Organisation/Company Cardiff University Department Research & Innovation Services Research Field Anthropology Communication sciences Criminology Cultural studies Economics Educational sciences Ethics in social sciences Geography History Juridical sciences Language sciences Literature Management sciences Religious sciences Sociology Philosophy Political sciences Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Positions Postdoc Positions Country United Kingdom Application Deadline 29 May 2025 - 17:00 (Europe/London) Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe - MSCA Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
Offer Description
Cardiff University is seeking talented and ambitious researchers from diverse backgrounds to join our research community.
We are the sixteenth largest university in the UK and at the heart of the beautiful and thriving youngest capital city in Europe. We are a member of the research-intensive Russell Group of UK universities. In the most recent UK-wide research excellence assessment of British universities, our world-leading research confirmed us as a top 20 university in the UK for quality, impact and environment. Our location is key for our international profile and perspective. Wales is well positioned to welcome early career international researchers, with the Welsh Government committed to international learning exchanges that support reciprocal and long-term relationships with our European partners.
Cardiff University’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences is looking to host talented postdocs as MSCA Postdoctoral Fellows who will work with our researchers on impactful and innovative research projects. With 10 interdisciplinary academic Schools, 1,500 academic and professional services colleagues and almost 500 postgraduate researchers, we offer a rich and vibrant research environment in which you can thrive and succeed.
The fellowship is designed to help early career researchers launch successful academic careers. You will gain valuable research experience while making influential contacts and boosting your profile. We will offer you a comprehensive package of support to ensure that you get the most out of your time at Cardiff. We offer you a thriving research environment which attracts and supports leading academics from around the world.
We particularly welcome expressions of interest from high quality researchers in the following research themes:
1) Conceptualising public value: from the social, economic and ecological perspectives:
As part of our strategy as the first Public Value business school, we seek to unpack the notion of public value, making it measurable and actionable. Firstly, this will require the widening of the notion of value beyond the economic into considerations of social impact and social return on investment, and the valuation of ecosystem services and environmental goods. Secondly, we seek to examine the notion of values – qualitatively and quantitatively assessing how different parts of society value different things and assessing the ‘fit’ between these value frameworks and those of the bodies charged with delivering services and products – including ourselves.
2) A commitment to research that helps to mitigate the following Grand Challenges: Decent work; good governance; responsible innovation; fair and sustainable economies and future organisations
2.1) Understanding the barriers to rewarding and fulfilling work for all:
We place an important emphasis on scholarship which promotes theories and practices associated with 'decent work'. Our research focuses on equality and social inclusion in employment and pay, as demonstrated by high profile projects on disability at work, the living wage and the role of women within the economy. We also seek to explore and highlight experiences of employment in extreme and precarious contexts, such as within global supply chains and the 'gig economy'. Finally, we are concerned about the way in which work is designed and organised, with particular interest in job quality, responsible employment practices and mechanisms for employee participation.
2.2) Understanding the nature and purpose of public management and policy:
We focus on issues related to public management and policy, including the use of evidenceby governments, while researching corporate governance across the economy, examining transparency, accountability, inclusion, ethics,and values. We also seek to examine issues pertaining to the composition and effectiveness of corporateboards; transparency and accountability in companyreporting; the role of evidence in publicpolicymaking and contemporary ethicsand values within public organisations.
2.3) Understanding the nature and purpose of responsible innovation:
We take an interdisciplinary, stakeholder-based approach to identify the drivers,processesand outcomes of innovation, and evaluate the social, financial and behavioural consequences of technical and technological change. We are particularly interested in digital innovations including in FinTech and cryptocurrencies as well as better understanding the drive towards a circular economy. The emphasis on responsible innovation has led to extensive research on sustainable supply chains, green logistics and ensuring community benefits from public and private procurement as well as community engagement and development including, citizen science.
2.4) Understanding how sustainable and fair economies might emerge:
We conduct research to support the development of economies that deliversharedprosperityand environmental sustainability, and work with governments and partners to address inequalities and promote full economic participation and inclusion. We are interested in supporting research that attends to important societal questions concerning, what underpins and explains the 'productivity puzzle'; what do we mean by macro-economic enablers; how might we address employment and pay gaps; what is required to model financial inclusion; how do we support advancinggreen energy, technologies, systems andprocesses and how might we explain and encourage diversity in entrepreneurship and social enterprise.
