Senior post in Field Linguistics for Endangered Languages at SOAS - closing date 5 Jul 02

[Doug Cooper]

[FWD from Justin Watkins" <justin.watkins at soas.ac.uk>]

Dear Colleagues:
Please disseminate the following through your networks, or pass to anyone
you know may be interested - or consider applying yourselves, of course.
with best wishes,
Justin Watkins
Lecturer in Burmese
SOAS, University of London
London WC1H 0XG UK
tel +44 (0)20 7898 4254, fax +44 (0)20 7898 4319
www.soas.ac.uk/SouthEastAsia/Burmese
_______________________________________
SOAS
DIRECTOR OF THE ACADEMIC PROJECT ON ENDANGERED LANGUAGES
(Vacancy No. 02-71)

Applications or nominations are invited for the post of Director of the
Academic Project on Endangered Languages which becomes available from 1
January 2003. The post commands a salary and benefits commensurate with a
Senior Academic post that are competitive within Higher Education. Upon
appointment, the Director will hold a named Chair in Field Linguistics.

The Project is to be housed at SOAS, the leading European Centre for the
study of Asia and Africa. It is intended that the project will extend the
description and documentation of endangered languages in the world through
the establishment of research projects and through training programmes aimed
at enhancing academic capacity to undertake such descriptions.

In addition, the Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund will be providing
substantial sums over a ten-year period to an international committee for
disbursements in the form of grants for the description and documentation of
near extinct languages. The Director is expected to become a member of this
committee.

Qualifications

SOAS is seeking an outstanding candidate who is:

* an academic with an international reputation and with relevant management
or leadership experience;

* a first-class communicator;

* an enthusiastic and effective researcher and leader.


The post will be on the professorial scale, commensurate with the
responsibilities.

Annual leave is 30 days per year plus statutory and bank holidays.  USS
pension scheme will be available.

An application form, further particulars and job description may be obtained
from the Human Resources Department, School of Oriental and African Studies,
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG (Tel: 020 7898 4134; Fax:
020 7898 4129; E-mail address: humanresources at soas.ac.uk).  CV's will only
be accepted when accompanied by an application form. No agencies.

Closing date:	5 July 2002


SOAS

DIRECTOR OF THE ACADEMIC PROJECT
ON ENDANGERED LANGUAGES

JOB DESCRIPTION


Title:	The Märit Rausing Professor in Field Linguistics.

Member of the SOAS Linguistics Department and of the SOAS Centre for
Language Research.

Responsibilities:

1.	Lead and develop the Endangered Languages Academic Project.

2.	Represent the Project at departmental, faculty, School and University
levels

3.	Represent the Project to the general public.

4.	Co-operate closely with the Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund.

5.	Sit (ex-officio) on the Board of the Endangered Languages Documentation
	Programme.

6.	Devise the overall research strategy of the Project, including academic,
archive and IT issues.

7.	Co-ordinate the work of the Project's participants.

8.	Assist the administrators of the Documentation Programme with academic
	advice.

9.	Maintain co-operation internationally with other researchers and other
research organisations, especially the Research Centre for Language Typology
at La Trobe, Australia.

10.	Conduct relevant research on endangered languages.

11.	Undertake appropriate PhD supervision.

12.	Contribute to the field linguistics elements of the Linguistics
Department's
	undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.



SOAS

DIRECTOR OF THE ACADEMIC PROJECT
ON ENDANGERED LANGUAGES


PERSON SPECIFICATION


The successful candidate will have:

* Good communication skills
* Open and broad approach to linguistics
* Academic seniority in linguistics
* Leadership qualities
* Established research reputation and publication record
* Extensive fieldwork experience
* Administrative experience
* Experience in project management
* Relevant IT skills


SOAS

DIRECTOR OF THE ACADEMIC PROJECT
ON ENDANGERED LANGUAGES


This briefing document is being made available to those considering applying
or nominating someone for the post of the Director of the Project which
becomes available from 1 January 2003 at SOAS. This is a new post which has
been created as a result of an agreement between the Lisbet Rausing
Charitable Fund and SOAS.


1.	Background

1.1	The Academic Project on Endangered Languages, supported by the Lisbet
Rausing Charitable Fund and housed at the SOAS, University of London, is
intended to extend the description and documentation of endangered languages
of the world through the establishment of research projects and through
training programmes aimed at enhancing academic capacity to undertake such
descriptions. The Academic Project will be housed within the Faculty of
Languages and Cultures and the Director of the Project will be a member of
the Department of Linguistics. The SOAS Centre for Language Research brings
together linguists from the Linguistics Department and the five Language and
Culture departments. Collaboration in research and teaching will come from
across the CLR.

1.2	The Project will consist of a Director, an Archiving and Documentation
specialist, at least two Post-Doctoral Fellows, a number of doctoral
students, and secretarial assistance funded by the Lisbet Rausing Charitable
Fund. In the delivery of teaching, members of the Project will work
alongside members of the SOAS Linguistics Department and other members of
the CLR.

