Academic jobs in United Kingdom

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 11 January 2026

Newcastle Law School seeks to appoint a Senior Lecturer/Reader in Law to join our forward thinking, inclusive Russell Group Law School that seeks to embed its values in all that it does: Challenge; Social Justice; Compassion; Wellbeing; Excellence; Responsibility; and Respect.

We are looking for a passionate researcher and educator in the area of UK Public Law. Your research should engage with socially relevant and important questions that address current and future problems and should have the potential to attract research funding and/or deliver real-world impact. A willingness to collaborate across legal fields and other disciplines and engage with external partners is also desirable.

Newcastle Law School is a globally connected, locally rooted and compassionate community. We embrace diversity and advance social justice by addressing contemporary and future challenges through our research, our scholarship, our engagement with partners, and as a lasting impact of our legal education. We are based in Newcastle upon Tyne, a city with a wide variety of cultural, social and leisure offering, with outstanding schools and close proximity to beautiful nature and heritage sites. We want to appoint someone who shares our values, and who will work with us to realise them across all our areas of activity. We are particularly interested in the strengths and lived experiences of researchers from different ethnic groups and cultures to broaden the diversity of Newcastle Law School, as we strive to avoid perpetuating biases and oversights on legal research and legal education.

If you see yourself in the above description, then please get in touch and consider applying. If you would like a confidential discussion about this role please contact Samantha Ryan, Head of Newcastle Law School at samantha.ryan@newcastle.ac.uk

Interviews will be held Thursday, 12 or Friday, 13 March 2026.

Teaching & Learning

• To provide high quality research led teaching activity
• To supervise dissertation students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level
• Mentor and support students throughout their studies in the role of personal tutor
• Set and mark assessment of modules in accordance with university standards and utilise on-line and digitised curricula and education frameworks
• Contribute to curriculum and programme development as required

Research

• Conduct research that demonstrates international standards of excellence in terms of originality, significance and rigour (REF 3* & 4*)
• Contribute to the research profile of Newcastle Law School by publishing high quality outputs and engaging with the Lawyering Rights and Justice and/or the Constitutionalism and Governance research groups in the Law School
• Pursue external funding commensurate with experience
• Potential to demonstrate impact by developing research-based solutions to real-world problems and engage with external stakeholders to develop the impact of your work
• Supervise PGR (postgraduate research) students

Other

• Operate as an active citizen in the Newcastle Law School community
• Have a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and an understanding of how individual behaviour can contribute to a positive research and education culture
• Undertake a range of administrative tasks to support your area of teaching, research, engagement and/or student experience
• Take responsibility for a defined citizenship or leadership role
• Contribute to the wider work of the School, Faculty and University through input to project teams, working groups and committees
• Ability and skill to develop sustained relationships, including with internal colleagues, external partners and organisations
• To provide academic leadership to colleagues and students
• To have responsibility for the design, development,implementation and/or administration of programmes of study
• Attract as well as supervise PGR students
• Engage with the external research funding environment as an individual scholar and/or as someone whose work can contribute to large-scale collaborative initiatives.
• Proactively advance and maximise the external impact of their research.
• Work collaboratively with individuals, partner organisations, and non-HEIs.
• Take a senior role in the school and contribute to our strategic development.
• Provide leadership in attracting and supervising postgraduate research students.

The level of appointment will be determined by your ability to meet the requirements of the person specification as outlined below.

• Evidence of sustained teaching experience in the area of public law
• Ability to provide an outstanding educational experience rooted in strong disciplinary knowledge that engages, challenges and inspires our students
• Ability to deliver research led teaching, making effective use of technology to enhance learning
• Substantial experience of designing and delivering high quality teaching and learning material, resources and activities for students
• Evidence of a sustained national and international research profile and proven track record in producing international and world-leading publications
• Evidence of developing and securing grant capture (desirable)
• A track record of engaging with external stakeholders, generating real-world impact from research (desirable)
• Experience of attracting and supervising PGR students (desirable)
• Supervision of undergraduate and taught postgraduate students’ research projects
• Evidence of active academic citizenship such as experience in an administrative role that supported teaching, research, engagement or student experience
• Evidence of experience of leading and delivering holistic, integrated programme-level design of learning, teaching and assessment strategies, to deliver learning opportunities that engage, challenge and inspire our students
• Evidence of skills in organisation and leadership necessary for undertaking a management and leadership role in the School
• Personal resilience, able to work well in a challenging sector, sometimes managing conflicting priorities

- In addition to those listed above for senior lecturer

In addition to the criteria above, to be considered for Reader you must also meet the following criteria

• Experience in developing and delivering high quality, research-led teaching programmes
• Experience of successful recruitment and supervision of postgraduate research students
• Engagement with the external research funding landscape and successful grant capture
• Experience of cross-disciplinary research projects and/or educational programmes (desirable)
• A successful track record of developing and delivering research which generates real-world impact (desirable)
• Ability to provide inspirational leadership across teaching and/or research, commensurate with career stage
• A track record of mentoring and supporting the development of colleagues across career stages
• Ability and skill to develop sustained relationships, including with internal and external colleagues, international partners and external organisations

• PhD in a relevant subject
• A relevant Professional Body Membership as appropriate to the subject area (Desirable)
• HE teaching qualification (or equivalent experience)

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.