2.5) What do we want from future forms of organisation:
Our research sets out to challenge theory and practice and to inform thereshapingof business and co-produce solutions that enable organisations to navigate complex problems linked to technological change, demographic shifts, the climate emergency and transient populations. This involves re-thinking current modes of organisation based on action-oriented research programmes that develop solutions to complex problems, including: digitisationand technologicalchange, mental healthand wellbeingatwork, ethicalbehaviour and consumption practices, responsibleleadership; forecasting for socialgood; future-proofing,resilience anddecision-making for futuregenerations and skills development for the future.
1) Health, the Environment and the Humanities:
Encompassing literary histories of science and medico-literary studies, ecocriticism and approaches to sustainability, our cultural and creative research examines alternatives to current policy and practice. We investigate contemporary or historical cultural fears and prejudices surrounding specific health conditions and how affected people deal(t) with them. Therefore, we are looking for projects that complement or intersect with our expertise in language and communication research into linguistic patterns associated with disease, discourse analysis of healthcare communication, the tension between cognitive and social priorities in linguistic expression, and forensic linguistics. Other themes could be how our philosophical research probes the nature and meaning of health and healthcare, together with the ethical dilemmas and decision-making bound up with them, and motivations for behaviours between patients and healthcare staff, including implicit bias.
2) Cultures of the Imagination:
We welcome projects that respond in imaginative and novel ways to the complexities of historical or modern-day cultures, drawing on innovative methodologies to tackle (inter/multi)disciplinary questions. This could involve contributions to digital cultures; illustration studies; film and photography studies; the history of the book; heritage cultures, memory and material studies, with neo-historical and counter-factual approaches; creative-critical experiments, for example involving cultural and philosophical theory; literary, philosophical and linguistic approaches to Celtic studies; postcolonial studies, empire and slavery studies; period-based research, with particular emphasis on the early modern, Romantic and Victorian periods; modern and contemporary cultures; children’s literature; women’s writing; approaches to gender and sexuality; literary, linguistic and philosophical explorations of law; culture, ethics and religion.
The School of Geography and Planning at Cardiff University has a long-established record of research excellence in geography, planning and urban design. The School has research strengths in the following areas and would welcome Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship applications that relate to these, in particular:
Inclusive cities and urban governance: social and spatial justice especially as it relates to urban inequalities and precarity; just governance; land use and welfare planning; urban informality and alternative livelihoods; homelessness social, political, cultural, and religious pluralism in the city; far right politics and authoritarianism; the influence of ‘the city’ on thought/philosophy/theory.
Food sustainability: just and sustainable food systems, at local, community, regional and global scale; biosecurity and animal welfare; ethical food consumption and provision.
Infrastructures, transitions and environmental crises: the social, spatial and environmental impacts of decarbonisation and sustainability transitions across key infrastructural systems (transport, energy, waste, water); the provision of sustainable and green infrastructures; policy frameworks for facilitating ‘just transitions’.
Urban design: urban design theory and practice nexus; age, gender, class, ethnic, religious, political, experiential, sensorial, cultural sensitive urban design; public realm design; emerging typologies of public space; changing socio-cultural roles and significance of public spaces; children’s engagement with urban and rural environments.
Comparative research: advancing comparative analysis of cities and rural spaces in a national, cross-national and international context and reflecting the School’s research activities in cities of the global North and South; using comparative urban analysis to understand spatial scales of social and environmental change.
The School of History, Archaeology and Religion has a strong and consistent track record of success in the MSCA scheme, and our dedicated research support team and academic staff will maximise the potential of your application.
Research in History is organized around the following themes:
* Health and Environment: We would welcome research into the histories of public health, the body, ageing, and disability, as well as the intersections between environment and technologies
* Identity and Community:Social and professional identity formation, including urban and rural communities and the evidence provided by visual and material cultures
* Medieval history:including but not limited to legal, gender, literary, and crusading history. Our medieval colleagues play a key part in the University’s interdisciplinary Centre for Medieval Studies.
* Political Extremes, Revolution, and War:Cardiff is a major centre for the study of war (especially World War Two), revolution, and the extremist politics of the twentieth century, left and right, from the Age of Revolution in the Atlantic world to Eastern Europe, the USSR, and modern China and Japan.
* Religion, Magic and Belief:The various meanings of the sacred and supernatural throughout history, and the intersection of belief, doubt, and rationality.
