We are open for applications
We welcome applications from prospective residents who would like to join our community and live at Braziers as lodgers who are able to contribute to Braziers’ research activities and educational programs.
We invite proposals that set out to increase knowledge relevant to the topic of intentional community, or which make use of and develop the methodological opportunities offered by knowledge production in a community setting (‘integrative’ research models). In line with our founding vision we are concerned to build engagement with and understanding of integrative, relational and ecological models of knowing, being and collaborating. We particularly encourage applications that use transdisciplinary and artistic research (research creation) approaches where ethical and engaged models of knowledge production are central. While we offer peer support to ACRE lodgers informally and through meetings, we hope that applicants will have the relevant prior experience to conduct their projects successfully. We are happy to accommodate doctoral researchers who are supported in their work by supervision at another institution. Applicants need to show how their work will offer a contribution to knowledge of their topic.
Practical matters
ACRE lodgers are mainly accommodated in the Main House. Like all residents they have private bedrooms and shared bathroom facilities and pay a monthly fee for accommodation, (currently £500p/m). We all contribute to communal meals, snacks and drinks at £4 a day for all meals or £2 for an individual lunch or evening meal.
In addition to time spent on research, you would also contribute to the running of the household. This could include cooking or washing up, cleaning, decorating, gardening or maintenance work. ACRE residents have access to the communal areas of the house, e.g. dining room, inner hall, residents’ lounge, library, study. We have a high-speed internet provision to the house. They are also welcome to join and be active in daily planning meetings, and weekly house management and sensory meetings. Around two weekends a month, we host educational events and workshops, and so periodically there are visitors in the house staying in the first floor guest bedrooms. We regularly assess and update our COVID measures based on the current level of risk and government guide-lines and so residents may be asked to undertake regular testing, social distancing, ventilation and mask wearing.
Braziers is a charity and independent research organization and we are not currently able to offer funded positions or bursaries. If you would like to be notified when there are future opportunities of this kind, or to be notified when events relating to research at Braziers take place, we would be happy to add you to our mailing list. Please email research@braziers.org.uk and let us know. ACRE residents support themselves in a number of ways, Oxford and Reading are both 30 minutes away by car and easily linked to by bus. Longer-term ACRE lodgers work in part time roles, are on sabbaticals or a career breaks, or have their living costs funded from another source (such as through a university or research council).
Application process
For initial enquiries email admin@braziers.org.uk with a short explanation of your project idea and why you think Braziers would be an appropriate host for this work. If we think we can support your work and it is relevant to the community we will contact you to arrange an informal chat or visit with our research convenor to help you tailor the application. The formal application begins with the submission of a research proposal, CV, and a lodger application letter that gives context and motivation for undertaking the project and tells us a bit about you as a person. In order for us to get a clear idea of the project we ask you to consider the questions below. Proposals are reviewed and those which seem to be a good fit are invited to visit Braziers to meet community members. Following this the proposal is passed to the Sensory and community meetings where a final decision is made.
Application deadlines: We are currently open for applications on a rolling basis.
Residency proposal
- Please give details of the main topic or concern that your project engages with, including proposed research questions and the main aims of the work.
- We are particularly keen to foster collaborations and dialogues between researchers and creative practitioners from across disciplines. Detail the context for your work so far and disciplinary knowledge that you are drawing on in order to tackle these questions and other fields that your work might benefit from engaging with.
- Please detail why this work is important and to who, including what the possible impact or results of your project might be.
- Please give an overview of the methods you intend to use. We are particularly keen to host research that develops novel approaches that are integrative and collaborative and would uniquely benefit from a community environment. Is your project open to engage in exploratory forms of knowledge production or encourage participation and engagement of community members? This may include cultivating communication with other stakeholders across different disciplines and incorporating and responding to different forms of knowledge.
- How will working at Braziers enable or enhance your project. Give details of resources or opportunities that the context of Braziers Park may offer your work. You may be able to access workshop or studio space to build or grow in the garden, and the community and wider community offer a build-in audience for work-in-progress tests, collaborations, creative experiments and conversations. Are there existing or past projects and research themes that your work might contribute to or resonate with? The weekly sensory meetings at Braziers offer one way for topics to be raised to the attention of the community and offer a unique resource for reflection.
- How will you structure your time? How long will the project take? Please indicate your proposed start and end dates? Will you be undertaking a specific part of the project here at Braziers, such as fieldwork, archival research, interviews?
- What will be the results of this work? We ask all ACRE residents to contribute an article to our publication Research Communications as well as engage with the Braziers community through update sessions and presentations of their work.
- We particularly support work that engages with the community. We require you to agree to general ethical guidelines to manage any risks that may be associated with such engagement. Please give an overview of any elements of your project that may be sensitive or could carry risk, and how you intend to manage these.
Please address your enquiries and applications to research@braziers.org.uk and admin@braziers.org.uk
