Career Opportunities at Queen's

About the job:

The School of Natural and Built Environment seeks to appoint a Lecturer in Physical Geography to support and enhance our teaching and research portfolio within Geography, the School and the wider Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. This full‑time, permanent post will contribute to Queen’s University Belfast’s commitment to world‑class research, sustainability leadership, and societal impact.

The successful candidate will have expertise in Physical Geography/Geoscience, with a research focus on climate change—particularly Earth system dynamics, environmental resilience, and/or natural hazards. We welcome applicants whose work addresses contemporary environmental challenges and their societal implications, supported by approaches such as GIS, remote sensing, and environmental modelling. The post offers an opportunity to strengthen the School’s geoscience capacity and contribute to interdisciplinary teaching and research aligned with institutional priorities in sustainability and climate action.

The appointee will develop an internationally recognised research profile, securing external funding, publishing in leading journals, and contributing to collaborative initiatives across the School and University. They will be expected to build partnerships with government, NGOs, and industry to ensure their research delivers applied insights and enhances student engagement with real‑world environmental issues.

The successful candidate will also contribute to professionally accredited teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across Geography and the School. Responsibilities include delivering lectures, fieldwork, group‑based learning, project supervision, and supporting the coordination and administration of interdisciplinary modules.

In addition to advancing Physical Geography, the postholder will contribute to the School’s wider research strengths by engaging with themes linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Queen’s Global Challenges. This includes developing a distinctive interdisciplinary agenda addressing socio‑spatial challenges arising from environmental, technological, economic, and governance change. The role requires building a strong research profile through competitive funding, high‑quality publications, PhD supervision, and impactful knowledge‑exchange activity.

About the person:

The successful candidate must have, and your application should clearly demonstrate that you meet the following essential criteria:

Essential:

• Education and Qualifications: PhD (awarded or with corrections only to be made) in Physical Geography, Earth Sciences, Environmental Science, or a closely related discipline PhD focussed on climate change science.
• Education: Experience of teaching and supporting student learning in one or more settings (e.g. lectures, tutorials, laboratory/practical classes, field classes).
• Research: Evidence of a developing track record of high-quality peer-reviewed research outputs appropriate to career stage.
• Societal and Economic Impact: Evidence of engagement beyond academia through research, knowledge exchange, professional practice or public engagement.
• Personal Qualities: Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues across teaching, research and administration.
• Presentation: Clear, engaging and well-paced presentation delivered within the allotted time. Effective use of visual materials that support and enhance the verbal presentation.
• Other Skills/knowledge: Use of GIS and/or remote sensing in teaching and/or research.

Desirable:

• Professional Experience: Experience of Government, NGO, consultancy, industrial partnership or collaboration.
• Education: PGCHE (or equivalent) teaching qualification. Evidence of substantial organisation / delivery of teaching – e.g., designing / leading modules.
• Research: Further papers published in high quality international journals.
• Societal and Economic Impact: Demonstrable societal, environmental, policy or economic impact.
• Personal Qualities: Demonstrates clear, engaging and effective verbal and visual communication.
• Other Skills/knowledge: Awareness of the opportunities, limitations and responsible use of generative AI and related technologies in teaching and/or research.

Special Factors and Other Requirements:

• The panel will take appropriate account of career-stage, personal circumstances and other relevant mitigating factors in accordance with the University's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion principles.

This is not an exhaustive list.  To be successful at shortlisting stage, please ensure you clearly evidence in your application how you meet the essential and, where applicable, desirable criteria listed in the Candidate Information for each post. 

What we offer:

Beyond a competitive salary, the University offers an attractive benefits package including a holiday entitlement of up to 8.4 weeks a year, pension schemes and development opportunities. We support staff wellbeing with flexible working options, work-life balance initiatives and support for physical and mental health. You can find more detail on all of this and more at https://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/HumanResources/pay-reward-and-benefits/. 

Queen's University is committed to promoting equality of opportunity to all. We subscribe to Equality Charter Marks such as the Diversity Charter Mark NI and Athena Swan and have established staff networks such as iRise (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and International Staff Network) and PRISM (LGBTQ+) which help us progress equality. For further information on our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, please visit www.qub.ac.uk/diversity.

If you are an international applicant and don't already hold a visa that permits you to take up the role you are applying for, please use the information provided on our website to self-assess whether the University is likely to be able to support a visa application - http://go.qub.ac.uk/internationalstaffsupport. 

Candidate Information