Junior Research Fellowship in Ancient History in Oxford

We are seeking a highly motivated and ambitious Post Doctoral Researcher to work within a collaborative project, ‘(Re)Negotiating Social Cohesion - Religion and Community in Antiquity (800 BC - 400 AD)’. Our Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History, Beate Dignas, is co-directing the project together with Claudia Tiersch (Professor of Global History, Humboldt Universität). Professor Dignas’ role as visiting fellow and the Berlin side of the project are funded by Berlin’s Einstein-Foundation.

The post holder, who will be based at Somerville College, will play a crucial role in supporting the wider academic mission of the research group. The post will enable the whole team to operate effectively to fulfil its requirements to the project’s funders.

In its impact on social cohesion, religion has the potential to act as a catalyst in very different directions: on the one hand, religious societal groups who share specific forms of social activities and values harbor the risk of schisms and conflicts in a number of social contexts; on the other hand, religions possess a high potential for social integration: they exhibit shared values among their followers, which not only steer the lives of individuals but also facilitate group-based integration based on these values.

It is necessary to explore specific historical contexts in order to find out how such theoretical potential materialises, how religious as well as social identification is coded, which processes, actors and interdependencies apply in each case. The research project does this with regard to different periods and societies in antiquity: classical Athens, Republican Rome, Alexandria as a diachronic case-study, Hellenistic communities, cities in the Roman Empire. Only a comparative approach will allow us to draw conclusions on the conditions that steer the relationship between religion and social cohesion, and this is why the group has chosen an extremely wide temporal and cultural framework.

Within this, the individual contributing projects – themselves widely conceptualised – invite a comparative analysis. To complement the areas of research of the existing team members, the postholder will contribute by conducting research on the impact of religion on social cohesion in either Classical Athens or the Cities of the Roman East in the first two centuries CE.

The Fellow elected shall be required:

• to devote him or herself to research in a field of Ancient History, along the parameters described above
• to present an annual report on his or her work to the Governing Body;
• to reside in Oxford during Full Term unless the circumstances of his or her work require otherwise. Permission to reside outside Oxford for any part of the tenure of the Fellowship must be sought from Governing Body and will be granted only where there are good academic reasons.

While the Fellow elected will not be required to teach as part of their Fellowship, they may be asked to do so, or to contribute to the undergraduate admissions exercise, in return for extra payment at Oxford’s standard rates. As part of the academic community at Somerville, the postholder will be a member of the Senior Common Room. In addition, they will have full dining rights and receive a research allowance of £1,000 per year.

The deadline for completed applications is noon (UK time) on 14 May 2026.