Research Assistant: Unhousing Restitution. African audiovisual heritage between displacement and return (UNREST)

About us:

The Research Assistant will be based in the KCL Department of Film Studies and attached to the AHRC-funded interdisciplinary collaborative project Unhousing Restitution. African audiovisual heritage between displacement and return (UNREST).  UNREST assembles a team of researchers from film studies, African history and digital humanities to research, refine and disseminate practice-oriented and Africa-led solutions to African loss of audiovisual heritage. The project is led by Professor Erica Carter (KCL: PI/Principal Investigator), Dr Dan Hodgkinson (Oxford Department of International Development (ODID): Co-I/Co-Investigator) and Dr Samar Abdelrahman (University of Liverpool: Co-I/Co-investigator). During the project’s two-year lifetime, ten partners across the UK, Egypt, Sudan, Ghana and Germany will work with the project team on case study research in Ghana, Egypt and the Sudanese diaspora. UNREST’s ultimate aim is to use this research to recast audiovisual heritage restitution as a practice co-led by international cultural partners and young artists and rooted in shared knowledge production and creative renewal.

About the role:

The postholder will support the UNREST PI Erica Carter in project management; support the UNREST team to advance development of a digital archive of the documents and photographs of the Sudanese artist-filmmaker Hussein Shariffe; and contribute administrative and research support to a year-long creative lab with 6-8 MENA region filmmakers based at Cimatheque Alternative Film Center, Cairo, and supported by the Sudan Film Factory, the Hussein Shariffe Foundation, and the Arsenal Institute, Berlin.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed-term contract until 8th February 2028

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers , applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the  Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About you:

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

Essential criteria

• MA in digital humanities, screen, media or heritage studies, information science or other relevant subject area, OR demonstrable research and professional experience with digital approaches to culture and heritage.
• Excellent command of spoken and written Arabic and English
• Understanding of the principles of digital preservation and access
• Working knowledge of or informed interest in archival preservation, custodianship and the ethics and politics of access in Global South, and especially African, cultural and/or audiovisual heritage contexts
• Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of the culture and history of at least one MENA region or East African territory, with priority given to Sudan and Egypt.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, management and numerical skills, a logical and systematic approach and good attention to detail.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, interpersonal and team abilities, with a record of working collegially within and across organisations or networks, and with varied user groups.
• Knowledge of research processes and experience in a research or academic information environment.