# Jobs.ac.uk Academic & Postdoc Jobs Scraper (`jungle_synthesizer/jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper`) Actor

Scrape academic job listings from jobs.ac.uk — the UK's leading academic employment board. Search postdoctoral positions, PhD studentships, lectureships and professorships. Extracts job title, employer, salary, location, contract type, closing date and discipline.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/jungle\_synthesizer/jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [BowTiedRaccoon](https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer) (community)
- **Categories:** Jobs, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 4 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).


# README

## Jobs.ac.uk Scraper — Academic, Postdoc & PhD Jobs

Scrapes live job listings from [jobs.ac.uk](https://www.jobs.ac.uk/), the canonical UK academic employment board. Returns postdoctoral positions, PhD studentships, lectureships, professorships, and research roles — with salary bands, closing dates, contract type, and discipline.

### What It Does

Paginates the jobs.ac.uk search endpoint by keyword (default: `postdoctoral`). Each page returns 25 results. The actor extracts the listing-card fields immediately and — when you enable detail-page fetching — enriches each record with the full job description, discipline classification, and structured contract data parsed from the site's inline JSON.

**Key features:**

- Searches by configurable keyword (`postdoctoral`, `phd`, `lecturer`, or anything else)
- Extracts 12 fields per listing from the search results page
- Optional detail-page pass adds full description, discipline, job type, hours, and contract type
- Paginates automatically up to `maxPages` pages (25 jobs each), or set 0 for unlimited
- No proxies required — site returns 200 from any datacenter IP

### How It Works

1. Sends a request to `/search/?keywords=<your keyword>&sortOrder=1&pageSize=25&startIndex=1`
2. Parses the 25 job cards on the page — title, employer, department, location, salary, closing date, and date placed
3. Follows the "Next" pagination link up to your `maxPages` limit
4. If `fetchDetailPages` is enabled, fetches each job's detail page and parses the inline structured JSON for discipline, job type, hours, and contract type
5. Returns all records to the dataset; respects `maxItems` if set

### 📥 Input

```json
{
  "keywords": "postdoctoral",
  "maxPages": 5,
  "maxItems": 100,
  "fetchDetailPages": false
}
````

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `keywords` | string | `postdoctoral` | Search term. Try `phd`, `lecturer`, `professor`, or a subject area. |
| `maxPages` | integer | `5` | Pages to crawl (25 jobs per page). Set to `0` for unlimited. |
| `fetchDetailPages` | boolean | `false` | Fetch each job's detail page for full description, discipline, job type, and contract data. Slower but richer. |
| `maxItems` | integer | — | Hard cap on returned records. Omit or set `0` for unlimited. |

**Listing-only run** (fast, ~25 results per page, no detail pages):

```json
{ "keywords": "postdoctoral", "maxPages": 10, "maxItems": 250 }
```

**Detail-enriched run** (slower but includes full description and discipline):

```json
{ "keywords": "phd studentship", "maxPages": 3, "fetchDetailPages": true }
```

### 📤 Output

Each record is a flat JSON object. Fields populated by listing-only vs. detail-enriched runs:

```json
{
  "job_title": "Postdoctoral Research Associate in Computational Biology",
  "employer": "University of Cambridge",
  "department": "Department of Genetics",
  "location": "Cambridge",
  "salary": "£37,999 to £45,585 (per annum depending on experience)",
  "hours": "Full Time",
  "contract_type": "Fixed-Term/Contract",
  "placed_on": "04 Jun",
  "closing_date": "30 Jun",
  "job_type": "Academic or Research",
  "discipline": "Biological Sciences",
  "job_url": "https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ABC123/postdoctoral-research-associate",
  "description": "<p>We are seeking a talented postdoctoral researcher...</p>"
}
```

| Field | Source | Description |
|-------|--------|-------------|
| `job_title` | Listing | Job title as posted |
| `employer` | Listing | University or institution name |
| `department` | Listing | Department or faculty |
| `location` | Listing | City or region of the position |
| `salary` | Listing | Advertised salary band |
| `placed_on` | Listing | Date the listing went live |
| `closing_date` | Listing | Application deadline |
| `job_url` | Listing | Direct link to the job listing |
| `hours` | Detail | Full Time / Part Time |
| `contract_type` | Detail | Fixed-Term/Contract, Permanent, etc. |
| `job_type` | Detail | Academic or Research, Management, Professional, etc. |
| `discipline` | Detail | Subject area (Biological Sciences, Computer Science, etc.) |
| `description` | Detail | Full job description HTML |

Note: `hours`, `contract_type`, `job_type`, `discipline`, and `description` are empty strings unless `fetchDetailPages: true`.

### 🔍 FAQ

**How do I scrape jobs.ac.uk?**
Jobs.ac.uk Scraper handles it end-to-end. Set your `keywords` input, choose how many pages to crawl, and optionally enable detail-page fetching. Results land in the Apify dataset as structured JSON.

