[dance-tech] Culture lab research associate post

 


 
 
Dear Dance & Tech friends,
 
With very best wishes to all for the end-of-the-beginning-of-the-year 
festivities, and thanks for recent updates - Isabel! - please find below a job 
announcement for my lab in Newcastle that may be of interest. Formal queries 
can be dealt with by Sarah Barber (cited below) as of Jan 3rd.
 
amicalement
sjn
 
 
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

 

CULTURE LAB NEWCASTLE AND NEWCASTLE INSTITUTE FOR THE ARTS, SOCIAL SCIENCES AND 
HUMANITIES (NIASSH)

 

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

£23,182 - £25,565

 

Information for Candidates

 

We wish to appoint a motivated and flexible Research Associate to Culture Lab 
and NIASSH. You will be responsible for (i) coordinating Culture Lab input to 
the INSCAPE project on Interactive Storytelling for Creative People, an 
interdisciplinary research consortium set up as part of the European 
Commission's Sixth Framework Programme on Information Society Technologies 
(http://www.inscapers.com <http://www.inscapers.com/> ). You will contribute to 
a range of research initiatives concerned with the interactions of technology, 
creativity, performance, and narrative and notably to INSCAPE's "Live 
Performances" component, in the form of input to collective texts and workshops 
designed to explore and validate real-time storytelling techniques; (ii) 
generating documentation on INSCAPE practical workshop activities to provide a 
basis for Culture Lab's contribution to the consortium deliverables; (iii) 
helping to co-ordinate and document selected joint Culture Lab/NIASSH research 
programmes; and (iv) actively pursuing your own research agendas in appropriate 
areas . Applications are sought from candidates with practical and theoretical 
experience in new kinds of live performance and/ or new storytelling 
environments using interactive technologies. The post is based in Culture Lab 
and is tenable for approximately two-and-a-half years.

 

Informal enquiries should in the first instance be made to Sarah Barber 
(s.g.m.barber@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:s.g.m.barber@xxxxxxxxx> ), or 0191 222 5064.

 

To apply, please submit a written application,Employment Record  Form, full CV, 
together with the names and addresses of two referees to Sarah Barber, Culture 
Lab and NIASSH, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Architecture Building, NE1 
7RU

 

Closing date:  3rd February, 2006 

Interviews to take place week commencing 13 February, 2006

 




Job reference:

 

The Post

 

The position is intended to support (i) Culture Lab's contribution to a Sixth 
Framework project on Interactive Storytelling for Creative People, run by a 
consortium of European universities and companies whose research is focussed on 
creative uses of information and communications technologies, (ii) Culture Lab 
and NIASSH's establishment of joint research activities in the area of creative 
practice. In the context of a four-year integrated project launched in 
September 2004, the INSCAPE consortium is developing new formal models of 
narrative skills, structures and patterns, new concepts for interactive 
storytelling addressing multiple "viewers", and innovative multimodal 
interfaces for creating interactive stories. To complement consortium inputs 
which emphasise cinema, television, animation and cartoon media as new vehicles 
for interactive storytelling, Culture Lab at Newcastle University will focus on 
the development of interactive narrative strategies in the live performance 
context. In the context of Culture Lab and NIASSH joint developments, 
interdisciplinary exchanges focussed on the area of creative practice will be 
implemented as a series of events including seminars, conference/ performances, 
exhibitions and workshops.

 

The post has four primary roles as follows:

 

i.                    Coordinating Culture Lab storytelling / live performance 
input to the INSCAPE project, including practical workshops with potential 
participation from Newcastle University's School of English Literature, 
Language and Linguistics (Creative Writing, Drama and Performance), School of 
Arts and Cultures (Music, Fine Arts), School of Electrical, Electronic and 
Computer Engineering (Interface and Programme Development), and Institute of 
Informatics (Conversational Agents, Human-Computer Interaction). Workshops will 
alternate between "in-house" experimentation and sessions targeting broader 
publics, presented as  dissemination opportunities with a strong focus on media 
impact.

 

ii.                  Generating and collating documentation on Culture Lab 
INSCAPE events: 

a.      preparatory proposals, calls for participation, programme outlines 
laying down methodology and objectives;

b.      written and audiovisual traces of storytelling performance workshop 
experiments to build a corpus to be fed into Culture Lab deliverables for the 
INSCAPE Consortium.

 

iii         Contributing to the organisation and documentation of joing Culture 
Lab/NIASSH research programmes which extend the concerns of the INSCAPE project 
in relation to a range of interdisciplinary agendas. In the first instance, you 
will be required to work on the 'Critical Exchanges: Creativity, Research, 
Scholarship' programme.

 

iv         Undertaking and disseminating your own research in a cognate area.

 

Beyond Newcastle University counterparts, the post will require liaising with 
INSCAPE's European partners, many of whom will attend Newcastle events. 
Reciprocally, Culture Lab's INSCAPE research assistant will be required to 
attend meetings and workshops held by European partner organisations. 

 

Tasks will be supervised by Dr Sally Jane Norman, Director of Culture Lab 
Newcastle and responsible for the University's contribution to INSCAPE, and by 
Professor Kate Chedgzoy, director of NIASSH. 

