Apply to join our growing team!

After a successful last two years, with events attended by hundreds of students and academics, the MRN team is expanding into its next phase. We’re looking to widen the repertoire of our activities and reach a bigger audience through a number of new roles. This is your opportunity to join our team and help grow the MRN community! 
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To apply, please send us a CV and short covering statement (no more than 300 words) summarising what you can bring to the role to [email protected]. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.
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Below are details on the positions currently open.

Open Vacancies

Secretary

The secretary will be responsible for organising the core operations of the MRN including managing emails and documenting meetings. This is a critical role on the team and is a great opportunity to be at the heart of all MRN activities. 
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Responsibilities include:
  • Managing responses to and distribution of emails (including managing the mailing list via mailchimp). This will involve either notifying team members of emails relevant to them (e.g. mentorship or local ISOC collaboration) or replying to emails directly.
  • Recording minutes and action points for meetings.
  • Coordinating with all team members to ensure all action points are facilitated.

Time commitment: 2 hours per week + 1 hour meeting every 2 weeks

Media Officer 

The media officer is responsible for managing the social media platforms for the MRN. This involves content creation and dissemination of key information throughout the year, as well as using social media analytics to optimise platform outreach. MRN has a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin and Twitter. The Media Officer will manage a sub-team of social media officers who will assist in managing these platforms. 

Responsibilities:
  • Serve as the primary point of contact for all social media platforms. 
  • Oversee sub-team to create, schedule and disseminate posts across all social media platforms. These would be short, catchy posts to draw audience attention on social media to MRN activities.
  • Assess platform analytics to optimise outreach.
  • Propose, manage and schedule additional creative activities such as social media ‘takeovers’ by a researcher or team member. 

Time commitment: 1 hour per week + 1 hour meeting every 2 weeks

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Islamic Society Liaisons

Islamic Society Liaisons will be the face of MRN in their respective Universities of the UK, maintaining ties with local university communities and acting as their first point of contact. The role will involve prompting and assisting in the organisation of collaborative events between MRN and university ISOCs; the scope of these events is guided by the MRN team with flexibility to arrange different types of events.

Responsibilities:
  • Establishing and maintaining contact with ISOCs/universities. 
  • Promoting MRN events/activities (including mentorship) within local network.
  • Arranging local events such as research symposia, PhD insight days…etc.
  • Liaise with engagement officer and keep contact with other regional representatives.
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Time commitment: 1 hour per week + 1 hour meeting every 2 weeks

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Mentorship team member
The MRN mentorship team has two strands, the mentorship team and the research communities. The mentorship scheme aims to connect early stage and aspiring researchers with more experienced academics. It’s a unique way of receiving tailored advice on the mentee's specific academic ambitions, including help with academic applications.
The research communities aim to provide a closer community that allows Postgraduate Researchers to build up peer networks and engage in various possible collaborations. These groups meet regularly in person and online and discuss topics relevant to their ongoing research area.

Responsibilities: either one of the following would apply depending on the position you are applying to. ​
1. To manage the mentorship scheme by:
  • Recruiting mentors to cover major subject areas - ensuring high demand areas are proportionally represented. This includes:
    • Maintenance of mentor portfolio
    • Facilitating matching of mentors and mentees 
    • Liaising with engagement officer and regional representatives to advertise mentorship scheme and widen network of mentors. 
  • Following up with mentors every month to keep track of progress and make records of this - this involves liaising with research officer to track progress of mentorship scheme.​

Time commitment: 1 hour per week + 1 hour meeting every 2 weeks
2.  To manage the research communities by:
  • Identifying the key priority areas for building the research communities:
    • The aim is to provide a unique service to Muslims, one that isn't available elsewhere.
    • Initially this should be centred around big questions in each field and how they relate to our faith (e.g. mental health in medicine, evolution in biology, AI in engineering…etc).
  • Coordinating the junior research communities JRC groups by assigning and communicating with group coveners,
  • Monitoring the progress of all of these groups - revising and adding to the priority areas based on feedback from coveners and members,

​Time commitment: 1 hour per week + 1 hour meeting every 2 weeks

MRN Podcast Producer

The MRN Podcast seeks to platform establish and burgeoning Muslims in academia across the globe, exploring their research through an educated laypersons’ perspective. This role will enable you to work closely with the MRN podcast manager and current host (Safia Khan) to record and upload regular episodes onto Spotify for the MRN Podcast.

Key skills required: 
  • basic ability to edit mp3 audio recordings and convert them into cleaner, edited .wav episodes to be uploaded onto Anchor / Spotify.
  • audio editing abilities (software can be reimbursed by MRN) from either raw audio voice note / Zoom .mp3 format into podcast-ready .wav format.  
  • This is a fairly flexible role but does require technical skills - the minimum requirement is raw audio editing skills.
  • However, we welcome anyone with a vision for improving the podcast (either in content, form and/or reach).  

Approximate time contribution: minimum 2-3h monthly which is the average time to edit one 30 minute episode.
  • Our current aim to upload once per month -  however, the time commitments will increase if you aim to take on a larger role in podcast or want to increase frequency of uploads. 

Candidates may also have the following responsibilities:
  • researching and providing appropriate material for the podcast.
  • networking with and inviting potential guests to episodes.
  • recording and/or hosting episodes (either alongside current host, or individually).
  • promoting the podcast using social media using their knowledge of marketing strategies to reach a wider audience. This would involve liasing with the social media team.