Academic Associate in Media Production

Department: School of the Arts
Location: York
Salary: £34,610 to £39,906 per annum pro rata
Contract Duration: 4 years
Hours: 18.5
Closing Date: Wednesday 29 July 2026 at midnight
Interview Date: Tuesday 18 August 2026
Reference: 094-26

Part time fixed term

Location: York

Salary: £34,610 to £39,906 per annum (£17,305 to £19,953 pro rata)

Introduction to YSJ university

York St John is an ambitious, modern university at the heart of historic York and there has never been a more exciting time to join us.

As one of the fastest growing universities in the UK over recent years, we have a new strategy for the next decade, emphasising our commitment to widening opportunity through the power of education and contributing our talents to creating a fairer world, and a more prosperous region. We are putting inspirational learning and impactful research at the heart of this strategy, recognising our academic expertise as our greatest asset.

The School

Production sits within the School of the Arts at York St John University. Our core undergraduate programmes include Media Production, Film and TV Production, Music Production, Journalism and Sports Journalism along with postgraduate programmes in both Media and Music Production.

Across our programmes, we emphasise research and professional practice informed teaching through inclusive pedagogies, the development of employability skills via applied learning, and authentic assessment through industry partnerships. We work in specialist spaces, including film, TV, radio and recording studios, edit suites, alongside a wide range of state-of-the-art creative spaces for theatre, performance, digital making (including animation, games, VR, AR, and digital media), and art (including dark rooms). We maintain relationships with BBC Introducing, the Yorkshire and NorthEast Film Archive, Screen Yorkshire and the BAFTA-qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival. The school is home to a vibrant culture of creative practice-based research across a wide range of media.

The Role

We are seeking to appoint an Academic Associate in Media Production to start September 2026.
As an Academic Associate you will undertake a Practice-led PhD within the School of the Arts whilst also being employed by the University to support teaching and assessment on our undergraduate programmes (0.5 FTE).

The Academic Associate is a fixed-term position for four-years and includes a UK tuition fee waiver/scholarship for a full-time Practice-led PhD. Please note that a condition of the post is full time study.

Timetabled teaching duties during our two semesters will not exceed six contact hours per week on two working days, and may include delivery of seminars, workshops and tutorials.

Training is provided to support Academic Associates develop their teaching-related skills and professional competencies alongside their doctoral research.

We are inviting Academic Associates to conduct a Practice-led PhD under the supervision of Professor Steve Rawle and Associate Professor and Associate Head of School for Production Evi Karathanasopoulou. We welcome proposed research projects in and across the following areas:

Transmedia and multimedia storytelling
Creative Practice in and through visual/audio production
Cross-border media practice and creative industries, related to creative activity across cultural borders, through collaboration, including diaspora

We particularly welcome PhD proposals that are strong in impact, in terms of translating their media production work into social change, social impact, grounded in principals of social justice. Impact might include wellbeing, inclusive working methodologies, and so on.

Please see the attached project outlines for