Assistant Professor in Geoinformatics

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Role: Assistant Professor in Geoinformatics

Grade and Salary: Grade 8, £46,735 - £57,422 per annum (pro-rata)

FTE and working pattern: 0.6 FTE, 21hrs per week, Monday – Friday

Contract:12 Months Fixed-Term

Holiday Entitlement: 33 days annual leave plus 9 buildings closed days (and Christmas Eve when it falls on a weekday) (pro-rata)

Purpose of Role

The Institute of Life and Earth Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh is seeking a new colleague to join our thriving community of academics. We invite applications from outstanding early career researchers for a part-time Assistant Professorship (Teaching) position in Geoinformatics for a 1 year term.  

We are looking for a candidate who will focus on delivering undergraduate and postgraduate courses that cover technical aspects of geography and presentation of spatial data, including Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The candidate will also employ their expertise in geoinformatics to teach via lectures, tutorials, laboratory classes and project supervision. 

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Pioneering Education

• Develop and deliver high quality applied courses in line with your expertise to enable our students to become excellent practitioners, and assist with embedding of professional qualifications, to ensure our students are ‘Future Made’; 
• Undertake continuous professional development both through the University and externally to remain up-to-date with current learning and teaching practice and external influencers in our sector to provide direction and leadership;  
• Share best practice in learning and teaching methodologies, working with colleagues to develop scholarly debate and the dissemination of excellence to advance the curriculum to be future focused and challenge-led;  
• Supervise undergraduate and postgraduate students’ work and take responsibility for dealing with referred issues regarding students within their own educational programmes.  

Collaboration and Leadership

• Develop your leadership within the BSc (Hons) Geography and Biology programmes to ensure excellent levels of student engagement, retention and outcomes; 
• Collaborate with colleagues to ensure a consistent, effective, and high-quality delivery of teaching and research, in line with the strategic aims of EGIS, as well as the wider University; 
• Represent EGIS with integrity in a professional capacity at external events.  

Education, Qualifications and Experience

Essential

PhD (or equivalent professional experience) in an appropriate area of environmental science or geography. 

Ability to deliver innovative teaching, together with some experience of teaching or supervision in a higher education environment; 

Emotional intelligence, with a demonstrable collegiate attitude and proven interpersonal skills. 

Desirable

Formal GIS training or equivalent qualifications; 

Demonstrated experience undertaking management of spatial data, handling large or complex datasets, and designing approaches for data analysis. 

Ability to draw on previous experience and resources to develop and enhance the teaching portfolio.  

How to Apply

Applications can be submitted up to midnight (UK time) on Friday 11th April 2025 at midnight.

Interviews to be held on Thursday 17th April 2025.

Applicants must make their submission via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system and include: (1) cover letter describing their interest and suitability for the post; (2) full CV that includes the list of publications (3) research/scholarly and teaching statements, showing their strengths in one or more of the areas above.  

Informal enquiries should be directed to Dr Lauren McWhinnie (l.mcwhinnie@hw.ac.uk) 

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised, and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities.  Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our university community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm  and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/  .

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm  to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

About our Team

The School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society

The School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society is one of the UK’s leading institutions for multidisciplinary research and teaching in areas critical to economic development and societal equity. We aim to attain excellence in the teaching of the core disciplines that contribute to a sustainable, resource and energy efficient society and are committed to undertaking high value, high impact research and knowledge transfer in topics of relevance to global challenges.  

Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society - Heriot-Watt University (hw.ac.uk)   

The Institute for Life and Earth Sciences (ILES) research falls within the three departments of Environment, Health and Food Science. In addition to these three departments our International Centre for Island Technology (ICIT), based at Heriot-Watt's Orkney Campus in Stromness, is internationally recognised for its research, training and consultancy in renewable energy, marine science and environmental resources..   

Further information, please visit: https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/schools/energy-geoscience-infrastructure-society/research/iles.htm   

About Heriot Watt University

Heriot-Watt University has established a reputation for world-class teaching and leading-edge, relevant research, which has made it one of the top UK universities for innovation, business and industry.   

Heriot-Watt University has five campuses: three in the UK (Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Orkney), one in Dubai and one in Malaysia. The University offers a highly distinctive range of degree programmes in the specialist areas of science, engineering, design, business and languages. Heriot-Watt is also Scotland's most international university, boasting the largest international student cohort.