Junior Research Fellowship in the Medical Sciences

University College invites applications for a Junior Research Fellowship in the Medical Sciences tenable for a period of three years from 1 October 2012. While the College welcomes applications from candidates working in any pre-clinical or clinical area, it would particularly like to recruit in a field in which it has existing expertise and Fellows in post, namely Biochemistry; Clinical Medicine; Experimental Psychology; Neuroimaging; Pharmacology; or Physiology.

Junior Research Fellowships are intended to provide opportunities for outstanding academics at the beginning of their careers. Univ has at any time up to 10 JRFs in any of the subjects in which it has Fellows and Lecturers, several of which are funded by Old Members of the College. JRFs play an important part in the intellectual and social lives of the College.

The main duty of the post is to carry out research. While the College is careful to protect the research time of its JRFs, it will use its best efforts to provide access to a limited amount of teaching, in the interest of the Fellow’s career development.

The primary criterion for appointment will be research excellence. Candidates must have a strong educational record; be approaching the end of their doctoral research or have recently begun post-doctoral study; have research expertise as demonstrated by publications, or demonstrate promise of such achievement; have a coherent plan of research for the duration of the fellowship; and have evidence of access to funding for consumables and laboratory facilities.

Candidates must be confident that they will have obtained their doctorates by the start of their appointment, or within a couple of months. Conversely, this position is not intended for those who have already held another stipendiary Junior Research Fellowship or equivalent (such as a Career Development Fellowship), or for those who obtained their doctorates more than two years prior to the application date.

The current stipend for a Junior Research Fellow not in receipt of other emoluments is £19,560p.a. (at current levels), with additional benefits including a pensionable housing allowance of £4,980p.a. payable to non-residential Junior Research Fellows. Applicants in receipt of salary support from any other funding body or other source (other than payment for piecemeal teaching) will have their stipend reduced accordingly, with a minimum stipend payable by the College of £2,500. Fellows not living in College will be offered shared study space in College. The Fellow will also receive free lunches and dinners in College, an academic allowance (currently £1,906; at current levels), an entertainment allowance (currently up to £175; at current levels), membership of USS and private health insurance (a taxable benefit).

Selected candidates may be asked to submit written work, which, depending on the discipline in which they are working, may be one or two published or submitted articles, or all or part of their thesis. Applicants should indicate on their application forms which material they propose to submit, if invited to do so, but should not at this stage submit any written work.

Candidates should send their application form to the Academic Officer, University College, Oxford OX1 4BH (email recruitment@univ.ox.ac.uk; fax +44 (0)1865 276790; tel +44 (0)1865 276951) by 12 noon on Friday 9 March 2012. Applicants should arrange for three referees to send their references by the same date. Electronic applications and references are welcomed.

Interviews will take place on Thursday 26 April 2012.

University College is an equal opportunities employer. Applications are particularly welcome from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in Oxford.