Postdoctoral Research Associate in Human Geography

**Postdoctoral Research Associate in Human Geography** **(**Job Number**:25001169**)**

Department of Geography

Grade 7: - £38,784 - £41,064 per annum

Fixed Term - Full Time

**Contract Duration**: 27 months

**Contracted Hours per Week**: 35

**Closing Date**: 07-Oct-2025, 5:59:00 PM

**Disclosure and Barring Service Requirement**: Not Applicable.

**Working at Durham University**

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**The Role and Department**
Green Corridors North East (GCNE) is a 3-year Arts and Humanities Council (AHRC) funded research project and a pilot for the new AHRC Mission scheme. The project is a collaboration between Newcastle University, Durham University, Teesside University and the National Trust. The project will work alongside an evaluation team from Durham and Northumbria Universities.

The post will be based in the Department of Geography, which comprises 65 academic staff (approximately equally divided between Human and Physical geography), a graduate school of around 100 research students, around 40 taught postgraduate students and 850 undergraduates. The Department is well supported with technical staff, including a cartography unit, and administrative staff.

The Department was ranked joint first for research quality among UK geography departments in REF2021. 54% of our outputs were classed as ‘world leading’ and more than 92% as ‘world leading’ or internationally excellent’. The most recent QS rankings for Geography placed Durham 11th overall in the world. The department is recurrently ranked in the top handful of programmes in the UK by various league tables; for example, we were ranked 1st in the 2025 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, and 4th in the 2025 Complete University

**The Role**

We are seeking a Research and Innovation Associate with a particular emphasis on the role of local heritage in the Green Corridors of the North East.

The aim of GCNE is to develop new co-created arts
- and humanities-led research practices that will contribute significantly to the transformative regeneration of green corridors in the UK and beyond. The project will develop, spread, and scale a co-produced model of placemaking.

The project spans more than 35 miles of three green corridors in the North East: The Tyne Derwent Way in Gateshead, Durham City Green Corridor, and the Tees to Topping Green Corridor running into and out of Middlesbrough. These three green corridors are part of an ambitious programme being led by the National Trust to help work in partnership to establish 20 green corridors across England, Northern Ireland and Wales by 2030, working in urban areas to address unequal access to and deliver benefits for nature, heritage, and people. Green corridors have risen to prominence as vital tools in urban planning, as well as connecting pockets of nature, they also connect people to their natural and cultural heritage.

The objectives of the project are to (i) convene exceptional teams, bringing together research, professional and community expertise to shape and deliver change, (ii) co-develop research questions and practices that are place based, cross-cutting and focused on environment, community and storytelling; (iii) co-produce research on the four themes of (1) heritage and history (the focus of this post); (2) culture and creativity (the focus of a matching post based at Teesside University); (3) nature and natural heritage (the focus of a matching post based at Newcastle University); (4) active evaluation for learning (e.g. research conducted