With apologies for cross-posting, the following may be of
interest to those with historical / demographic interests:
Research Associate: Historical Geography of Mortality Decline in
Britain since 1850
Applications are invited for the position of Research Associate (fixed
term, 30 months) to work on two closely-linked projects funded by the
Wellcome Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council, both
directed by Dr. Humphrey Southall in collaboration with others in
Portsmouth and elsewhere:
1. Locality level mortality and
socio-economic change in Britain since 1920: This ESRC-funded
project forms part of their Health Variations Programme. It is
exploring the relationship between long-run mortality decline and
changing occupational structures, housing conditions, etc. Two
particular focii are the immediate impact of the inter-war recession
on adult and infant mortality, studied at local government
district-level, and the long-term impact of that recession on today's
elderly, to be analysed by linking individual-level data from the
Office of National Statistics' Longitudinal Study to information on
local conditions in the 1930s. This project involves collaborating
with Peter Congdon and Sarah Curtis (Queen Mary & Westfield College,
London) and Ian Rees Jones (St. George's Hospital,London).
2 · Building the National Health:
Achieving mortality decline in Britain 1851-1939: This Wellcome
Trust-funded project concerns an earlier period and places greater
emphasis on the role of medical intervention, including hospital
provision and a wide range of public health measures, in achieving
that decline. This will include an exploration of how changing ideas
concerning public health promotion influenced action by local
authorities across Britain. This project involves a wide network of
collaborators, including Margaret Crawford (Queen's, Belfast), Danny
Dorling (Leeds), Ian Rees Jones (St. George's Hospital, London, Gerry
Kearns (Cambridge), John Mohan (Portsmouth) and Graham Mooney
(Wellcome Institute, London). Both projects draw on a large database
of historical statistics for Britain which has been assembled by Dr.
Southall and his collaborators. This includes sub-county census
statistics on occupations, housing, age and gender; mortality
statistics for Registration Districts and sub-Districts pre-1911, and
local government districts thereafter; Poor Law and unemployment
data; plus a large database covering hospital provision and
utilisation developed by John Mohan.
The projects also exploit a very large Geographical
Information System (GIS) containing the changing boundaries of the
major statistical reporting units in the database, down to Civil
Parish-level. This GIS system enables us to not merely accurately
plot historical data onto the appropriate base map: using techniques
developed by Ian Gregory (Portsmouth), we can effectively re-district
mortality data gathered for a wide ranging set of reporting
geographies - C19 Registration Districts, early and mid-C20 local
government districts, and individual late C20 deaths located by
postcode - into a single new reporting geography of our choice,
permitting consistent comparisons over time. For more information
about our historical database and GIS, see:
http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/gbhgis
Our Wellcome Trust funding will also
support a researcher with GIS training who will work with Ian Gregory
to create these long-run mortality time series, as well as a large
data entry team based in Belfast. The primary duties of the present
post will be to analyse the data sets in order to determine which
forms of medical intervention, defined broadly, had a measurable
impact on the health of the population, and to conduct archival
investigations into policy interventions designed to improve health
status, using material at the Public Record Office and in local record
offices. The precise balance between the archival and the statistical
components of the work will be the subject of discussion with the
successful candidate; we are keen to attract a range of applicants.
The postholder will be based in Portsmouth and directed primarily by
Humphrey Southall and John Mohan, but the project involves a wide
network of collaborators and research in London-based archives.
Expertise in Geographical Information Systems is not required, but the
postholder will work closely with the successful Great Britain
Historical GIS team, and will have the opportunity to develop their
skills in this area. They will also be joining an active group of
researchers working in the general area of the geography of health;
details of current work on this theme are available at:
http://www.envf.port.ac.uk/geo/research/health/index.htm
Applications are welcome from candidates with some combination of
statistical/demographic expertise and skills in archival
investigations, as indicated in the person specification which
accompanies these particulars. Relevant disciplinary backgrounds
might include human geography, demography, social / economic history
and statistics. We would like the successful candidate to be able to
start by October 2000. Starting salary up to £17390. Candidates
should be EU nationals; failing that they should be able to obtain a
UK work permit.
Informal inquiries to: John Mohan: tel
(023) 9284 2493; e-mail [log in to unmask]) Humphrey Southall: tel
(023) 9284 2500; e-mail [log in to unmask]). Closing date
is 9th May 2000.
John Mohan
Geography Dept, University of Portsmouth
Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace
Portsmouth PO1 3HE
Tel (01705)-842493
Fax (01705) 842512
Portsmouth Geography of Health website:
www.envf.port.ac.uk/geo/research/health/index.htm
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|
