Call for IAS Editorial Collective

The Institute of Advanced Studies at UCL is calling for expressions of interest to join an editorial collective to produce our new fully online publication, which we plan to launch in Summer 2022.

The aim of the publication is to facilitate creative cross-disciplinary conversations between UCL and the world, with an especial emphasis on the Global South, and to respond to the events that shake up the status quo. The publication will be fully digital and aims to exploit the possibilities of the virtual world, especially to include experimental visual and sonic material.

The collective will operate horizontally with rotating coordinating editors fully supported by the IAS in-house team. There will be opportunities to undertake a variety of roles, at different times, depending on your interests, experience and other commitments, ranging from coordinating the annual theme, to curating more regular content, to following the media/social media and alerting us to key developments, to offering general advice and suggestions to keep the publication dynamic and current.

Our approach will be to have one annual core theme, aligned with the work of the IAS, plus seasonal themes and features that will be updated more regularly (details to be discussed by the future editorial collective). The first core theme will be 'Music Futures', building on the current joint initiative between the IAS, the European Institute and Grand Challenges, dedicated to thinking, writing, and performing music. We will welcome proposals for special seasonal themes.

One of the purposes of the collective is to create a space for exchange of ideas and experience between colleagues with different levels of experience of editing, so we hope to attract colleagues working at all stages of an academic career. We welcome all members of staff and research students with an interest in editing, commissioning, and conceiving cutting-edge academic work to send us an expression of interest (1-2 pages). Please outline your experience in this kind of roles, what you would like to contribute and your commitment capacity. We would expect editors to meet (approximately) two hours every month to commission and edit pieces, and to comment on pieces on a regular basis.

Now in its fourth year, IAS Think Pieces has launched three issues in its printed format (which you can find here or at the IAS’s office) and one more is coming up. IAS Think Pieces has been devoted to our annual research themes, and has represented varied, cutting-edge research in creative forms accessible to a broad and heterogeneous audience. We plan to continue this approach in the digital version, while hoping to extend its appeal and reach.

Please do forward your Expressions of Interest (or any additional questions) to Albert Brenchat-Aguilar a.brenchat@ucl.ac.uk by 5pm on Tuesday 21 December. 

Please note that we are only able to consider applications from UCL staff and PhD students. Thank you.