THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

POLITICS

Professor in Electoral Politics (Ref: HUM/92134)

1. The University invites applications for the above post which is tenable from 1 September 2010.

2. Further details of the post are attached, including a job description and person specification.

3. Salary will be on the professorial salary scale according to relevant experience.

4. Informal enquiries should be directed to the Head of Politics, Professor Alan Hamlin via email alan.hamlin@manchester.ac.uk or tel. +44 (0)161 275 4906.

5. Applications should be returned by to: Friday 26 February 2010 to:

Ms Catherine Tansey
School of Social Sciences
Arthur Lewis Building
The University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL

Catherine.tansey@manchester.ac.uk

Please note that references and/or testimonials should not be submitted with application forms or CVs, or be submitted on behalf of a candidate. The recruitment panel will only consider nominated referees obtained by the University.

6. If you have not been contacted by the end of March 2010 you should assume that, on this occasion, your application has not been successful. We would, however, like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in the University of Manchester.

WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE DIRECTORATE OF HUMAN RESOURCES

PROFESSOR IN ELECTORAL POLITICS (Ref: HUM/92134)

FURTHER PARTICULARS

Applications are invited for the post of Professor in Electoral Politics. The post is tenable from 1 September 2010. Applicants must have an international research reputation, and teaching interests, in aspects of the study of democratic elections. The post will be held in the discipline area of Politics within the University's School of Social Sciences. The Politics discipline area is one of the United Kingdom's leading providers of internationally-recognised research and teaching in Politics (rated 4th in terms of Research Power in RAE2008, and scoring 24/24 for teaching in the last QAAA Subject Review programme). The post is intended to develop and provide academic leadership in the research cluster in electoral politics within the Politics discipline area and in the multidisciplinary Democracy, Citizenship and Elections Research Network (DCERN). The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the dynamic research and teaching culture and to play a leading role in the establishment of Manchester as a major centre of electoral politics, including playing a leading role in developing a bid for the British Election Survey.

Job Description
The duties of the person appointed will include:
• Conducting research that is excellent by international standards
• Producing publications of international quality
• Contributing to the intellectual development and activities of the Politics discipline area
• Providing academic leadership in electoral politics at Manchester
• Developing research projects and securing appropriate external funding for them
• Supervising Ph.D. students
• Offering appropriate teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
• Contributing to administration, as called for by the Head of Politics and the Head of School.

Person specification

Essential attributes:
• Demonstrable evidence of international reputation for research excellence in the area of electoral politics.
• Clear potential for successful academic leadership.
• A strong commitment to analytically rigorous social science.
• Evidence of a successful record of achievement in obtaining external research funds.
• Evidence of a strong track record in working collegially.
• The ability to make a strong contribution to both the research and teaching agendas of the discipline and the School of Social Sciences.
• Experience of Ph.D. supervision.
• Experience in providing high-quality teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
POLITICS
Politics was created in the 2004-5 out of the earlier Department of Government. This change came about as a result of the creation of a new University bringing together the (Victoria) University of Manchester and UMIST. As part of this development and associated internal re-organisation, Politics emerged to carry forward the heritage of the Department of Government, which had existed for over fifty years, but carrying a new name to reflect our current activities. Politics at Manchester is one of the largest politics units in the European Union. It currently has 47 academic staff including 13 Professors, 9 Senior Lecturers and Readers, 19 Lecturers and 6 postdoctoral fellows.

Politics has recently reviewed its strategy and structure so that Politics at Manchester is now structured around three broad themes – Comparative Politics, International Politics and Political Theory. This structure informs our undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, our research training, and our research. Our large scale allows us to support internationally recognized research across a broad range of areas within and across these themes, including a number of distinctive research clusters of significant size. Our scale also contributes to the quality of teaching and research training in Politics: at undergraduate level we offer a wide range of courses that build directly on research expertise, and our postgraduate community of over 150 MA students and over 60 PhD students provides a vibrant and varied environment.

Politics works within the framework of the School of Social Sciences and the broader University which provides both a wide range of resources and considerable opportunities for collaboration in all aspects of teaching and research.

