Postdoctoral Research Associate in the History of Mathematics

Grade UE07: £40,497 - £48,149 per annum, pro rata if part time

CSE, School of Mathematics

Full Time: 35 hours per week

Fixed term for 24 months, which could be extended for up to one more year

The Opportunity: 

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position in the history of mathematics, within the School of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh. The post is available from 1st September 2025, for 24 months, with a possible extension of at most one year. The starting date can be negotiated. It is a fixed-term, full-time contract. The position is attached to the project “Rethinking the history and the historiography of mathematical symbolism,” which is supported by the British Academy’s Global Professorship held by Karine Chemla (Programme 2023, Award reference: GP23\100312).

The History of mathematics group at the School of Mathematics of The University of Edinburgh currently consists of Karine Chemla. The project is developed in relation with other partners at The University of Edinburgh (Michael Barany, Richard Oosterhoff), and, at the international level, with researchers such as Agathe Keller, Taro Tokutake (SPHERE, CNRS—University Paris Cité), Toni Malet (Institut d'Història de la Ciència, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and Zhou Xiaohan (Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Beijing), and we will develop further cooperations. In addition to working in collaboration with the grant-holder (Chemla), successful candidates will be encouraged to develop and pursue their own research, as described in the project for which they will have been offered the position. These positions also come with travel and research budgets.

Scholars of all nationalities are welcome to apply.

The post is full-time (35 hours per week); however, we are open to considering part-time or flexible working patterns. We are also open to considering requests for hybrid working (on a non-contractual basis) that combines a mix of remote and regular on-campus working. 

Your skills and attributes for success: 

• An excellent research project
• A PhD or equivalent in history, history of science, mathematics, or any discipline relevant for their project, obtained prior to the start date of the position.
• A track record of research excellence, particularly in the subfields of the history of science related to the project.

Application Information:

Please submit 

• A cover letter stating your motivation for this position; 
• An outline (2 pages maximum) of the research project you intend to develop, which will show clearly its relevance for “Rethinking the history of mathematical symbolism”; 
• A full CV, including a list of publications where appropriate;
• one or more recent samples of academic writings (PhD thesis or other relevant writings, published or not);
• A copy of the most recent diploma;
• A transcript of the PhD thesis defence
• In addition to this, please arrange for at least two letters of reference

As a valued member of our team you can expect: 

• A competitive salary
• An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. 
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits, such as a generous holiday entitlement, competitive pension schemes, staff discounts, and family-friendly initiatives. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the total value of your pay and benefits 

Championing equality, diversity and inclusion:

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality. 

The University is able to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role.? If successful, an international applicant requiring sponsorship to work in the UK will need to satisfy the UK Home Office’s English Language requirements and apply for and secure a Skilled Worker Visa.

Please note if the role is offered on a part-time basis, it may result in sponsorship being dependant on a number of factors specific to the successful applicant or the role no longer meeting the Home Office’s criteria for sponsorship.

Key dates to note:

The closing date for applications is 18 June 2025.

Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone. 

Interviews will be held from 10 July 2025 onwards.