Academic ConnectTeaching Fellow in Russian Studies (Job Number: 25000575)
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
Grade 7: - £38,249 - £45,413 per annum pro rata
Fixed Term - Part Time
Contract Duration: 9 Months
Contracted Hours per Week: 17.5
Working Arrangements: TBC
Closing Date: 07-Jul-2025, 6:59:00 AM
Disclosure and Barring Service Requirement: Not Applicable.
The University
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The Role and Department
The School of Modern Languages and Cultures
The School of Modern Languages and Cultures (MLAC) at Durham University seeks to appoint a talented individual to the role of Teaching Fellow in Russian Studies. The appointment will be on a fixed term part-time (0.5 FTE) basis for 9 months starting on 1 September 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter, and we invite applications from those with research expertise in Russian Studies. Applications are particularly welcome from candidates with interests in literary studies, visual culture and translation studies. The post offers an exciting opportunity to make a major contribution to the development of internationally excellent teaching while allowing you the opportunity to progress and embed your career in an exciting and progressive institution. While independent research is not part of the role, the postholder will be able to participate in the School’s research community.
MLAC is one of the largest and most successful such Schools in the UK. It brings together research in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hispanic Studies, Italian, Japanese and Russian Studies. Our reach spans Europe, the Arab world, Russophone Eurasia, Hispanic America, and East Asia, and their mutual socio-cultural, intellectual and linguistic relations. Our expertise ranges from the medieval and early modern periods through to the contemporary era, with particular strengths in visual arts and culture, the relationship between the sciences and the humanities, textual scholarship, gender and sexuality studies, critical and cultural theory, travel literature, creative writing, and translation. Indeed, translation — understood in its broad sense of transmission, interpretation and circulation of cultural forms, ideas and histories — underpins the School’s collective practices.
The depth and diversity of our interests are reflected in a range of interdisciplinary degree programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. We offer undergraduate degrees in Modern Languages and Cultures, Chinese and Japanese Studies, and Visual Art and Film. Our taught postgraduate degrees offer advanced training in Translation Studies, Visual Culture and Languages, Literatures and Cultures. Meanwhile, the Centre for Foreign Language Study (CFLS) delivers an Institution-Wide Language Programme to students across the University via credit-bearing and non-credit bearing modules, giving as many of our students as possible the opportunity to learn languages in the way and at the level best suited to them. More information on the School can be found on our webpages at: https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/modern-languages-cultures/
Russian Studies
Russian Studies at Durham University is one of the best performing academic units with this specialism in the UK. It is consistently placed among the top-ranked equivalent departments in major national league tables. In 2024, it was ranked 3rd in the Good University Guide, contributing strongly to Durham University’s top-twenty placing for Arts and Humanities in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings.
There are currently eight full time members of staff in Russian Studies at Durham. They specialise in a wide range of research topics in Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet culture and history including poetry, musical culture, cinema and the visual arts, literary and critical theory, history of the sciences and professions, material culture, gender, and historical linguistics. This expertise is reflected across a wide range of general and specialist undergraduate modules. Staff in Russian also contribute to the School’s cross-cultural taught Masters programmes, including the MA in Visual Culture and the MA in Translation Studies, and supervise PhD and Masters by Research projects on Russian, Slavonic, and Russophone-related topics.
Russian language courses are taught at all levels, from beginners to advanced, by highly experienced language instructors. In the first year, students who have no prior experience of studying Russian take an intensive ab initio course. Those with an A-level or equivalent in Russian are enrolled on an intermediate course. Both strands build on this in the second-year core language courses, intensive for the post-beginners and standard for the post-A-level cohort. All students then normally spend their third year abroad in a Russian-speaking country currently at one of our partner institutions in the Baltic states or Kyrgyzstan. In the final year, in addition to the core language option, students can take an optional language course in Russian for Professional Communication.
More detailed information on the unit, its staff and modules, is available at: https://www.durham.ac.uk/departments/academic/modern-languages-cultures/undergraduate-study/language-areas/russian-studies/ and related webpages.
The Role
Applications are invited for a Teaching Fellow in Russian Studies. The post is at 0.5 FTE for a fixed term of 9 months only, beginning on 1 September 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. As the post is funded by a Leverhulme Trust award, it is not anticipated that it will be extended beyond this fixed term.
The successful applicant will have excellent Russian and English language skills, as well as research expertise and teaching experience in Russian Studies. You should be able to teach Russian literature, culture, and history in a holistic way across different periods, with particular emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. You will be fully integrated in the Russian Studies team within Durham University’s School of Modern Languages and Cultures and you will be expected to contribute to the delivery of teaching on relevant undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, to include curriculum development, the convening of modules, and all aspects of assessment.
Teaching Fellowships offer the opportunity of valuable experience to those early in their academic careers and the University is keen to maximise the benefit to as many people as possible. The post of Teaching Fellow will involve a significant teaching load, which may extend into the summer period, and there may be related scholarship and the opportunity for administrative duties which relate to education and pedagogy.
The University provides a working and teaching environment that is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly, with dignity and respect. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate these key principles as part of the assessment process.