Our overarching strategy is to promote research of the highest quality in the context of a dynamic research environment that balances the benefits of specialist research groups with the breadth of research interests across our three themes; and to continuously develop and improve our teaching with a focus on the integration of the active research experience of staff and the development of independent research skills in students.

a. Undergraduate Provision
Politics is committed to a broad range of undergraduate degree programmes serving a diverse mix of students, and to providing the range of courses that support such programmes and offers students significant choice. Our provision is arranged around our three themes, comparative politics, international politics and political theory, and structured to develop independent research skills. Elements of each theme are introduced at level 1, developed at level 2 and subject to more specialist interrogation at level 3. Our commitment to a range of methodological approaches crosscuts our substantive themes, and informs the development of individual research skills.

In designing and reviewing courses and programmes, we set out to provide students with opportunities to follow a range of pathways while ensuring coverage of foundational ideas and approaches. The scale and scope of our specialist staff allows a particularly broad range of research-informed material to be presented by experts in the field. While the precise pattern of courses changes from year to year, the overall balance always provides variety and choice across both themes and approaches.

In delivering and monitoring our courses and programmes, we seek to utilise a variety of appropriate teaching and assessment methods and resources, and to develop clear and supportive communication with all of our undergraduate students. We provide feedback to students on their progress, and seek feedback and suggestions from students to help us to improve. Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) help to deliver small group teaching at level 1 and level 2 and we ensure that all GTAs are trained, supported and monitored to underpin the quality of provision.

b. Postgraduate Provision
Politics is committed to providing study and research training opportunities across the range identified by our three themes. At MA level we offer a variety of programmes and pathways that cater to distinct specializations within Politics, while recognizing common features of study within Politics, and also cater both for those continuing to further research and those with other career plans. The scale and diversity of our postgraduate student body brings a range of experience and viewpoints that enriches and enlivens debate.

Our research training at both MA and PhD level draws on strengths across the School of Social Sciences to provide opportunities for specialisation in research methods as well as substantive research areas. All PhD students are supported by strong supervisory arrangements as well as by structures that ensure appropriate personal and professional development. Many research students will be provided with opportunities to teach.

Research students are integrated into the life of Politics via seminars and other events, and are encouraged to develop their own initiatives, for example groups of PhD students within Politics publish an online journal and organise an annual conference.

c. Research
Our primary focus is on developing and supporting research of high quality across the range of our three themes and utilizing an appropriate range of research methods. Within the continuum of research that stretches across this substantive and methodological range we recognize a number of clusters of distinctive research strength which bring together significant numbers of researchers. These clusters relate to Global Political Economy, Poststructuralism and Critical Thought, Comparative Public Policy, Electoral Politics and Analytical Political Theory. While these clusters represent the largest concentrations of research excellence, there are other areas in which high quality research is underway including: European Politics, East Asian Politics, Political History, Historical Materialism the Politics of Gender, and the Politics of War and Terrorism.

The Global Political Economy cluster brings together research on a range of global issues including aspects of global governance and international institutions, political and economic development, and environmental issues. Researchers within the cluster embrace a range of methodological and theoretical perspectives.

The members of the Poststructural and Critical Thought cluster work within or are inspired by poststructural and critical thought. They share research interests in the politics of violence, the politics of ethics and the politics of knowledge. The majority of the group studies these themes in the context of international politics.

The Comparative Public Policy cluster examines the causes and consequences of public policies in contemporary democracies, with particular interest in the practice and application of the comparative method. The group is interested in developing the methodology of the study of public policy, including the use of experiments, quantitative analysis and mixed methods. Topics include gender and the policy process, the policy agenda, social policy, policy in the European Union, rhetoric and public policy, the media, and the role of bureaucracy.

The Electoral Politics cluster specializes in the study of elections, including: voting behaviour, public opinion, political parties, electoral systems, social movements and organisations, race and ethnicity, political geography, political psychology, new media, participation and voter turnout. Members of the cluster offer particular strength in quantitative and experimental methods, amongst a broad range of methodological and normative expertise. Members of the Electoral Politics cluster work extensively with colleagues in the Democracy, Citizens and Elections Research Network (DCERN) that includes colleagues for a range of social science backgrounds.

