Research Associate at King's College London, Centre for e-Research

The Centre for e-Research is seeking a Research Associate with strong technical and software development skills to work on e-research projects at the Centre. These projects may result in case studies, proofs of concept and pilots as well as in software for operational service, so the post offers an exciting opportunity to contribute both to the development of the digital and research infrastructure at King's and its collaborators, and to more exploratory development of innovative ideas solutions using cutting edge approaches. The post-holder will be expected to publish the results of research undertaken in relevant journals. Some current and past projects may be found at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iss/cerch/projects/.

Approximately 75% of the post-holder's work (on average over the 2 years of the appointment) will be dedicated to the SAWS (Sharing Ancient Wisdoms) project, an EU-funded international collaboration that is exploring ways of exploiting the digital environment for creating, publishing and interacting with selected digital collections of manuscripts and texts, specifically Greek and Arabic “wisdom literature”. These anthologies of wise or useful sayings were widely circulated throughout antiquity and the middle ages, and they raise particular challenges at a technical and information modelling level due to the complex network of interrelationships among them and among their component parts. The SAWS project requires an imaginative research associate capable of researching, devising and developing innovative methodologies and tools for creating these complex resources, for expressing relationships between them, and for publishing, visualising and exploring them. The remaining 25% will be spent on other projects at the Centre, depending on ongoing requirements and the interests of the appointee.

The candidate will preferably have an education in information science or computer science, or a humanities degree with a strong technical component. Due to the exploratory nature of the work, the role will require problem-solving ability and a high degree of initiative, as well as flexibility and a keenness to learn. Knowledge of Java, web development technologies (e.g. XML, Django, Ajax) and web service technologies is essential. Experience of linked data/semantic web technologies (e.g. RDF, OWL), and of other programming languages (e.g. Python, Ruby), would be an advantage.

This is a full-time position, initially for a period of 24 months. Salary for the position will be at an appropriate point of Grade 6, currently £33,193 to £39,185 per annum (inclusive of a £2,323 London allowance). Benefits include a contributory final salary pension scheme, subsidised gym membership and 27 days of annual leave, 4 college closure days, plus public holidays.

For more details and an application pack please see http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/pertra/vacancy/external/pers_detail.php?jobindex.... Alternatively, please email strand-recruitment@kcl.ac.uk. All correspondence should clearly state the job title and reference number G6/QLJ/408/11-JT. For an informal discussion of the post please contact Mark Hedges on mark.hedges@kcl.ac.uk, or 020 7848 1970.

The closing date is: 12 July 2011