Department

East 15 Acting School offers an extraordinary and dynamic portfolio of courses that span many areas of training for actors, directors, producers, technical theatre specialists and students of theatre practice. One of a leading group of UK conservatoires; we are ranked 1st in the UK for Drama (Guardian University Guide 2022: Drama and Dance), have a distinguished international staff team, and are now one of the largest specialist drama schools in the UK. Our courses and facilities are split over two campuses: one in Loughton on the edge of East London and the other in the vibrant and modern resort town of Southend-on-Sea. Our range of studios, performance venues, and surroundings in both Loughton and Southend give staff and students the safe, open, and equipped spaces to explore, learn, rest, and create, in order to make the best and most imaginative work. Our current undergraduate and postgraduate population of approximately 800 students are enrolled in 13 unique programmes of bespoke training. We have a large number of home and international students and recruit both nationally and overseas. Our staff represent a unique blend of practitioners and scholars, who are united in delivering a conservatoire education within a Higher Education setting that values practice as scholarship and research –and that puts the continual development of students and staff at the heart of what we do.

As part of East 15’s commitment to diversity, we encourage applications from candidates from ethnically and culturally diverse communities and backgrounds. As a school, we will continue work to build an open and accessible community, proactively supporting all our students, as we look for further initiatives that promote inclusion and representation. The School’s Anti-Racism Action Plan, first released in 2020, builds on and supports East 15’s and the University of Essex’s commitments to be an inclusive community.

Duties of the Role

The successful candidate will  be responsible for the co-ordination of teaching of all subjects on the MA/MFA Acting for Digital Media and ensuring that the course objectives are met, as well as leading on administration and assessment for MA/MFA. They will also be expected to teach on MA/MFA and occasionally on other degree courses at East 15.  As part of the role, the will locate and hire staff with specific knowledge and professional practice relevant to the course and oversee supplied budgets for MA/MFA, including equipment and staffing.  They will be expected to contribute expertise and knowledge to departmental and/or institutional initiatives and ensure that the curriculum is coherent and relevant to the professional needs of the students, advising the Director of the School on the shape and content of the curriculum and suggesting alterations when necessary.

In addition, for those applying for the ASER position, they will also be expected to engage in individual and/or collaborative research activity (resulting in internationally excellent publications) that is in keeping with REF criteria as well as generating external research funding, including in collaboration with colleagues, appropriate in scale to career stage and subject area norms.  As part of the research team at East 15 they will also be expected to supervise and mentor postgraduate research students into relevant communities of research at Essex as appropriate to the departmental context to generate meaningful connections between research and education at Essex.

Skills and qualifications required

The successful candidate will have a relevant doctoral level research degree or equivalent professional experience or practice or be close to completion of PhD.  They will have relevant and extensive experience of professional work involving performance capture as director, coach or performer, with professional experience of working in a Motion/Performance Capture volume.  They should have experience of teaching in a conservatoire environment including the ability to teach movement focused sessions for performance capture.  As a course leader, they will have the ability to carry out administration towards the running of a degree course, with experience in sourcing and engaging part time staff in HE or the professional industry and be able to prove an ability to lead, motivate, and co-ordinate other staff and to work independently as well as to collaborate and work as part of a team.  Additionally, it is desirable that they have experience of teaching acting for film and/or voice over technique or Mask-work, Animal Studies, Object Manipulation.

In addition, ASER candidates be able to evidence of a clear publication plan for submission to future Research Excellence Framework (REF) programmes and a research agenda, engagement in high-quality research activity and a developing research profile.  They are expected to have a track record of publications in internationally recognised, reputable journals (and other media of similar standing) appropriate to career stage and discipline norms.