Postdoctoral Research Associate; DNA

Role Description Department

The Department of Archaeology at the University of York is ranked 25th in the world and 5th in the UK in the QS rankings. Our vibrant, diverse and international community consists of over 100 staff and 600 students. We carry out international, impact-oriented and interdisciplinary teaching and research of the highest quality through our strong network of partnerships. The student experience is of paramount importance to the Department and we maintain a high level of student satisfaction.

Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values and we promote a collegial environment in which staff and students feel supported and empowered to achieve their full potential. We are proud of our Athena Swan Silver Award and strive to provide a working environment which facilitates wellbeing and allows all staff and students to contribute fully, flourish, and excel.

We aim for a sustainable future.

Roman Britannia:
Mobility and Society (RoBMobS) is an AHRC funded research project based at the Department of Archaeology at the University of York and the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University. The project aims to explore and characterise diversity and mobility in Britannia, assessing both movement within the province and from other areas of the Empire into Britannia. The project employs interdisciplinary approaches to human remains, including a wide suite of biomolecular techniques and burial archaeology.

We are seeking a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in Ancient DNA to join the project. This role will focus on the extraction, analysis and interpretation of ancient genetic data from human skeletal material in order to explore genetic diversity within Britannia, alongside genetic kinship and relatedness within cemetery populations.

This PDRA position will work with Dr Sophy Charlton (Project Co-Lead) at the University of York to support the aDNA work package on the project, but will also work closely with the wider project team based at Cardiff University (Dr David Roberts, Project Lead; Prof. Richard Madgwick, Project Co-Lead; and two PDRAs).

The successful candidate will have a strong track record in the field of ancient DNA analysis and will be responsible for significant aspects of this element of the project, whilst contributing as a team member to the wider research programme. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to publication and dissemination, including presenting at conferences, working with commercial archaeological units and museum partners, and sharing results with the public.

This is a fixed-term contract for up to 34 months.

• PhD in Biomolecular Archaeology, Ancient DNA, Biology, Genomics or equivalent experience
• Knowledge of ancient DNA or genomic datasets to engage in high quality research
• Experience of ancient DNA laboratory methods (DNA extraction, Illumina library building, targeted enrichment)
• Experience of using computational tools for population genetic analysis, including imputation, as well as standard data tools such as R
• Experience in writing archaeological scientific reports to publication standard in international journals
• Ability to work as part of a team and also independently using own initiative

For informal enquiries: please contact Sophy Charlton on

£37,694 to £39,906 a year