Lecturer: UE08 – £42,149 – £50,296 per annum

Reader: UE09 – £53,348 – £60,022 per annum

School of Informatics, Science and Engineering

Open Ended Contract, Full-time (35 hours per week)

Applications are invited for an academic position in Design Informatics in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. This post is part of a continuing expansion in Design Informatics, and associated expertise at the intersection of design, data science, and artificial intelligence, at the University.

The Opportunity:

This post is associated with the Institute for Design Informatics (IDI), a joint research initiative between the Schools of Design and Informatics. About to enter its tenth year, IDI draws upon Edinburgh’s unique combination of strengths in Informatics and Design, to inspire, equip and nurture a new generation of researchers, practitioners and entrepreneurs at the intersection of data, design and emerging technologies. IDI researchers engage in a wide-range of projects, with specific strengths around digital health and care, creative industries, fintech, data visualisation, co-creative and speculative methods, human-centered security and privacy, and the societal and ethical dimensions of data and AI. The University of Edinburgh is also one of the five founding partners of the UK’s Alan Turing Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence; this gives rise to opportunities for IDI staff to interact with PhD students, research fellows and senior researchers within the Turing Institute network of partners, fostering further collaborations at the nexus of design and data.

The successful candidate will join IDI’s dynamic team of 50+ academics, researchers, software research engineers and professional services staff. We are open to applications from candidates across the whole spectrum of subject areas and fields that are of relevance to Design Informatics (such as human-computer interaction, interaction design, human data interaction, human-centered AI). We are especially seeking applicants who can complement the existing strengths of the team, and who is able to take a strategic lead on the technical research agenda within IDI and help us meet our ambition to grow our research at the intersection of creative / design methodologies and AI. We are therefore very interested in applicants who explore the fusion of design with, for example, natural language processing, machine learning, human-in-the-loop systems, computer vision, robotics, multi-modal and intelligent interfaces, immersive environments, data science (amongst others).

This new appointment will contribute to the Institute’s diverse research, teaching and entrepreneurship activities, help shape the future of its Master’s programme, and lead their own research group within Design Informatics. Candidates should have a strong technical track record and be interested and able to teach undergraduate and master’s level courses in Design Informatics as well as other areas of human-centered computing and human-computer interaction. They should also have an excellent publication track record, in prominent conference and journals (e.g., SIGCHI, SIGGRAPH, and other relevant IEEE and ACM venues).

The successful candidate will have (or be near to completing) a PhD, an established research agenda, and the enthusiasm and ability to undertake original research and lead a research group. They will show excellent teaching capability and engagement with academic supervision. We are seeking current and future leaders in the field.

Applicants must provide a recent CV, a 2-3 page research statement, and a 2-3 page teaching statement, which should specify the candidate’s experience and approach to teaching, and what specialty and introductory (particularly pre-honours Informatics) courses they would be prepared and qualified to teach.

We recognise that the pandemic may have affected some applicants disproportionately, and aim to take this into account in the selection process. Applicants can optionally include a short statement regarding how their work has been disrupted by Covid, and how this affects their recent track record. This statement should be part of the cover letter and shouldn’t be more than a paragraph in length.

All applications must contain the following supporting documents:

• Teaching statement
• Research statement
• Full CV (resume) and publication list

Applications from individuals from under-represented groups are encouraged.

Your skills and attributes for success:

UE08 Lecturer:

• PhD and experience as an established academic in Design Informatics or a related field (e.g., Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design).
• Candidates who are close to completing their PhD, and who otherwise meet the selection criteria, will be considered.
• Proven experience of undertaking original research, including leading a research group.
• Proven experience of attracting research funding as an independent researcher.
• A track record of first author and/or collaborative publications in high quality journals and international conferences.
• Strong relevant research and teaching skills.
• Effective written and oral communication skills in a range of contexts (e.g. teaching, research presentations and publications).
• Experience of contributing to teaching on a range of non-Honours courses as well as in more specialist areas of relevance to Design Informatics.
• Experience of engaging with a range of teaching mediums including online and distance learning.

UE09 Reader: as above and including:

• Proven ability to provide leadership for activities in delivering the School’s objectives.
• Extensive experience in research, postgraduate supervision and teaching is essential.
• Proven ability to foster and embed a strong student-focused culture
• Evidence of significant achievement in the relevant field through (e.g.) successful knowledge transfer from research to academic community, public, private and/or voluntary sectors and general public; the receipt of prestigious prizes and awards; membership of national and international bodies relevant to the research field.
• Experience of managing, motivating and developing research staff, students and projects.

*PhD must be completed for these appointments.

For the full job description:

• UE08 Lecturer – click here
• UE09 Reader – click here

Please note that interviews will be held remotely.

Feedback is only provided to interviewed candidates. References will be sought for all shortlisted candidates, where approval has been given on application.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Professor John Vines (john.vines@ed.ac.uk).

As a valued member of our team you can expect:

An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. We give you support, nurture your talent and reward success. You will benefit from a competitive reward package and a wide range of staff benefits, which includes a generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts, family friendly initiatives, flexible working and much more. Access our staff benefits page for further information and use our reward calculator to find out the total value of pay and benefits provided.

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.

If invited for interview you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK.  Further information is available on our right to work webpages.

The University is able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role.  If successful, an international applicant requiring sponsorship to work in the UK will need to satisfy the UK Home Office’s English Language requirements and apply for and secure a Skilled Worker Visa.