* Theory, Practice, Methodology:Cardiff is a leading centre in Britain for shaping the study and writing of History, and for pushing the boundaries of how history and interdisciplinarity are done. Our strengths encompass digital histories, cultural and intellectual histories, and the crossover between the humanities and the sciences (through the ScienceHumanities initiative).
* Transnational Encounters and Global Entanglements:From medieval diplomacy to the early modern East India Company, and from the transmission of revolutionary ideas across borders and colonial and post-colonial encounters in the modern era.
* Welsh History:Based in the capital city of Wales, our School hosts a leading Centre for Welsh History, with our interests stretching from the medieval period to the twentieth century.
Research in Ancient History is organized around the following themes:
* Ethnicity and Interstate Relations: exploring themes and evidence for interstate relations, from war to peace, diplomacy and identity and memory across Greek, Roman, Late Antique and Near Eastern societies.
* The ancient Near East and Hellenistic World: specialism on the Levant, Syria, Mesopotamia, Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian and the Sasanian empires, Seleucid kingdoms, literary and material culture, dress, gender, law, religion, and court societies.
* Late Antiquity and Byzantium: considering late antique religion, gender and society from Constantinian to Byzantium’s Macedonian dynasty.
* Ancient Historiography:exploring the processes of writing and conveying history in Near Eastern and Classical cultures, including epigraphy, cuneiform, the study of fragmentary writings, and the study of the early historical narratives of Herodotus and Thucydides, as history and literature, and their reception in later periods.
* Ancient Science and Technology: addressing the evidence, history and dissemination of ancient knowledge and understanding of the natural world and scientific research.
* Receptions of Antiquity: themes include Hollywood cinema, television, computer games and gaming, literature, and re-enactment theory.
Archaeology & Conservation at Cardiff has a long history of exploring the archaeology of Britain, Europe and the Mediterranean and we are expanding our reach globally. We have a consistent track record of success in the MSCA scheme, and our dedicated research support team and academic staff will maximise the potential of your application. Our research focuses on three intersecting themes:
* Human and Animal Lifeways: we take an integrated approach to understanding the entanglements between people, animals, and landscapes in the past. Research is characterised by collaborations between archaeological scientists and archaeologists, and is shaping our understanding of, for example, the dietary impact of cultural changes and providing new insights into food, feasting, movement and territoriality. Our research responds to emerging research agendas, driving interdisciplinary and methodological advancements (e.g., in isotopes, zooarchaeology, human osteology and histology) to break down interpretative barriers in integrated archaeological science, supported by wide-ranging analytical facilities.
* Material culture: from the microscopic to the monumental: is at the heart of research that adds to and transforms our understanding of life. We work at different scales to explore the relationship between humans and artefacts, place and time; from studies of domesticity that reveal the diversity of lived experience in the past and challenge prevailing concepts of identity, colonisation and commercialisation, to fieldwork at monuments near and far. We are developing new comparative perspectives on the relationship between monuments and social life and fresh insights into portable material culture such as glass technology in Egypt, ceramics in Greece, and antler and bone working in the North Atlantic.
* Heritage Science and Practice: our focus on materials science, conservation practice, heritage presentation, management, and engagement allow our research to inform emerging heritage agendas. Our ever-expanding analytical capabilities include compositional analysis, optical and electron microscopy, climatic simulation and digital imaging. We work with stakeholders and practitioners, national governments, and heritage bodies, to develop new guidance and approaches for the conservation and display of heritage materials, to refine heritage research and management and to develop new approaches to engagement.
* Religions of the First Millennium: considering the historical emergence and development of a range of main religious systems (Hinduism, Buddhism, Graeco-Roman Paganism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Manichaeism) in the period from the First Millennium BC to the First Millennium CE; research on the transregional impact of these religions in different regions (Mediterranean, Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, East Asia); research in religious narratives of South Asia and East Asia.
* Religion in Contemporary Societies: Examining the role of religion in shaping contemporary political, cultural, ethical, and economic themes and ideas in the context of national and transnational events; anthropological and sociological research in the representation of religions in film and other media.
* Late Antiquity and Byzantium: considering late antique religion, gender and society with particular focus on 'Patristic' literature, Gnostic and Manichaean literature, and the religion and politics of the eastern Roman Empire.
* Muslims in Britain: Exploring the lives of Muslim communities in Britain. This includes researching how Muslims have affected (and been affected by) social policy and the public sphere both historically, and in the contemporary period as well as focusing on the dynamics of Muslim communities, and the initiatives that Muslims have taken towards community well-being and development. Research on the history of Muslims in Britain.
