- Senior Lecturer in Sports Communications
- Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
- School of Culture and Communication
- Contract Type: Permanent
- Salary: £44,414 to £52,841 per annum with USS benefits (Pro rata if part time) Together with USS pension benefits.
- Location: Singleton Campus, Swansea
The fast-growing and highly successful Media and Communications team within the School of Culture and Communication – is looking to appoint a Lecturer (enhanced teaching) to add a further dimension to our innovative teaching provision and to contribute to our reputation for expertly preparing students for professional roles in media and associated sectors.
In the National Student Survey in 2022, our department was rated by outgoing students as the 3rd best Media department in the UK (out of 93) and top in terms of academic support. To achieve this in the middle of a global pandemic that inhibited so many elements of learning and teaching is a testament to our teamwork, commitment and dedication. At the heart of our staff recruitment strategy is to build on these key principles, and to find new teaching and research talent that adds to our commitment to achieve excellence across all areas.
So, while hiring good people is our key requirement, we are especially interested in hearing from those with a specialism in sports communications (which might embrace anything such as sports journalism, sports public relations, sports broadcasting, sports content creation and so on). It is quite possible that you are working in one or more of those sectors at the moment and are looking for a career pivot into Higher Education. We would imagine that you would retain a freelance interest alongside your work with us, in order to keep your experience contemporary and authentic. Students, in our experience, really appreciate such industry links and the employability networks you might be able to introduce them to. The successful candidate will play a key role in the development and delivery of modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and would be pivotal in the University’s evolution as a University with an increasingly strategic focus on sport. You would have ample opportunities to pursue any research that you might be interested in developing.
As a subject area, we encourage our academic staff to develop innovative modules and assessments that reflect developments in media and communications industries. We recognise the value a stellar professional career can bring to a department like ours. Indeed, a number of our staff have joined us after successful careers in the creative and communications industries, and in turn, the students’ pedagogic and practical experiences are all the richer. Our departmental ethos can be summarised as being research-led, practice-driven and teaching focused. We are therefore looking for a dedicated team-player who will enjoy being part of a vibrant, dynamic and progressive department, and whose knowledge, experience and professionalism will ignite the imaginations and creativity of our students. Our showcase the Swansea Mumbler captures the atmosphere within the department, the positive dynamic within it and features staff talking about our pathways, teaching and research, and our students talking about their experience at Swansea.
The successful candidate will have:
- A relevant postgraduate qualification (PhD and/or MA) in media or an associated field, or relevant creative and professional practice professional experience.
- Recognised teaching qualification that would lead to Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) or a commitment to achieve this.
Applicants are asked to provide a completed online application providing evidence against the essential criteria in the recruitment documentation. Applicants should also attach to the application:
Content from our partners
- A CV
- A short statement (800 words max) about what you can bring to our busy department.
- An accessible portfolio including a range of professional outputs (links for some selected examples of online work will be fine)
- A suggestion for an interesting new module associated with your subject specialism (including an outline of the skills, themes and topics to be covered and the assessments across a 10-week programme).
This post is on a teaching pathway. The Academic Career Pathways (ACP) scheme is designed to ensure that academic strengths whether in research, teaching, the wider student experience, leadership or innovation and engagement, are all appropriately recognised, developed, valued, and rewarded. These provide indicative performance levels for all academic staff which will be used in the recruitment process as well as for internal academic promotion. Where there are numeric indicators, these will be considered in light of the stage of career, hours of work and other commitments. This may be personal circumstances or work-related activities outside of academia such as in industry. Applicants are very welcome to provide any relevant individual circumstances such as career breaks, any periods of leave or secondment or any other absences, which should be taken into account and how these have had an impact on your career development. This can be included in your covering letter on the online application, which asks for further information in support of your application.
The University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity in all of its practices and activities. We aim to establish an inclusive environment and welcome diverse applications from the following protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin), religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.
We have an under-representation of women in the area of academia and would particularly welcome applications from women for this position. We also have an under representation of individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds and would encourage applications from these groups. Appointments will always be made on merit.
Information enquiries, contact details and further information:
Informal enquiries should be directed to the Head of Media & Communication, Professor Richard Thomas on richard.h.thomas@swansea.ac.uk
Interviews planned for week commencing 5th June 2023. It is expected that the successful candidate will take up this appointment by the beginning of September 2023.
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