Dear BARS Members,
The BARS Executive is a friendly and collegial gathering of Romanticists from a wide range of career stages, which supports activities and initiatives in the field undertaken by the BARS Membership. Being part of the Executive gives you the opportunity to shape Romantic studies in the UK, and to meet our ambitions to provide a variety of financial support, events, training and resources for Romanticists both at home and overseas.
Over recent years, the Executive has been working to open up the processes for selecting the Exec more expansively, as well as to create structures that maintain the robustness and ‘institutional memory’ of the committee. To this end, we undertook to split elections of the Executive into two separate biennial cycles, while exploring more substantive constitutional changes that reflect our principles and modernize our structures in the longer term.
Following the elections confirmed at BARS 2024 in Glasgow, we invite submissions of interest for the following posts to span an initial two-year term to summer 2026 (re-electable/renewable for a second term to 2028).
Appointed Positions (Executive and Co-opted)
To be selected by a review panel made up from members of the current Executive Committee:
- Website Editor
- Schools & Education Liaison
Submitting your Expression of Interest
Please send Expressions of Interest with a two-page CV including a brief description of your research to the BARS Secretary, Andrew McInnes (bars.secretary@gmail.com), copying in the President, Matthew Sangster (matthew.sangster@glasgow.ac.uk). Your Expression of Interest should outline the particular skills, experience and passion you would be able to bring to the relevant roles. The deadline for submissions is Monday 26 August 2024.
Role descriptions:
Website Officer
The BARS Website Officer is expected to:
- Handle the technical maintenance of the main BARS website, the BARS Blog and The BARS Review, periodically updating the designs and installations.
- Update the BARS sites with information as required by the officers of the Exec.
- Maintain the domain registrations and hosting account employed for BARS’ web presence (including working with the Treasurer to make payments).
- Serve as Technical Editor of The BARS Review, conducting final checks for articles, creating and uploading galleys, and setting up and publishing issues (using Open Journal Systems).
- Work with the Communications Officer and Assistant(s) on the digital aspects of BARS communications.
- Serve on BARS committees (such as Digital Events) as required.
- Play a full role in the Exec’s activities and discussions.
For this role, experience working with WordPress or a similar content management system is essential; experience with Open Journal Systems or the willingness to learn how the system works is essential; and some previous experience of website administration (via hosting tools and phpMyAdmin) would be an advantage.
Schools & Education Liaison:
The BARS Schools & Education Liaison Officer is expected to:
- To promote BARS and the study of Romantic-period literature to school teachers and pupils
- To liaise with schools and related organisations to encourage engagement with Romantic-era literature
- To work with external partners in the education sector to promote outreach and widening participation activities that relate to Romanticism.
- To engage with Examination Boards in ensuring the provision of Romantic literature within the UK National Curriculum.
- To work with others in developing pedagogic resources for teachers and pupils.