshops and contribute to the project’s website and social media updates. As well as developing content for an online course for a wider public on the social history of the Islamicate East, you will also collaborate in authoring an article, book chapter and/or monograph on an aspect of the history and/or linguistics of the Islamicate East. You will also present project results at conferences or public meetings.

We require someone who has, or will be close to completing, a relevant PhD/DPhil or equivalent qualification, with expertise in Persian. Experience in carrying out historical and/or literary research on the medieval history of the Islamicate East, transcribing and translating medieval texts, and expertise in classical Persian is essential, as well as other specialist knowledge in the ancient languages, traditions and history of the pre-Mongol Islamicate East. You will also have work experience in digital humanities. You will need to be self-motivated in managing academic research and associated activities, work collaboratively as part of a team, and be able to undertake innovative research at the forefront of current scholarship. Previous experience of independent scholarly writing to a high level of academic content and formal presentation is required, as is excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for publication, present research proposals and results, and represent the research group at meetings. You must be fluent in English, both spoken and written.

This is a full-time post for a fixed period of 14 months.

Applications must be received by 12 noon on 22 October 2021.