College of Arts & Humanities

School of Humanities

Research Assistant

Vacancy Ref: 183475

Salary, Grade 6, £33,951 - £37,694 per annum pro rata

We have an exciting opportunity for a Research Assistant to contribute to a project - LEACAN project - working with the Principal Investigator (PI) / Director of DASG Professor Rob Ó Maolalaigh in Celtic & Gaelic.  The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to Gaelic corpus linguistic research and the publication of online grammatical and orthographical guidance and submission of research proposals as well as help manage and direct this exciting project as opportunities allow.

Candidates should have specialist and practical knowledge of Scottish Gaelic, as well as comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of Gaelic grammar and orthography.

This post is part time (10.5 hours per week) and open ended with funding available up to 23rd August 2028.

Please contact Professor Rob Ó Maolalaigh, roibeard.omaolalaigh@glasgow.ac.uk, with any informal enquiries relating to the post.

For further information on the College of Arts & Humanities, School of Humanities, please visit https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/humanities/

Job Purpose

You will contribute to the LEACAN project working with the Principal Investigator (PI) / Director of DASG Professor Rob Ó Maolalaigh in Celtic & Gaelic.  The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to Gaelic corpus linguistic research and the publication online of grammatical and orthographical guidance and submission of research proposals as well as help manage and direct this complex and exciting project as opportunities allow.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Perform the following activities in conjunction with and under the guidance of the Principal/Co Investigator:

1. Plan and conduct assigned research individually or jointly in accordance with the LEACAN project deliverables.

2. Document research output including analysis and interpretation of all data, maintaining records and databases, drafting technical/progress reports and papers as appropriate.

3. Develop and enhance your research profile and reputation and that of The University of Glasgow/School/Research Group, including contributing to online publications via the LEACAN website, enhancing the research impact in terms of societal benefit.

4. Contribute to the presentation of work at international and national conferences, at internal and external seminars, colloquia, workshops and external stakeholder meetings to develop and enhance our research profile.

5. Contribute to consultations with native speaker project consultants on Gaelic usage and analysis of responses.

6. Contribute through liaison with the LEACAN Liaison Officer, Dr Alasdair Whyte, to public consultations on traditional Gaelic usage and LEACAN recommendations.

7. Contribute to the extraction of further grammatical guidance from the LEACAN research papers included in Aspects of Gaelic Grammar (Mandić and Ó Maolalaigh 2024) and feedback from traditional speaker consultants and, draft and input results into the LEACAN online modular guidance by producing written grammatical guidance for publication on the DASG / LEACAN website.

8. Contribute to the development and configuration of online LEACAN resources in liaison with the PI, Liaison Officer and IT consultants and provide input on how best to improve navigation, interface and user experience in order to increase engagement with LEACAN resources.

9. Contribute to the annual updating of the new Banca na Gàidhlig language and research resource.

10. Contribute to the preparation of plans for the future use and development of the Am Briathradan lexical resource.

11. Contribute to the identification of potential funding sources and assist in the development of proposals to secure funding from internal and external bodies to support future research.

12. Collaborate with colleagues and participate in meetings across the research team and wider community stakeholders.

13. Perform administrative tasks including reports related to the activities of the LEACAN project as assigned by the Principal Investigator (PI) / Director of DASG.

14. Keep up to date with current knowledge and recent advances in the field/discipline.

15. Engage in continuing professional development activities as appropriate.

16. Undertake any other reasonable duties as required by the Principal Investigator (PI) / Director of DASG.

17. Contribute to the enhancement of the University’s international profile in line with the University Strategy.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience 

Knowledge/Qualifications

Essential:

A1 SCQF Level 10 (Honours degree) in Gaelic or a cognate discipline (with corpus linguistic experience), or equivalent.

A2 Specialist and practical knowledge of Scottish Gaelic.

A3 Comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of Gaelic grammar and orthography.

Desirable:

B1 An awarded (or recently submitted or near completion) postgraduate degree in Gaelic language studies / linguistics.

Skills

Essential:

C1 Analysis of Gaelic language (grammar, idioms and orthography).

C2 Research creativity and cross-discipline collaborative ability as appropriate

C3 Excellent communication skills (oral and written), including public presentations and ability to communicate complex data/concepts clearly and concisely.

C4 Excellent interpersonal skills including team working and a collegiate approach.

C5 Appropriate workload/time/project management skills.

C6 Extensive IT and data analysis/interpretation skills as appropriate.

C7 Self-motivation, initiative and independent thought/working.

C8 Problem solving skills including a flexible and pragmatic approach

Desirable:

D1 Some knowledge of regular expressions for text searching

Experience

Essential: 

E1 Sufficient relevant research experience (or equivalent) appropriate to an early career researcher.

E2 Project or subject specific experience.

E3 Experience of academic writing.

E4 Proven ability to deliver quality outputs in a timely and efficient manner.

E5 Evidence of an emerging track record of publications in a relevant field.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 6, £33,951 - £37,694 per annum pro rata.

This post is part time (10.5 hours per week) and open ended with funding available up to 23rd August 2028.

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

1 A warm welcoming and engaging organisational culture, where your talents are developed and nurtured, and success is celebrated and shared.

2 An excellent employment package with generous terms and conditions including 41 days of leave for full time staff, pension - pensions handbook https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/payandpensions/pensions/, benefits and discount packages.

3 A flexible approach to working.

4 A commitment to support your health and wellbeing, including a free 6-month UofG Sport membership for all new staff joining the University  https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/staff/healthwellbeing/.

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/.

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/athenaswan/ and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University.

We are investing in our organisation, and we will invest in you too. Please visit our website https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs/ for more information.