Applicants to the overall Fellowship are expected to meet the following essential criteria:

• be a permanent resident of Jordan
• be an Early Career Researcher*
• not currently in receipt of financial support or funding towards any other programme in the UK from any other sources
• meet the University's English language requirement
• employees of the British Council, the UK government or Scottish, Welsh, or Northern Irish governments are not eligible to apply for this programme
• agree to maintain contact with the British Council for purposes of monitoring and evaluation during and after their fellowship

Applicants must provide written approval from their university as part of the application, unless they are not currently employed in higher education.

Applicants to the overall Fellowship are also expected to meet the following essential criteria, which will be graded as part of the application process:

• have a background or a proven interest in the selected research project
• be willing to demonstrate future contribution to capacity-building and socio-economic advancement through the benefits achieved after completing the fellowship programme
• demonstrate a plan and a passion to engage other early career researchers from their home country

*Definition of Early Career Researcher (ECR)

Early Career Researchers (ECRs) have completed or are close to completion of their PhD, potentially waiting for their final viva voce examination, which must be passed prior to taking up the award.

ECRs will not have held a permanent academic post or a permanent post with a research-related element, or one which allowed them to supervise PhD students or submit research grants as a principal investigator. Time spent in teaching-only roles or academic related roles does not affect ECR status, provided no research element was part of the role.

If a researcher does not hold a PhD but has research experience equivalent to a PhD holder and works in a field where a PhD is not a prerequisite for established research activity, they can still be considered eligible. Participants from for-profit organisations cannot be funded. As we move toward greater inclusivity for ECRs from a wide range of backgrounds, we are no longer counting years spent in a specific career stage. Career breaks and alternative trajectories to an early academic career are all considered outside the definition of career stage.

• annual bursary to cover your living costs, pro rata for fellowships shorter than 12 months
• research-related expenses such as consumables, small equipment, travel and subsistence within the UK, publication costs, or other expenses related directly to the research project
• return economy-class travel from home country to the UK
• visa, insurance and NHS surcharge
• bespoke, pre-departure meeting held in Jordan, on Strathclyde, life in the UK, and Strathclyde's growing partnership with Jordan​
• University support for visa and finding accommodation
• University resources for equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI), career development, welfare support, mental health and well-being support
• tailor-made support to introduce and integrate ECRs into existing Strathclyde networks of academia and industry partners in the UK and Jordan 

Supervisor: Dr Sean Morrissey Academic Development Lead , Organisational & Staff Development Unit, University of Strathclyde

Project partners: 

The second research area will involve a fellow applying theories of behavioural change to analyse the experience(s) of Strathclyde staff in engaging with sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation in the context of teaching, research and knowledge exchange practices.

The aim of this research area will be to understand how the voices of staff and students are heard in mainstreaming sustainability, and how to translate findings into holistic, actionable, equitable and inclusive changes across our curriculum, research culture, and external stakeholder relationships.

The research will take a mixed-methods (survey and ethnographic) approach.

Key outputs will include a needs-analysis and recommendations for future staff development activities. These findings will be transferrable from Strathclyde to a wide variety of Higher Education contexts in the UK and Jordan and will sow the seeds of future international collaborative capacity-building work.

Eligibility

In addition to meeting general eligibility criteria for the overall Fellowship, an applicant to this project would be expected to meet the following criteria, which will be graded as part of the application process:

Essential

• good Honours degree and PhD (or equivalent professional experience) in a relevant field such as science or engineering with a focus on sustainability and/or sustainable development, education or social sciences
• proven experience in conducting mixed-methods research, including both survey and ethnographic approaches
• demonstrated ability to manage research projects, including planning, execution, and reporting
• ability to plan and organise own workload effectively
• ability to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, including academic staff, students, and external partners
• excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to listen, engage and persuade, and to present complex information in an accessible way to a range of audiences

Desirable

• previous experience working within a higher education institution
• experience in conducting interdisciplinary research that spans multiple fields of study
• experience in applied behavioural change theory
• experience in a systems thinking approach
• a track record of publishing research findings in peer-reviewed journals and presenting at conferences – appropriate to stage of career