Applications are invited for a one-year Research Officer to work on a new, exciting research project, ‘Free Clinics and a Psychoanalysis for the People: Progressive Histories, Collective Practices, Implications for our Times’ (FREEPSY), funded by a UKRI Frontier Research Grant (ERC Consolidator Grant guarantee), held by Prof Raluca Soreanu.
The project brings together a team of eight researchers across four strands. It aims to produce a new global figuration of psychoanalysis as a progressive discourse and practice, by tracing the little-known histories of free psychoanalytic clinics. This is an interdisciplinary project spanning from psychosocial studies to social theory, historical research, and arts methods. It investigates how collectives of clinicians invested in the social mission of psychoanalysis innovate in the clinical and institutional domain, and in mental health cultures, by reconfiguring the meaning of time, space, money, suffering and their interrelations. FREEPSY includes a multi-sited psychosocial ethnography and archival research of free clinics in London, Budapest, Berlin, Vienna, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, New York and Philadelphia.
Duties of the Role
The post will be primarily held in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex. The Research Officer will prepare the ethnographic fieldwork and the archival research across strands. They will integrate research initiatives of this complex multi-strand project. They will take an active role in networking and out-facing activities for the project. They will be an integral part of the research team, and they will collaborate with the PI, two postdoctoral fellows, a PhD researcher and the communication and events officer. The successful applicant will be able to contribute to delivering the research objectives of FREEPSY.
A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found in the job pack.
Qualifications and Skills required
Applicants will possess a bachelor’s degree and postgraduate degree in Social Sciences or a related field of study and excellent research skills, with evidence of an emerging research agenda. You will also be able to work collaboratively and in an interdisciplinary research environment.
Applications will be considered from candidates with an understanding of qualitative research/ethnography in health and social contexts and/or archival research. Language skills in Portuguese, Spanish, German or Hungarian would be desirable.
This post is fixed-term for 12 months until 29 November 2023 due to a temporary funding source and will be for 18 hours per week (0.5 FTE).
At the University of Essex, internationalism and diversity is central to who we are and what we do. We are committed to being a cosmopolitan, internationally oriented university that is welcoming to staff and students from all countries, faiths and backgrounds, where you can find the world in one place.
To support this commitment we have our Global Forum, a staff-led network that promotes and celebrates the rich cultural diversity among Essex staff, and our Colchester campus based Faith Centre, which hosts regular services, meetings and events organised by our chaplains and faith representatives. For more information see: https://www.essex.ac.uk/life/student-facilities/religion-and-faith
Please see the attached job pack, which contains a full job description and person specification, which outlines the full duties, skills, qualifications and experience needed for this role plus more information relating to the post. We recommend you read this information carefully before making an application. Applications should be made on-line, but if you would like advice or help in making an application, or need information in a different format, please email the Resourcing Team (resourcing@essex.ac.uk).
*More information: Working at the University