The University of Limerick wishes to appoint a postdoctoral researcher to the project 'OS200: Digitally Re-mapping Ireland’s Ordnance Survey Heritage'.
The University of Limerick wishes to appoint a postdoctoral researcher to the project 'OS200: Digitally Re-mapping Ireland’s Ordnance Survey Heritage'.
OS200 aims to gather historic Ordnance Survey (OS) maps and texts to form a single digital corpus and a freely-accessible online resource. Doing so will enable a team of humanities researchers from across Ireland – north and south – to uncover otherwise hidden and forgotten aspects of the life and work of those from Britain and Ireland employed by the OS as they mapped and recorded landscapes and localities. Timed to coincide with the bicentenary of the OS in Ireland, the project will reappraise the historic impacts of the OS's mapping of Ireland and their lasting legacies. The OS200 project will use 21st-century technologies to digitally analyse and visualise how the OS operated on the ground, as surveyors encountered 'the surveyed'. The project is jointly funded by the Irish Research Council (IRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Drawing on a wide network of archives and expertise, the project includes as partners the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), and the major place-name projects, Logainm.ie and the Northern Ireland Place-Name Project (NIPNP).
The researcher will work under the guidance of the Principal Investigator and Co-Investigators at the University of Limerick and in close collaboration with other project staff and partners across the island. The successful candidate will take responsibility for day-to-day management of certain aspects the OS200 project and will contribute actively to implementing the project outputs in close collaboration with the Principal and Co-Investigators. The researcher will ideally have a digital humanities or computer science background with an interest in historical and geographical research. Skillsets should include Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other forms of spatial analysis including network analysis, geovisualisation, and relevant programming languages. Knowledge and understanding of crowdsourcing techniques and International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) would be advantageous. The researcher will also be required to assist with community engagement and public outreach elements of the project. The researcher will mainly work on the digitised OS200 source materials but will also be required to carry out some basic archival research in cooperation with project partners and the research staff based at Queen’s University Belfast.
Potential candidates are encouraged to contact the PI, Dr Catherine Porter (Catherine.porter@ul.ie), to informally discuss the position. Please insert 'Postdoc OS200' in the subject of your e-mail.
Find out more about OS200 on the project website: go.qub.ac.uk/IrelandMapped
Read more about DRI’s involvement in the project here.
Apply for the role via the University of Limerick's Vacancies portal: http://ul.ie/hrvacancies/
The deadline for applications is Friday, 29 October 2021.
