Professor in Media Diversity Birmingham, England
Job description
Birmingham City University wishes to appoint a Professor in Media Diversity to be part of the team driving the strategic development of the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity. Since its launch in 2020, the Centre has been at the heart of key industry debates about representation; our ethos of combining academic and professional expertise enables us to identify key challenges and promote positive actions which will increase diversity and create an inclusive media industry. We believe diversity both in academic disciplines and protected characteristics enables the Centre to approach issues with a fresh perspective, which is why we heartily encourage candidates from a range of backgrounds to apply.
You should possess a track record of proven excellence in research and teaching aligned to the fields of journalism and media studies. You will have evidenced experience of world leading research outputs, including substantial experience of attracting research funding, research leadership and producing high impact publications. We are specifically interested in academics with proven industry experience and who can make a significant contribution to our taught portfolio of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the School of Media along with supervision of doctoral students.
Principal duties:
- Facilitate and develop world leading collaborative and personal research
- Facilitate significant external funding applications
- Disseminate research findings nationally and internationally
- Contribute to the university’s research environment, including planning and managing the research strategy for the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity
- Supervise PhD students and contribute to the design and delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate courses
- Develop and manage academic and industry networks
Applicants will be expected to demonstrate:
- Proven excellence in research, including the production of world leading outputs relevant to the post (essential)
- A track record in submitting and securing significant external funding (essential)
- Considerable experience and expertise in designing and delivery taught programmes and supervision of doctoral research (essential)
- Membership of relevant and impactful research and industry networks (essential)
- Experience of research leadership (essential)
- Experience of mentoring and development of academic staff (desirable)
OUR VISION
Birmingham City University is growing in quality and standing, with an academic STEAM agenda at the heart of our ambitions. We are transforming the lives of students and their communities, and want outstanding academics to join us in taking us on the next stage of our exciting journey.
We are now investing in 100 new academic roles including Lecturers, Senior Lecturers, Associate Professors and Professors, across the full range of subjects and disciplines that we offer across all four of our faculties:
- Arts, Design and Media
- Business, Law and Social Sciences
- Computing, Engineering, and the Built Environment
- Health, Education and Life Sciences
Our students learn through doing. They are empowered throughout their educational journey, achieving significant educational gain and personal transformation. In recognition of this we are looking to recruit exceptional academic staff who are at the cutting edge of their disciplines, as makers, practitioners, researchers, and educators.
If you can demonstrate a proven track record in education, research, and enterprise – there has never been a better time to join us. Come and be part of the next exciting stage of our journey.
ABOUT BIRMINGHAM CITY UNIVERSITY
At the heart of our 2025 Strategy is our mission is to enable our students to transform their lives and to achieve their potential. Through our education and research, and the roles our graduates go on to play in the world, we not only support individuals to transform their lives, but we also play a part in transforming society.
Located in the centre of the UK’s second city, we are a university with a long heritage of innovation and of making, dating back to our origins in 1843 when we were founded as the Birmingham Government School of Design.
Our heritage of making through innovation and its application through knowledge exchange, and of creative research and practice, today finds it expression in our STEAM agenda, in our research and enterprise, and in our commitment to challenge-based learning. Working across disciplines, and delivering impactful research and enterprise, interdisciplinarity is at the heart of the continuing transformation of our academic portfolio.
Research by our staff and students creates new knowledge, catalyses innovation, and has global impact. Through our research, we make new discoveries and deliver benefit to culture, industry, society, and the environment. Ground-breaking projects include changing health and care guidelines, improving policy and practice regarding Islamophobia, optimising energy efficient homes, promoting human dignity worldwide, improving critical care nursing, and exploring issues faced by jazz musicians. STEAMhouse harnesses our arts heritage with STEM to foster economic growth and social innovation. Our Research Strategy builds on REF2021 to increase research intensity and quality - investment in new academic staff is integral to this ambition.
OUR STAFF COMMUNITY
Birmingham is home to a rich and diverse range of communities. Our students reflect this rich cultural mix, and we are continuing to work to make sure that this is also reflected in our broader university community.
Birmingham City University values the quality and diversity of our staff. Our staff and student community is defined by our core values, which outline who we are as a University and how we work with each other. Our core values are we create opportunity, we think differently, and we build community.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, continuously reviewing and improving our policies, practices, and procedures to ensure that we are promoting these in all aspects of our operations. We believe that by working together, combining our many different backgrounds and life experiences, we will empower each other to reach our full potential.
We hold an Athena SWAN Bronze award in recognition of our commitment to improving employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.
Our University is located in one of the most culturally rich and diverse Cities in the UK, and it is our ambition to be the University for Birmingham and the surrounding region. The events of 2020 have highlighted the stark inequalities that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Communities face and we are committed to removing the institutional barriers that our staff and students face and improve the representation, progression and success of staff and students from all backgrounds within higher education. To demonstrate this, we have signed up to the Race Equality Charter to show our commitment.