The School of Journalism, Media & Culture is world-leading centre for research in journalism, media and culture, through relationships with theglobalacademiccommunity,as well as collaborations with creative industries, policy-making bodies, charities and civil society groups. We are ranked #2 in the UK’s 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) which assesses research, impact and the research environment at all British universities every 7 years.
Weanalysemedia policy, representations and practices, with a focus on currentand futurechallenges.
Ourresearchis organised around threeover-lappingclusterssupporting intellectual synergies, grant bids and impact activities.
* Journalism and Democracy:This cluster addressestopicssuch asthe impartiality of broadcast news,immigrationcoverage,and science reportingthrough the prism of journalism anditsassociatedindustries.
* Digital Media and Society:This clusterexplores the uses of digital media within a range of social, political, and cultural contexts.
* Media, Culture and Creativity:This cluster brings together researchexpertisein music, photography, film and TV andcollaborateswith creative agencies.
Our research benefits frominterdisciplinarycollaborations withdisciplinessuch as health sciences, psychology, computer sciences, law and medicine. We also workwithotheracademic schoolsacross Cardiff Universityto secure joint awards whilst also supportingprojectsled by otherschools.
Researchenvironment
Our research culture is derived from the cooperativeapproachofourstaff and research students, where personal andprofessionaldevelopmentis fundamental toour collective success. A key strength is the dialogue between research and practice-basedstaff, whichhelps us to deliver researchimpactin terms ofpractice andpolicy in the wider world.Over a third of our staff come from outside the UK andthiscontributesto our local, national and internationalresearch activities.
The School of Law and Politics supports a broad range of research in two broad themes: Social Justice and Global Justice and expressions of interest are invited from researchers working in these broad areas. The School has particular strengths in socio-legal studies, political and legal theory, international political sociology as well as comparative and historical studies in law and politics. Current research in the School conducted under these themes includes (but is not restricted to):
* Social Justice: Family law, health law and policy, human rights law and policy, canon law, devolved law and governance, criminal law.
* Global Justice: Humanitarian and human rights law and ethics, Maritime Governance, environmental justice, postcolonial and anti-colonial politics and law, critical military studies, EU governance.
Research in the School of Modern Languages is organized into three research themes:
* History and Heritage: Researchers associated with this theme investigate how the past is represented and work with partners in the heritage and cultural sectors to help shape its portrayal in the present. The work is underpinned by our multilingual and multicultural expertise, which reinforces our transnational approach to history and heritage. Our work encompasses various methodologies and media sources, including photography, film, and radio, as well as both literature and graphic novels. Researchers addressing this theme also engage with museums, questions of memorialization, and the politics of memory.
* Global Language-based Area Studies: This theme seeks to rethink the concept of ‘area studies’ while carrying out world-class research on politics, society, languages and cultures in a range of settings (including Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America). Researchers organized under this theme aim to break down disciplinary barriers, incorporate innovative and creative research methods, and provide fresh theoretical perspectives on area studies. They investigate a range of phenomena, including languages (multilingualism, language learning, linguistics), movements (socio-political, intellectual, ideological, industrial, non-governmental) and (trans)national phenomena such as crisis and culture.
* Transnational Cultural and Visual Studies: This theme brings together researchers with a shared interest in how cultures communicate across geographical, linguistic and social borders. Specifically, researchers associated with this theme look at how cultural products, such as translations, films and visual art, are produced, circulated and received. This research theme is interdisciplinary in nature and aims to stimulate, promote, and disseminate high-quality research at the intersection of a range of fields, including translation and interpreting studies, cultural studies, critical theory, ideology critique, and adaptation and performance studies. Researchers working under this theme share an interest in transnational and transcultural perspectives, and in the intersection between language, culture, race, religion, and ideology.
The School of Modern Languages welcomes proposals related to the themes described above, from researchers working in and across the language areas addressed by the school (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic). We particularly welcome applications from those whose work speaks to the research agenda of transnational Modern Languages. The School also seeks to offer a home to those who identify themselves in other national, linguistic and cultural contexts: for example, migrants, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, religious minorities and those marginalized by sexual or gender identity.
Our research balances cultural-historical approaches with the analytical and critical, and promotes a broad spectrum of methodologies, including sketch studies, archival research, editing and philology, textual analysis, organology, iconography, aesthetics, cultural theory, ethnography, oral history, microhistory, and digital humanities.
