King's College London

About us 

The School of Global Affairs (SGA) in the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy at King’s is a dynamic hub of multi-disciplinary scholarship that seeks to address the pressing issues facing our world today, including climate change, inequality and global health.  

​At King’s, we are deeply committed to embedding good equality and diversity practices into all our activities so that the university is an inclusive, welcoming, and inspiring place to work and study, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. King’s offers inclusive benefits to staff, including flexible working, Enhanced Parental Leave, funds for Parents and Carers, and the potential to join community staff networks.

About the role 

This 3-year Research Associate position sits within the European Research Council project ‘AdaptAIR: Climate Adaptation through Artificial Ice Reservoirs in the Himalayas’. This project explores the social, cultural and environmental context of the deployment of Artificial Ice Reservoirs (AIRS) as water management tools in the Himalayan cold desert regions, in the context of rapidly retreating glaciers. Working with private sector partners Acres of Ice (acresofice.com), the project combines high-resolution climate, glacier and hydrological modelling with approaches from anthropology, history and critical agrarian studies to understand water use and agrarian change in the region, and how AIRs affect this. The project works across case studies in Northwest India, and possibly Nepal.

The role will explore the archive sources of the Moravian Missionary Society and colonial archives in the UK – and possibly India – to gain a deeper understanding of climate and glacier variability in the region. Following methodologies common in historical climatology, you will look for both evidence of variability in the physical environment that is recorded in written sources, and the relationship of communities in the region to the natural world. You will work closely with climatologists and glaciologists on the project, and with anthropologists exploring human relationships with ice, water and climate in the present day. The research conducted will contribute to AdaptAIR’s overall aims of understanding long-term climate vulnerability in the region, and exploring the possibility of artificial ice reservoirs as an adaptation tool. You will also have the potential to develop your own research agenda based on the materials explored in the archives.

The primary records will be from the Moravian Missionary Society, active in the region from 1856, and archives of the colonial government of India. You will be working primarily between London and Herrnhut (the location of the Moravian Mission archives), with the possibility of travel to India and Nepal. Proficiency in reading German and English is therefore essential.

You will be supervised by, and work closely with, PI George Adamson (Kings College London, background in historical climatology), and PI Jeremy Ely (University of Sheffield, background in glaciology). The project will also entail working closely with colleagues in the UK, India and Canada, notably anthropologists based at Guelph University 

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract for 3 years.  

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About you

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. PhD qualified in historical climatology, environmental history, glaciology, geography or a related area, or PhD near completion* (* Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. Should the successful candidate be awaiting the award of their PhD, the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spinal point 30 with the title of Research Assistant until confirmation of the award of the PhD has been received. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6, spine point 31). 
2. Substantial experience of archival research in the field of historical climatology, environmental history or historical geography 
3. Strong competency in written English and German 
4. Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for publication, present research findings at conferences, and represents the research team at meetings 
5. Ability to take responsibility for personal time management and work proactively and independently to ensure that relevant objectives and milestones are met 
6. Ability to work as part of an international, interdisciplinary team

Desirable criteria

1. Knowledge of current literature on social vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to climate change, in the past and/or present 
2. Ability to work across quantitative and qualitative disciplines 
3. Direct experience of climate and/or glacier reconstruction 
4. Experience of working on South Asia, and/or mountain environments 

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6. 

Further information

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.