Birmingham City University has been recognised for its progress on LGBT+ equality with a Gold award in the Stonewall Index and have entered the Top 100 Employers 2023 for LGBT+ inclusion. Meanwhile, we are Disability Confident (Committed) and are on an exciting journey to advance our University to progress through the Disability Confident scheme.
We are also a Mindful Employer, which means we are committed to supporting the mental health and well-being of our staff, and we have also signed up to the Mental Health Charter led by student mental health charity Student Minds. Furthermore, we are signed up to The Technician Commitment - a university and research institution initiative supported by the Science Council and Gatsby Foundation – aiming to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research.
Our academic staff are eligible to enrol in the Teachers’ Pension, a Defined Benefit scheme that includes guaranteed benefits for life, including the option of a tax-free lump sum at retirement and life cover of three times your salary. We recognise the value a great pension can have for our employees, and we make a 23.68% employer contribution. Your personal monthly contributions will vary between 7.4% and 11.7%, depending on your salary. We also give all staff a 32-day annual leave allowance, in addition the 8 public and bank holiday days.
WORKING AND LIVING IN BIRMINGHAM
The youngest city in Europe with under-25s accounting for nearly 40% of the population, Birmingham is a city full of energy and enthusiasm and is a great place to live and work.
Based in the heart of England, the city is easily accessible by road, rail and air. Birmingham New Street station has recently undergone major redevelopment, while the city is at the heart of the high-speed rail network, HS2. HS2 will provide new rapid rail travel connecting Birmingham City Centre to London and the rest of the network from the new Curzon Street Station – adjacent to Birmingham City University’s City Centre Campus – and will be one of the most environmentally friendly stations in the world.
The city’s appetite for progression is boundless, and it has been championing innovation since the earliest days of the Industrial Revolution, reflected in Birmingham City University’s new STEAMhouse building which opened in October 2022 and is home to an inter-disciplinary community of entrepreneurs, businesses, academic researchers, and students offering a wealth of support to companies of all sizes to boost growth through innovation to address commercial and societal challenges.
Birmingham is brimming with great theatres, museums, the world-famous Birmingham City University Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, as well as beautiful historical buildings and the iconic Library of Birmingham. It also has amazing concert and sporting venues including Edgbaston Cricket ground, which Birmingham City University has a long-standing partnership with. It is also home to the Alexander Stadium, which is the stunning new home for Birmingham City University’s sport courses. The Stadium was one of the main event spaces for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022, which saw the eyes of the world on the city, and Birmingham City University staff and students played pivotal roles - including designing the official medals for winning athletes.
Birmingham’s vibrant dining scene offers something for all tastes, including Michelin star restaurants, Spiceal Street at the Bullring, the Chinese Quarter, and the famous Balti Triangle.
The city also provides a great place to shop, being home the Bullring and Grand Central, the luxurious Mailbox Birmingham and the world-famous home of British bling - the Jewellery Quarter, which is home to Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery.
From Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and the beautiful arcades and independents, to the city’s historic markets in Digbeth, the shops in Birmingham offer a plethora of choice.
PROVIDING YOUR SUPPORTING INFORMATION:
We are delighted you are applying for one of our vacancies.
As part of our application process, we would like you to submit your CV with a covering letter and have provided some additional guidance to help you understand what we are looking for.
Curriculum vitae
We are not asking you to complete a specific CV template. However, we do encourage you to tailor your CV, so you demonstrate how your experience, skills and expertise match the Job Description for the role(s) you are applying for.
To give your application the best possible chance of success, please ensure you highlight all your specific areas of relevant activity, which may include:
- career experience, covering your current and previous employment, including role titles, responsibilities and key achievements
- teaching experience, setting out your teaching expertise, subject teaching specialisms, and activities relating to teaching quality and student outcomes
- practice based experiences gained across workplace roles and practice where you have developed your professional expertise, including, as and where appropriate, how you use this experience to bring alive your contribution to education, research, and enterprise
- research experience, research specialisms, research outputs (publications, including percentage contribution if you are a joint or one of multiple-authors, impact rating (for journal articles), research income (UKRI and other) including all external funding bids that have been successful / not successful (and whether Co-I or P-I)
- enterprise activities you are or have been associated with, including description of impact (such as policy changes, IP), outcomes and income associated with them; leadership, management, and citizenship activities across your career (including supervision of Masters and Doctoral students, coaching and mentoring colleagues and leading teams).
Given the number of roles we are advertising and the specific nature of them, we would not expect every applicant to be able to demonstrate to the same degree all of the suggested areas we have covered above.
What we want to ensure is that you tailor both your CV and covering letter to the requirements for the role(s) you are applying for, which reflects your career to date and provides you with the best opportunity of success in your application.
Covering Letter
In support of your application, we would also like you to prepare a covering letter that provides a narrative of your career and expertise against the Job Description for the role(s) you are applying for.
To help provide you with some guidance on the length of the covering letter, and to also ensure fairness for all candidates, we ask that your covering letter is no more than 1250 words. We request that you submit the covering letter in Arial font, size 11 and 1.5 spacing, which equates to almost 3 pages of A4 paper.
We hope the supporting guidance is helpful to you, but if you have any outstanding questions, please contact us by email at: [email protected]