The Analytical Political Theory cluster focuses on the core areas of contemporary analytical political theory including theories of justice (including global justice), liberalism, equality, rights, responsibility, democracy, and the links between political and moral philosophy. Members of the cluster also work on the interaction between theory and more practical and policy concerns.

Our research strategy is to support and develop both the variety and range of research represented by the ‘continuum’ and the strength of research ‘clusters’, with an appropriate balance between the two: new ‘clusters’ may develop from within the ‘continuum’, while existing ‘clusters’ may return to the ‘continuum’ as the research environment changes over time. The resources available within Politics to support research are allocated so as to develop and facilitate high quality research and its dissemination, whether within a cluster, or in the continuum.

Some research ‘clusters’, and some elements of research within the ‘continuum’, relate to the work of broader research groups that cross disciplinary and School boundaries. For example, there are connections between the research cluster on Comparative Public Policy and the Institute of Political and Economic Governance (IPEG), and between the research cluster on Electoral Politics and the Democracy, Citizenship and Elections Research Network (DCERN), just as there are links between researchers in Politics and the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in European Studies (JMCE) and the Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS), and other bodies. We recognize the strategic value of these links, and actively support links between Politics and such cross-disciplinary groupings.

Politics has a highly developed and supportive research culture. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, we were rated 4th in terms of Research Power, thereby denoting international excellence. Several politics journals, including New Political Economy, Constitutional Political Economy and Representation - are edited from Manchester. Politics has a system of sabbatical leave (one semester after six); offers an annual research budget (with additional discretionary sums available). Politics also operates a very effective Peer Review Network (PRN) which provides internal peer review of colleagues’ draft grant proposals, journal articles, and book proposals. The PRN also holds bespoke workshops and other events to assist colleagues to enhance their research output and grant success.

Politics is affiliated to the European Consortium for Political Research and is an active participant in its networks. It plays an active part in the Political Studies Association and the British International Studies Association. The 1999 BISA conference and the 2001 and 2009 PSA conferences were held in Manchester. The BISA US Foreign Policy Working Group is convened from within Politics as is the International Political Economy working group. Members of Politics serve on the executives of bodies such as the PSA, the British International Studies Association, the International Political Science Association, the International Studies Association, and the Social Policy Association. Politics is also a corporate member of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies.

Further details about Politics, its programmes, and its staff can be obtained from its Web pages at : http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/disciplines/politics/index.html

Further details about the Democracy, Citizenship and Elections Research Network (DCERN) can be obtained from its Web pages at: http://www.dcern.org.uk/index.htm

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
The School of Social Sciences (SoSS) was set up in September 2004 within the Faculty of Humanities of the new University of Manchester. It brings together six distinct groups: Economics, Politics, Philosophy, Social Anthropology and Sociology, plus the Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research. SoSS is a large School of well over 170 academic and research staff.

The School has a highly developed research culture as demonstrated by its performance in the 2008 RAE: The School of Social Sciences has had an excellent RAE result across all our subject areas. All areas showed significant improvement on the previous RAE. The School entered 168 staff across five different Units of Assessment and the RAE assessed 59% of their research activity to be at the top two levels of international excellence (3*) or world leading (4*), with 26% in the world leading class

Based on research power, Sociology is confirmed as one of the best in the UK - and the best on the grade point average metric - Politics and Social Anthropology are placed in fourth position; Economics in the top 10; and Philosophy on a healthy trajectory.

Aggregating the results across our five main areas – Sociology, Economics, Politics, Social Anthropology and Philosophy – and comparing these with other UK universities places the School in third position in the UK and as one of the leading international research schools in the Social Sciences.

The School’s international and national reputations in its constituent disciplines are reflected in the substantial external research income that it generates, its involvement in ESRC Centres, notably that in Socio-Cultural Change, ESRC recognition for training PhD students in all its existing Departments, and success in securing ESRC studentships for research postgraduates. The School embraces the full range of quantitative and qualitative research methods.

