Position Title: Postdoctoral researcher in Roman Archaeology or Art History
Institution Name: University of Groningen
Position Rank: Other
Area of Specialty: Roman Art and Archaeology
Application Deadline: 2025-04-24

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral research position within the research project Roman Making and its Meanings: Representations of Manual Creation in the Literature and Art of Imperial Rome (FACERE) (https://facere.site), financed by the European Research Council (ERC) and led by Prof. Bettina Reitz-Joosse.

The postdoctoral researcher will study representations of making in ancient Roman visual culture (e.g. depictions of craftsmen at work, mythical scenes of making, or depictions of making in sacred or military contexts). They will take into account (where applicable) how images interact with epigraphic frames and contexts of production and reception. The researcher is free to design, within this broad topic, a research project with a specific focus. Questions that might be addressed with regard to such representations include, but are not limited to:

• the (in-)visibility and agency of different kinds of makers (especially those belonging to underprivileged groups)
• social or collaborative aspects of making
• making as an embodied practice
• sacred or religious dimension of making
• intermedial and self-reflexive elements of ‘showing making’

The postdoctoral researcher will work as part of a team which also includes the principal investigator, two junior researchers writing PhD theses on ‘making’ in Roman literature, and two research assistants who support the team. Together, we work towards a new understanding of the ethics and aesthetics of making in the Roman world. The position offers the opportunity to be part of an inspiring international university environment, to gain valuable research and teaching experience, and to collaborate with the other team members in the organisation of workshops and public engagement activities.

The appointment is for 0.8 fte (4 days a week), for a maximum of 36 months.