1.3	The Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund will support the Project for a period
of eight years, and further external funding would need to be sought for the
continuation of the project beyond that period.

1.4	In addition to the Academic Project based at SOAS, the Lisbet Rausing
Charitable Fund will be providing substantial sums (approximately £15
million) over a ten-year period to an international committee for
disbursements in the form of grants for the description and documentation of
near-extinct languages. This separate initiative will be based
administratively at SOAS but will be receiving world-wide applications for
funding, with work to be undertaken through the applicants' home
institutions or in association with SOAS or the Research Centre for Language
Typology at La Trobe, Australia. The outcome will be the development at SOAS
of a major new archive.


1.5	In collaboration with other academic members of SOAS, the Project staff
will develop and teach on the new MA in Linguistic Description and
Documentation (provisional title), research training programmes for doctoral
students, and other teaching components related to the description of
endangered languages.

1.6	To support the academic project and the Endangered Languages
Documentation Programme, SOAS's Research Office is to be enhanced to provide
the necessary managerial, administrative and clerical support.


2.   	SOAS

2.1	The School is a chartered institute dating back to 1916.  The Charter
was last revised in May 1997 and broadly defines the purpose of the School
as follows:

To be a centre of excellence in research and teaching relating to Asia and
Africa, as expressed through a range of academic disciplines in the
humanities and social sciences, and their interaction, and for such purpose:

* to further research and scholarship in the study of societies and cultures
of Asia and Africa;
* to teach and examine students for degrees of the University of London and
also to offer other courses leading to diplomas and certificates;
* to accept a special commitment to language scholarship relating to Asia
and Africa;
* to offer courses of instruction to persons interested in the languages and
cultures of Asia and Africa.

2.2		As originally incorporated, the School was an integral part or the
federal structure of the University of London but this level of control has
eroded.  Although the School continues to award University of London degrees
and participate in the remaining elements of the federal structure, the
School is self-governing and receives its funding directly from the Higher
Education Funding Council for England.  As a result of this change, the
Director and Principal of SOAS is a member of Universities UK as well as the
Heads of the Institutions Committee of the University of London.

2.3		The SOAS Library houses the National Collections for Asia and Africa
and is specifically supported to fulfil this role. In addition, the School
receives special funding for its minority scholarship, specifically for its
minority languages.

3.		SOAS Today

3.1	The School is now the size of a small university with a total student
body of almost 3,500. It has achieved this size through rapid growth having
expanded from 1,200 students in 1990. Over the same period the proportion of
postgraduate students has increased from approximately 30% to almost 50% and
turnover has now reached approximately £30 million.
3.2	Approximately one-half of the student body are following social science
programmes of study with the remainder divided almost equally between the
humanities and languages and related disciplines.  The student body is
diverse with 68% being drawn from the UK, 10% from other European countries
and 22% from the remainder of the world.  Of those students from the UK, a
significant proportion is from ethnic minorities.

3.3	The School has a flourishing postgraduate distance-learning activity,
with over 1,200 students currently enrolled on Masters' programmes in public
finance and public administration.  In addition, the School has several
hundred other students following various forms of certificate and diploma
programmes, the largest of which is the preparation of non-native speakers
for entry into undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for study in the
United Kingdom.

3.4	In recent years the School has extended its estate considerably by the
acquisition of properties in Russell Square immediately adjoining the
University of London precinct and by the development of a major new teaching
and learning gallery building provided through the generosity of the Sultan
of Brunei.  The School has also developed more than 750 student residential
places and has recently opened its second campus at Vernon Square
(approximately 1 mile from Russell Square).

4.			The Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund

4.1		The Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund has been established to provide
focused support for fundamental research in the humanities and social
sciences at, or in co-operation with, universities in the United Kingdom.
The Endangered Languages Project is necessarily international in scope,
although support in future years may be even more directly concentrated on
UK university institutions. The Trustees of the Fund do not accept
applications for research grants. Rather, they will identify research fields
judged worthy of support and take initiatives to establish frameworks
appropriate to the provision of such support.

5.			Applications/Nominations

5.1		Applications (or nominations) are sought from suitably qualified
persons for the post of Director of the Academic Project on Endangered
Languages.  Upon appointment, the Director will hold a Chair in Field
Linguistics, be an academic with an international reputation and must have
higher-level managerial skills and a proven ability to provide academic
leadership.


Applications

An application form, further particulars and job description may be obtained
from the Human Resources Department, School of Oriental and African Studies,
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG (Tel: 020 7898 4134; Fax:
020 7898 4129; E-mail address: humanresources at soas.ac.uk).  CV's will only
be accepted when accompanied by an application form.  No agencies.


Closing Date:  5 July 2002