 

 

 




PERSON SPECIFICATION

 

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

 

ESSENTIAL

Post-graduate qualifications in performance, drama or theatre studies with 
emphasis on digital technologies; or post-graduate qualifications in narrative/ 
interactive structure with emphasis on live performance; or post-graduate 
qualifications in interactive digital technology with emphasis on creative, 
artistic uses thereof.

 

DESIRABLE

Knowledge of the University structure and interdisciplinary project environments

 

 

EXPERIENCE AND ACHIEVEMENTS (paid/ unpaid)

 

ESSENTIAL

Experience of working in collaborative situations

 

DESIRABLE

Experience of working with persons from different disciplines driven by 
different objectives.

 

SKILLS, ABILITIES AND PERSONAL QUALITIES

-          Ability to work independently and collaboratively within local and 
extended (international) teams.

-          Good communication skills, flexibility and enthusiasm.

-          Motivated contributor to an international environment.

-          Good team player.

-          Ability to relate well to staff working on the project and external 
bodies.

-          Sympathetic and intelligent approach.

-          Excellent organisational skills.

-          Ability to monitor milestones and meet deadlines.

-          Basic IT skills in data entry, word processing, email, internet.

-          Interest in or use of tools to constitute photographic and filmed 
archives.

 

OTHER RELEVANT FACTORS

-          Prepared to travel to participate in consortium activities.

 

 




 

Information on how to apply

 

To apply for this position, you should submit your CV and written application, 
giving full details of your qualifications and experience, and the names and 
addressed of two referees, to Sarah Barber, Culture Lab and NIASSH, University 
of Newcastle upon Tyne, Architecture Building, NE1 7RU or 
s.g.m.barber@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:s.g.m.barber@xxxxxxxxx> , to arrive no later 
than February 3rd 2006.  

 

It is essential that you return a completed Employment Record form along with 
your covering letter and CV for which it would be very helpful if this were 
printed on single sided A4 paper.  The Employment Record form may be downloaded 
from the University web page: www.ncl.ac.uk/vacancies/employ.rtf 
<http://www.ncl.ac.uk/vacancies/employ.rtf> .

 

Interviews will be held week commencing interview 13th February, 2006. 

 

Candidates are asked to note that it is the University's normal procedure to 
approach referees for their confidential comments on candidates prior to 
interviews being held.  This can mean that referees will be contacted either at 
the time a short-list is drawn up or, in some instances, referees comments will 
be sought in advance to enable a short list to be finalised.

 

Candidates who do not wish any of their referees to be approached before 
receiving an invitation for interview, must inform the University at the time 
of submitting their applications.

 

All applications will be considered for shortlisting.  Following the 
interviews, the successful candidate will receive a formal written offer of 
employment from one of the following: Registrar, or the Human Resources 
Section.  Please note that no other person has the authority to offer 
employment for this post, either orally or in writing.

 

When the successful candidate has accepted the post, all other candidates will 
receive notification of the outcome of their applications.

 

The appointment will be subject to the standard conditions of service. Further 
information on this and related topics will be issued with any invitation to 
interview and may also be obtained on request from the Human Resources Section.

 

The successful candidate will be eligible to join the Universities 
Superannuation Scheme (USS).  The USS is currently the third largest private 
sector final salary pension scheme in the country.  It offers an excellent 
range of benefits including an index linked pension, death in service benefits, 
dependants benefits and provision for early retirement in case you have to 
cease work due to ill health.

 

Currently, the member contribution rate is 6.35% while employing institutions 
currently contribute 14% of your pensionable salary.  Further information about 
the scheme is available from the University or from the USS website at 
http://www.usshq.co.uk <http://www.usshq.co.uk> 

 

 

Equal Opportunities Policy Statement

 

The University of Newcastle upon Tyne is committed to securing equality of 
opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which 
individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on 
the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities.  For this purpose all 
applicants will be asked to answer Equal Opportunities monitoring questions as 
part of the recruitment and appointment process. 

 

All new employees are provided with a copy of the Equal Opportunities Policy on 
appointment.  Further copies may be obtained from the Human Resources Section. 

 

Information for Disabled Candidates

The University welcomes applications from all sections of the community 
including candidates with a disability.

 

Definition

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 defines disability as:

'A physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse 
affect on a person's ability to carry out normal day to day activities.'

 

Applications

The Employment Record Form and job details are available on tape or in large 
print.  To request a copy please contact the Human Resources Section.

 

If you have a disability which prevents you from completing the documentation, 
please contact the Human Resources Section to discuss other acceptable methods 
of application.

 

Arrangements for interview

Please indicate on a separate sheet any special arrangements or adjustments we 
may need to make to our recruitment procedures to ensure that you are not 
placed at a disadvantage because of your disability, for example the provision 
of an accessible interview location, a British Sign Language/English 
Interpreter or supportive person,  accessible car parking space etc.

 

General

If you would like an informal discussion to consider any adjustments or special 
arrangements that may need to be made in relation to your application or 
appointment please do not hesitate to contact the relevant Assistant Human 
Resources Officer: Faculty of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, Vicky 
Petersen, 0191 222 5976.

 

A full list of Human Resources Contacts is available to internal users at 
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/internal/hr/staff.htm 
<http://www.ncl.ac.uk/internal/hr/staff.htm>

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