McGill University

Institute of Islamic Studies

Research Assistants, "Rational Sciences in Islam"

Pending budgetary approval, the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, seeks to fill four full-time Research Assistant positions in the field of the history of philosophy and science in the pre-modern Islamic world. Two Research Assistants will work as Data/Metadata Editors for "Science and Technology in Islamic Societies" (STIS; Project Leader: Prof. Jamil Ragep), and two Research Assistants will work as Data/Metadata Editors for the "The Post-classical Islamic Philosophy Database Initiative" (PIPDI; Project Leader: Prof. Robert Wisnovsky). Together, these two overlapping infrastructure-development initiatives constitute the "Rational Sciences in Islam" project, which is directed jointly by Professors Ragep and Wisnovsky (see: http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/) . The duration of the Research Assistantships is two years, with the possibility of renewal.

Under the supervision of a senior Research Associate, who will function as the Integrated-Database Content Supervisor, the Research Assistants will be responsible for constructing the database over a four-year period. Specific activities of the Research Assistants will include but not be restricted to: purchasing, scanning and converting into digital images a large body of Arabic texts of philosophy and science; and then cleaning, coding and entering the metadata (information on the author of the work, on the history of the work, and on the individual manuscript copies of the work) and the data (information on the work’s contents), in order to create an overarching index of these metadata and data, according to the specifications of the database architecture.

Salary will be subject to negotiation within the range of McGill Technician Grade TE0010. In addition to statutory McGill holidays, the Research Assistants will be given four weeks of paid vacation every year. Opportunities will be available for the Research Assistants to travel to archives to purchase images of manuscripts relevant to the two projects.

Preference will be given to applicants with a postgraduate degree (MA or PhD) in the history of Islamic science and mathematics and/or the history of Islamic philosophy and logic, as well as to applicants with experience in working with Arabic manuscripts.

Starting date: September 1, 2008.

Interested candidates should submit a letter of application and a complete CV and arrange for two letters of recommendation to be sent to Robert Wisnovsky, Director, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, 3485 McTavish Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 1Y1. Informal inquiries may be directed to Professor Wisnovsky at director.islamic@mcgill.ca  (e-mail), or 514-398-6731 (Fax). Further information about the Institute of Islamic Studies can be found at www.mcgill.ca/islamicstudies/ . All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply; however Canadians and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority. McGill University is committed to equity in employment.

Application deadline: April 21, 2008.