Wanted: An Eastern ARC Officer

The Eastern Arc. No, not that one. 

I know I've been quiet for the past three weeks, but that's because I've been on holiday. Yes, it was lovely, thank you. But now back to work with a bang, and one of the first things on my to do list is to recruit an Eastern ARC Officer.

Now some of you may be wondering what an Eastern ARC Officer is. You might be forgiven for thinking it's some kind of forest ranger patrolling the mountains between Kenya and Tanzania. Nothing that exciting I'm afraid: the Eastern Academic Research Consortium (ARC) is a new collaboration between Kent, Essex and UEA to build on natural links between the three universities.

All three universities are what you call 'plate glass': those established in Wilson's 'white heat of technology' in the mid-sixties, and encouraged to 'think differently', to challenge the status quo, and to expand higher education in the UK for the baby boomer generation. 

As such, the have much in common, including a belief in the importance of supporting research that is critical and has the potential to make a huge difference to society. And a love of concrete as a building material, of course. By coming together as the Eastern ARC the aim is to encourage further collaboration between staff and students at the three universities. 

The Eastern ARC Officer will help us to do this. Initially the collaboration is based around three broad themes - Synthetic Biology, Digital Humanities and Quantitative Social Sciences - and we've recruited Fellows and PhD students within these. The Officer will support them all, and will take a lead in further developing the Consortium. 

If you're interested, do have a look at the details on the University's website, here, or contact me to discuss the position further. The deadline is 31 August.