Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Arabic Philosophy in Sydney

3x Full-time opportunities, Fixed term contract for 3 years.

Friendly and collaborative work environment. Rewarding opportunity offering career development. Level B $121,739 + 15.00% superannuation.

About the university: The University of Notre Dame Australia is a modern, national Catholic university that serves more than 12,000 students across its campuses in Fremantle, Broome and Sydney. With a community of over 1,000 academic and professional staff, Notre Dame is recognised for its personalised learning environment, strong graduate outcomes and holistic educational philosophy rooted in critical thinking, ethics and the Catholic intellectual tradition.

About the project: The University of Notre Dame Australia is proud to host the Arabic and Hebrew teams of the European Research Council (ERC) Synergy project, "Logic in Reverse Redux: Illegitimate Argumentative Moves in the Arabic, Byzantine, Hebrew and Latin Medieval Traditions," (RevLogRedux), which is to run until 30 April 2031. We seek to appoint up to three highly research-active scholars working in medieval Arabic philosophy with a track record, or an interest in developing expertise, in researching medieval logical texts and fallacy-theory. In accordance with ERC conditions, all outcomes are to be published Open Access.

About the role: The Arabic Tradition: Rational Sciences (ATRS) team of the ERC project seeks to appoint up to three postdoctoral researchers. Participation in the project will be an opportunity to acquire new textual and philosophical skills, produce a significant research portfolio, develop ties with leading researchers in medieval philosophy, and be part of a major initiative in digital humanities. The ATRS team will engage actively with the other teams working on the Latin, Byzantine, Hebrew and Arabic traditional sciences.

As a guide, appointees will be expected to devote their time as follows:

• 20% transcribing and translating a number of texts, either individually or under guidance from the team leader;
• 20% responding to the initiatives of the Geneva team as they develop AskSten;
• 60% conducting independent research on the historical and cultural context of the texts studied, and analysis of the fallacy-theories developed by Arabic authors, especially as they relate to Aristotle's Sophistical Refutations.

These research-focused positions will contribute to the University's strategic research goals through the production of high-impact publications, including ERC-related outputs targeting leading Q1 journals or scholarly monographs. The role will strengthen the research profile of the Centre for the History of Philosophy, particularly in the growing field of Arabic Philosophy, while supporting grant applications, research supervision and mentoring, and engaging in academic, professional, and research administration activities.

Key Responsibilities:

• Contribute to the translation of a corpus of medieval Arabic texts on fallacies, preferably as the sole translator for assigned passages, or, where necessary, as a team member working under the supervision of a primary translator. Each appointee will be expected to translate approximately 150 pages over the three-year project period.
• Undertake the transcription of texts not yet available in electronic format for inclusion in the project's web-based database.
• Conduct primary research on the historical and cultural context of the texts studied, and analysis of the fallacy-theories developed by Arabic authors, especially as they relate to Aristotle's Sophistical Refutations.
• Collaborate with the University of Geneva team in integrating materials from four philosophical traditions into AskSten, a multi-layered virtual research environment.
• Contribute to all activities associated with the ERC Synergy Grant, including participating in conferences and workshops in the UK and Europe, help in organising conferences and workshops, translation, independent research on topics related to the texts listed at the project website, and liaison with teams at CNRS, the University of Lille, and the University of Geneva to advance the project's objectives of collaboration and synergy.
• Post-docs are expected to participate in person in a fortnightly team seminar through the semester at the Broadway Campus.

Qualifications, skills & experience:

Essential: Research-level proficiency in the philosophical language of medieval Arabic. Doctoral level training in Arabic philosophy or medieval Islamic intellectual history, with evidence of potential for high-quality research; a strong publication record is highly desirable. Proficiency in Arabic text entry, with the ability to read and interpret medieval manuscripts.

Desirable: Background in digital humanities. Facility in another language in RevLog's coverage (Latin, classical Greek, Hebrew) or relevant to the study of the Arabic translation movement (Syriac).

Contact us: Please direct your queries about academic aspects of the project to: Arabic Team Leader, Professor Tony Street, Tony.street@nd.edu.au Talent Acquisition Melissa Schmidt, Melissa.schmidt@nd.edu.au