**What data can I get from jobs.ac.uk?**
Jobs.ac.uk Scraper returns job title, employer, department, location, salary, closing date, and job URL from every listing. Enable `fetchDetailPages` to also get the full description, discipline category, job type, hours, and contract type.

**How much does the Jobs.ac.uk Scraper cost to run?**
Jobs.ac.uk Scraper uses pay-per-event pricing at a 0.9x coefficient — slightly cheaper than the Apify platform baseline. A typical run of 250 records costs around $0.25. Detail-page enrichment doubles the request count, so budget accordingly.

**Can I filter by subject area or contract type?**
Jobs.ac.uk Scraper doesn't support faceted filtering directly. Use the `keywords` field to narrow by subject area (`computational biology`, `machine learning`, `economics`) or role type (`phd studentship`, `lecturer`). Post-filter the JSON output by `discipline` or `contract_type` after the run.

**Does Jobs.ac.uk Scraper need proxies?**
No. jobs.ac.uk returns 200 from any datacenter IP without geo restriction or bot mitigation. Proxies would add cost with no benefit here.

### Use Cases

- **Academic recruiters** building candidate pipeline databases for UK institutions
- **PhD applicants and postdocs** monitoring open positions across all UK universities
- **Research offices** tracking competitor hiring activity and departmental openings
- **Data analysts** studying salary trends, field growth, and closing-date lead times in UK academia
- **Career services teams** aggregating opportunities for advisees across all disciplines

### Why Use Jobs.ac.uk Scraper?

**Targeted** — runs a live keyword search rather than crawling the whole site, so you get exactly the positions you want.

**Complete fields** — covers the data that academic job-seekers actually need: closing dates, salary bands, contract type, and discipline classification. Other actors return the title and a URL.

**No proxies, no drama** — the site doesn't block datacenter IPs. Cheaper runs and no flakiness from proxy rotation.

### Need More Features?

Need custom fields, subject-area filtering, or a different job board? [File an issue](https://console.apify.com/actors/issues) or get in touch.

# Actor input Schema

## `sp_intended_usage` (type: `string`):

Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler.

## `sp_improvement_suggestions` (type: `string`):

Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements.

## `sp_contact` (type: `string`):

Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you.

## `keywords` (type: `string`):

Search keywords for academic jobs (e.g. "postdoctoral", "phd", "lecturer"). Defaults to "postdoctoral" when not set.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of listing pages to crawl (25 results per page). Set to 0 for unlimited.

## `fetchDetailPages` (type: `boolean`):

When enabled, fetches each job's detail page to extract the full description, job type, and discipline. Slower but richer output.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of job records to return. 0 for unlimited.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...",
  "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...",
  "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
  "keywords": "postdoctoral",
  "maxPages": 5,
  "fetchDetailPages": false,
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...",
    "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...",
    "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
    "keywords": "postdoctoral",
    "maxPages": 5,
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...",
    "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...",
    "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
    "keywords": "postdoctoral",
    "maxPages": 5,
    "maxItems": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "sp_intended_usage": "Describe your intended use...",
  "sp_improvement_suggestions": "Share your suggestions here...",
  "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
  "keywords": "postdoctoral",
  "maxPages": 5,
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call jungle_synthesizer/jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=jungle_synthesizer/jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Jobs.ac.uk Academic & Postdoc Jobs Scraper",
        "description": "Scrape academic job listings from jobs.ac.uk — the UK's leading academic employment board. Search postdoctoral positions, PhD studentships, lectureships and professorships. Extracts job title, employer, salary, location, contract type, closing date and discipline.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "o7yTLD61qc5oJLNex"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-jungle_synthesizer-jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-jungle_synthesizer-jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/jungle_synthesizer~jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-jungle_synthesizer-jobs-ac-uk-academic-postdoc-jobs-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "required": [
                    "maxItems"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "sp_intended_usage": {
                        "title": "What is the intended usage of this data?",
                        "minLength": 1,
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Please describe how you plan to use the data extracted by this crawler."
                    },
                    "sp_improvement_suggestions": {
                        "title": "How can we improve this crawler for you?",
                        "minLength": 1,
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements."
                    },
                    "sp_contact": {
                        "title": "Contact Email",
                        "minLength": 1,
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Provide your email address so we can get in touch with you."
                    },
                    "keywords": {
                        "title": "Keywords",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Search keywords for academic jobs (e.g. \"postdoctoral\", \"phd\", \"lecturer\"). Defaults to \"postdoctoral\" when not set.\n"
                    },
                    "maxPages": {
                        "title": "Max Pages",
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of listing pages to crawl (25 results per page). Set to 0 for unlimited."
                    },
                    "fetchDetailPages": {
                        "title": "Fetch Detail Pages",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "When enabled, fetches each job's detail page to extract the full description, job type, and discipline. Slower but richer output.\n",
                        "default": false
                    },
                    "maxItems": {
                        "title": "Max Items",
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of job records to return. 0 for unlimited."
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```