Postdoctoral Research Fellow (BAE Systems)

The School for Business and Society at the University of York brings together business history, management, and social and public policy in a School committed to research that serves the public good.

This post sits within RISK-LABS: Risk Societies: The Global Firm as a Laboratory of Risk Management, 1280–2030, a five-year European Research Council Advanced Grant led by Professor Teresa da Silva Lopes. RISK-LABS reconceives the firm as a historical laboratory of risk governance, tracing across seven centuries how firms identified, distributed and managed risk under conditions of uncertainty. It does so through four British global firms: the Merchants of the Staple, the English East India Company, Jardine Matheson and BAE Systems.

You will lead Work Package 5 on BAE Systems, one of Britain's major contemporary multinational firms in the defence, aerospace and security industries, and examine how the firm has governed strategic, political, technological, operational, financial and reputational risk. You will conduct original archival and documentary research on BAE Systems and its predecessor firms; collect and analyse corporate, governmental and other primary sources; build and manage historical datasets; and publish high-quality outputs in leading journals in business history, economic history and international business. You will present findings at international conferences, help organise project meetings, seminars and dissemination activities, contribute to comparative frameworks across the wider project, and work closely with the Principal Investigator and the RISK-LABS team. You may also contribute to the supervision of doctoral and master's students.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications needed:

- A PhD, awarded or submitted, in business history, economic history, modern or contemporary history, international business, management, political economy, or a cognate discipline
- Advanced knowledge of modern and/or contemporary business history, defence, aerospace, security, government–business relations, or a closely related field
- Advanced knowledge of secondary and theoretical literatures on corporate, political, strategic, technological, operational and/or reputational risk and uncertainty
- Ability to identify, access and critically interpret modern corporate, governmental and policy records relevant to BAE Systems and its predecessor firms
- A record of independent archival research in corporate, governmental and/or other relevant repositories, and a publication record commensurate with career stage
- Ability to build and manage structured historical datasets, with familiarity with quantitative, network, computational or AI-assisted research methods
- Excellent written and spoken English, and the ability to communicate research to specialist and non-specialist audiences
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively in an international, comparative team, and willingness to travel for extended archival research

The University strives to be diverse and inclusive – a place where we can ALL be ourselves. We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background, who are underrepresented at the University. We offer family friendly, flexible working arrangements, with forums and inclusive facilities to support our staff. As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum (essential) criteria for each position will be offered an interview.