King's College London

About us

The Department of International Development, King’s College London, is a young, innovative and contemporary department, with a focus on uneven development and global capitalism within the regional contexts of Latin America, East Asia, SE Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. We explore structural transformation in countries and how that leads to uneven development, with attention to processes and policies. Our distinctive global structural understanding of local level processes lends itself to a multi-scalar approach that challenges and expands disciplinary boundaries. The mission of the department is to explore the sources of success as well as understand the major development challenges these countries continue to face. We also have a strong focus on social and economic justice and understanding how change for the better happens, both now and for the future. The successful candidate will join an interdisciplinary team currently working in a wide range of areas including political economy, inequality and poverty, gender rights, climate change and natural resources, international trade, migration, and social. gender and racial justice.  

About the role

We are seeking a candidate who has an outstanding early career profile of publications and grant capture, with an excellent record of teaching and administration. They will have disciplinary knowledge of economic sociology and political economy (or cognate disciplines), and regional expertise in East Asia (Northeast and Southeast). They should be able to teach two or three of the following undergraduate and postgraduate modules: East Asian Development, National Development Strategies, Industrial Development: Strategy and Competitiveness of East Asian Firms. Our successful candidate will be methodologically proficient within their discipline and demonstrate evidence of high-quality relevant research and teaching in international development.

Key responsibilities include:

• To take a role in the planning, organisation and delivery of teaching activities (both on-campus and online) within the Department in accordance with established practice.
• To undertake the supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate research and advising of personal tutees.
• To undertake and publish high-quality research consistent with the Department’s research strategy, and to contribute to impact, knowledge exchange and postdoctoral research training.
• To take an active role in seeking funding for research activities and projects, for example from the British Academy, AHRC, ESRC or ERC.
• To participate fully in the design, assessment and examination processes in respect to International Development teaching in the Department of International Development.
• To engage in professional development as appropriate to update skills, and to support teaching excellence.
• To accept academic responsibility within the Department, involving departmental administrative responsibilities where appropriate.

This post will be responsible to the Head of the Department of International Development. This is a full-time role, and you will be offered a one year fixed term contract, starting 1st September 2025.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

About you

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

Essential criteria

1. PhD qualified in Economic sociology, Political economy, or cognate disciplinary areas. 
2. Evidence through publications of an ability to produce work in their specialist field at an international standard.                                    
3. Demonstrable ability to design and deliver effective online and face-to-face teaching addressing social, political and economic development in East Asia.               
4. Demonstrable commitment to and/or experience of working and teaching in a multi-disciplinary environment.
5. Demonstrable commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, alongside interpersonal skills to develop and maintain good working relationships.            

Desirable criteria

1. Evidence of engagement with appropriate research and policy communities.
2. Evidence of acquiring competitive research grants from prestigious funders, or evidence of potential to attract research funding.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

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. Please do not submit any other materials as these will not be considered. 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 will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held in late February 2025

We are able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.