Our staff are exploring the lives and work of major musical figures; composing for major ensembles; performing in venues worldwide; providing programming advice and guidance to cultural organisations; analysing the aesthetics of counterpoint; and exploring postmodernism in music. In addition, the research remit of our faculty encompasses both western and non-western musical traditions.
* Children and young people’s welfare:- Research concerned with the circumstances that impact on the wellbeing of children and young people in and outside the school, as well as the consequences of social inequalities for their physical and mental health.
* Knowledge, learning and pedagogy: Research focused on the political and sociological dimensions of learning across the spectrum – from early years to professional education, including the sociology of expertise, culture and the nature of interpretive enquiry.
* Education, skills and the labour market: Studies of the relationship between education, skills and labour markets at different life-course stages, in different employment sectors and for different professions, including the political arithmetic of educational outcomes, careers education, qualifications, recruitment, vocational and lifelong learning, Further Education governance and the changing nature of work.
* Social Policy: How societies respond to human need and seek to promote the well-being of their members, including social security, education, health, housing andenvironmental sustainability.
* Inequalities, division and diversity: Research focused on the impact of inequalities on everyday life from the perspectives of social work, social psychology, social policy and medical sociology.
* Culture, interaction and everyday life: Ethnographic studies, visual, mobile, and multimodal methodologies as well as the analysis of material culture, discourse and talk-in-interaction, researching issues such as masculinities, street-level poverty and homelessness.
* Crime, security and justice: Research into white collar and cybercrime, domestic abuse, sexual violence and sexual offending, the night-time economy, crime control and use of social media and online data in criminological research.
* Science, technology and risk: Research in the field of environmental health and planetary health, medical sociology, digital sociology and studies of risk and science and technology, including the sociology of expertise, of environmental and socio-cultural change, and their consequences for environmental justice and a just transition.
The School of Welsh hosts research under a range of themes and subjects spanning both language and literature. Our literary expertise extends from the Middle Ages to the contemporary period, while our broad linguistic areas of specialty include sociolinguistics, second language acquisition, language teaching and learning, and language planning and policy.
Applicants must have an excellent track record and an exciting research project idea that will make an original and significant contribution to their research field.
Specific Requirements
All domains of research are eligible for funding.
Please contact your nominated supervisor to determine if they are prepared to support an application prior to submitting an Expression of Interest. You will need to identify the supervisor yourself - you may already know a CU academic from meetings or conferences, or you can have a look at Cardiff University'sAcademic Schools webpages where you can view the research profiles of our academic staff.
Expressions of Interest will be evaluated by the relevant Academic School based on the project's alignment with the school/supervisor's research interests, and its potential for meeting the MSCA-PF scheme's evaluation criteria (excellence, impact and quality/efficiency of the implementation).
Additional Information
Eligibility criteria
Researchers must have:
* amaximum of 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research, measured from the date that the researcher was in possession ofa doctoral degree to the 10th September 2025
Researchers must comply with the followingmobility rule: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies etc.,) in the country of the beneficiary (for European Postdoctoral Fellowships), or the host organisation for the outgoing phase (for Global Postdoctoral Fellowships) for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before 10th September 2025.
Researchers can be of any nationality. However, researchers going to a third country (as part of a Global Postdoctoral Fellowship) must be nationals or long-term residents of EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Long-term residence means a period of legal and continuous residence within EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries of at least five consecutive years.
Additional comments
If you are interested in applying for a MSCA-PF at Cardiff University, then we can offer support and guidance throughout the application process. For further details and to submit your Expression of Interest, please refer to theCardiff University MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships page .
Please note: there are two types of MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships:
European Postdoctoral Fellowships:
* Open to researchers moving within Europe, or coming to Europe from another part of the world
* Take place in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country
* Last between 1 and 2 years
* Researchers of any nationality can apply
* For example, 2 year postdoc at Cardiff University
Global Postdoctoral Fellowships:
* Fund the mobility of researchers outside of Europe
* Last between 2 and 3 years
* Fellow must spend the first 1 to 2 years in an organisation in a non-associated Third Country, followed by a mandatory return phase of 1 year to an organisation based in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country
* Only open to nationals or long term residents of EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries
* For example, 3 year postdoc with Cardiff University, with the first two years at aUS-based university, and the final year at Cardiff University
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