King's College London

About Us

King’s College London is one of England’s oldest and most prestigious universities, founded within the tradition of the Church of England by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington who granted our royal charter in 1829.

King's has a proud history of inspiring and supporting those who seek to solve the world's most pressing problems. For almost 200 years, our community has been deeply rooted in the belief that learning and research should serve society.

This commitment to knowledge with purpose – using our expertise as a force for good – lies at the heart of our core mission at King’s. From research that led to the discovery of the structure of DNA, to developing life-changing therapies and making maths education available to underrepresented groups, we continue to have a transformational impact on society.

Fourteen people from King’s and its associated institutions have been awarded the Nobel Prize, including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for his role in South Africa’s anti-apartheid campaign, and Professor Michael Levitt for his joint work in developing multiscale models for complex chemical systems.

Notable alumni include British sprinter and world-record holder Dina Asher-Smith, biophysicist Dr. Rosalind Franklin, famous for her work in X-ray spectroscopy, and acclaimed children’s writer Sir Michael Morpurgo.

The Faculty of Arts & Humanities at King’s is distinctive in representing exceptional strength in both the longer established disciplines (such as Philosophy, Classics, Theology, English, History, Languages, and Music) and world-leading quality in more recently established fields (such as Digital Humanities, Film, Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts, and Culture, Media and Creative Industries).

About the role

The Department of English wishes to appoint a full-time Lecturer in Modern British and Irish Literature for a fixed-term period of 12 months from 1 September 2024. The successful applicant will have demonstrable research interests in modern British and Irish literature, and in literature and psychoanalysis, as well as proven experience of university teaching. They will be able to teach on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules, and although it is not possible to be definitive at the time of writing, these are likely to include the first-year, introductory module 4AAEA003 Reading Poetry; the second-year module 5ΑΑΕΒ016 Literature and Psychoanalysis; the final-year module 6AAEC123 The Contemporary Irish Novel; and the MA module 7AAEM831 Illness Narrative as Life Writing, as well as contributing to 7AAEM773 The Modern Archive Workshop, which is the second semester core module of the MA in Modern Literature and Culture****. They will also be asked to lead some research training workshops for doctoral research students. They will supervise some UG and MA dissertations, and contribute as personal tutor to the pastoral care of students. They will be responsible to the Head of Department. 

The Department of English at King's was one of the first university English departments ever to be established and is acknowledged as world-leading in both teaching and research. Students learn as part of a university that is shaped by research of the highest quality (90 per cent of the department’s research was rated as either ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ in REF 2021), and our undergraduates enjoy a syllabus which spans the seventh century to the present day and includes literature from English speaking countries around the world. At postgraduate level, long-established partnerships, such as that with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, further enrich our teaching. 

This is a full-time fixed-term post (35 hours per week) from 1 September 2024-31 August 2025.

About You

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

Essential criteria

1. PhD in English literature or related field
2. Promisingly distinctive research profile that complements the department’s strengths in the field 
3. Experience of teaching modern British and Irish literature to undergraduate and postgraduate students
4. Experience of teaching literature and psychoanalysis
5. High quality teaching skills: ability to communicate difficult concepts and material to students of all levels; ability to inspire and innovate as appropriate; skilled at helping students to develop their individual intellectual and personal potential
6. Excellent administrative skills: ability to support the organisational aspects of teaching, learning and research
7. Experience of working with virtual learning environments
8. Collegiate, proven ability to work with others and to support them where necessary.
9. Experience of contributing to the pastoral care of students

Desirable criteria

1. Experience of postgraduate research supervision
2. Evidence of service, such as engagement in professional organisations and broad participation in the field (conference papers, workshops, memberships)

Full details of the role and the skills and experience required, can be found in the attached job description which is provided on the next page.

Further information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community. 

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

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 advert. 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.

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