The School of Social Sciences is committed to research-led teaching. It has an extensive portfolio of undergraduate teaching programmes: single and joint honours programmes in its constituent disciplines; joint programmes with other Schools in the Faculty of Humanities; and the large interdisciplinary programmes – the BA(Econ) and the BA in International Business, Finance and Economics (IBFE). At Masters level there are currently over 300 students following in-house MA and MSc programmes. Teaching quality is high across the School’s disciplines, with economics, politics and philosophy all being rated 24/24 and social anthropology rated as Excellent in their respective evaluations by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. There are over 150 research students registered in the School.

THE UNIVERSITY AND THE CITY
The creation in October 2004 of the new University of Manchester offers a wider source of dynamism beyond Politics and the chance to forge new intellectual links with cognate disciplines, such as in the School of Social Sciences. Amongst related developments arising from the new university is a major renewal of estates provision for academic units. Construction of a new building for the School of Social Sciences is nearing completion and will be home to Politics and the rest of the School of Social Sciences from Summer 2007 onwards. The University’s main campus is located only a short distance from the city centre.

Manchester offers extensive provision for research. Library facilities include the John Rylands University Library (the major library in the North West and the third largest in the country) and the Manchester Central Reference Library. Facilities for quantitative analysis are provided by Manchester Computing and the Computer Support Unit.

The city of Manchester is one of the great European cities. Its architecture represents one of the high points of Victorian achievement. The modern city is a major centre of banking, commerce and manufacturing. It has a highly cosmopolitan atmosphere and its cultural and sporting life are internationally renowned. Within fifteen minutes walk of the campus, for instance, there exist three outstanding professional theatre companies, the halls of the Hallé BBC Philharmonic and Camerata orchestras, the Cornerhouse as well as other cinemas, and Europe’s fastest-growing Chinatown. Ten minutes in the opposite direction is perhaps the best stretch of road in the entire country for Indian and Pakistani food. Amongst recent developments enriching the area’s cultural life have been: the opening of the Lowry Centre at Salford Quays; the opening of the Bridgewater Concert Hall; the refurbishment of the City Art Gallery; the opening of Urbis in the centre of Manchester and of the Imperial War Museum North, designed by Daniel Libeskind, in Trafford.

Trafford – specifically Old Trafford – is known internationally for sport: it is a venue for Test cricket and the home of one of the world’s great football teams. The Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester in 2002 and were highly acclaimed. There is an abundance of new sports facilities; the University is a stakeholder in the Commonwealth Pool, which offers on-campus, world-class swimming facilities. The Commonwealth Stadium became the home of Manchester City FC in 2003. Housing is varied, plentiful and, by English standards, moderately priced. Schooling ranges from world-famous private schools to excellent sixth-form colleges and comprehensives. Manchester is well served by a major international airport, with direct scheduled flights to many destinations in Europe as well as North America and Asia. Manchester Piccadilly railway station has been refurbished and is served by inter-city and other train services. The expanding network of Metrolink tram services offers an alternative mode of public transport from certain parts of the conurbation. Some of the most beautiful countryside in Europe is just over thirty minutes drive from the University, in the Peak District National Park, while the Lake District and Snowdonia are also within easy reach.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

POLITICS

Professor in Electoral Politics (Ref: HUM/92134)

Professorial salary scale according to relevant experience

Applications are invited for the post of Professor in Electoral Politics, tenable from 1st September 2010. The successful candidate will join the Politics discipline area and will provide academic leadership in the electoral politics research cluster, the multidisciplinary Democracy, Citizenship and Elections Research Network (DCERN), and in developing a bid for the British Elections Survey. Applicants must have an international reputation for research in the area of electoral politics, and a successful record of obtaining external research funds.
Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Alan Hamlin (Head of Politics) Tel: 0161 275 4906 (office) Email: Alan.Hamlin@manchester.ac.uk
Application forms and further particulars are available from
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/vacancies or from Directorate of Human Resources, Humanities HR Lime Grove, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL. Tel: ++44 (0)161 275 8838; Fax: ++44 (0) 161 275 2064; Email: Humanities-hr@manchester.ac.uk

Closing date 26 February 2010. Please quote relevant reference number.

The University will actively foster a culture of inclusion and diversity and will seek to achieve true equality of opportunity for all members of its community.