Tenure track assistant professorship in educational research

The Department of Communication, Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen is inviting applications for a tenure track assistant professorship in educational research starting on December 1, 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Applicants should have a strong, established, and independent research profile that complements the section’s research profile in new and original ways. Applicants should provide a research plan that demonstrates how the applicant’s research profile and plans will interact with, contribute to, and influence the research environment at the Section for Education in the years to come.

Applicants should have expertise in specific empirical fields within education. We are especially, but not exclusively, interested in applicants with a research profile within one or several of the following three areas:

(1) early childhood education and care, which for example concerns children’s everyday life, perspectives and participation, including childism research; equality and inequality in relation to childhood; forms of pedagogy and management in daycare,

(2) pedagogical and social psychology issues, which may involve an interest in understanding pedagogical assumptions about development, learning and subject formation, and how such assumptions are activated and gain significance for children and institutionally,

(3) empirical social science methods, which refers to an interest in the entire repertoire of empirical methods, both quantitative and qualitative.

Applicants are requested to describe how their research profile resides within one or several of these areas, and how the applicant plans to contribute to and interact with the existing research environment at the Section for Education. Applicants are also advised to demonstrate how their teaching profile contributes to and interacts with the existing teaching elements at the Section for Education. Our new colleague must be interested in collaborative teaching, and in participating in further development of the section’s already strong research profile and supportive research environment, where collegial collaboration has a high priority.

The Section for Education at University of Copenhagen has a distinctive research profile characterised by critical, theoretically underpinned, and empirically rooted analyses of education in its practical, institutional, and professional forms with a particular interest in critical empirical studies of institutional forms for education. The section’s research develops theory about the implications and conditions of education by means of analysing current and historical educational ideas, programs and concepts, didactic relations, educational practice and interactions, and structural relations in education. We study education in-between the humanities and the social sciences, and in relation to social, cultural, economic and political processes.

The Department of Communication is home to approx. 80 faculty members, 35 PhD students, 20 postdocs, 30 part-time lecturers, 20 administrative staff, and 2000 students. The department annually generates approx. 30 million DKK in external research funding, and it produces research and scholarship that is world leading, and which sets the agenda for many national initiatives and conversations. The department offers seven degree programs: Philosophy, Rhetoric, Education, Film and Media Studies, Communication and IT, Information Studies, and Cognition & Communication educating successful candidates to many sectors and parts of Danish society and beyond.

Read more about the Department of Communication at: Department of Communication – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk)

Copenhagen is a highly diverse and international Scandinavian capital with a green profile. Education is free and child-care is subsidized. Public transport is well-developed, and many Copenhageners take their bikes to work. There are lots of green areas in and around Copenhagen, the water in the harbor is clean enough for swimming, and the city has multiple museums and other cultural venues. The University of Copenhagen was founded in 1479 and is the largest in Denmark.

Qualification requirements
A tenure track assistant professorship has a duration of six years. The main responsibilities consist of research, teaching, societal impact activities, departmental service tasks, and administration. The ideal candidate must complete the university’s Teaching and Learning in Higher Education program. The Department will appoint a mentor for the assistant professor.

At the end of the sixth year of employment, the Dean will set up an assessment committee for the purpose of evaluating the basis for a promotion to associate professor. For more information about tenure track assistant professorships at the University of Copenhagen: Tenure track at the University of Copenhagen – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk).

Appointment as a tenure track assistant professor assumes research qualifications at least at Ph.D. level. Candidates must be able to document competences in research as well as teaching. Candidates are expected to document scholarly research production at an international level and must demonstrate the potential to make a significant impact in their field at both local and international levels.

Assessment criteria
Candidates deemed within the scope of the position will have their academic qualifications assessed by an Assessment Committee and is required to describe how their competences match the following criteria:

• Research qualifications, including the degree of originality and scope of peer-reviewed scientific production; the applicant’s research plan; participation in research environments; and scientific breadth and depth in relation to the position’s academic profile.
• Teaching qualifications, including research-based teaching experience and interest in developing their own pedagogic competencies (e.g., documented didactic training).
• Experience and competencies in the dissemination of research, external partnerships, and other forms of societal impact in the form of media contributions, advice, or knowledge-sharing in the public sphere.
• Experience with contributing to organisational work, collaborating with others, and generating a vibrant, inclusive, and healthy work environment.
• Experience with applications for external research funding and plans to apply for external funding.

For more information about the University of Copenhagen’s general criteria for the employment of assistant professors, please visit: Criteria for recognising merit – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk)

For more information about the qualification requirements for assistant professorships, as stipulated in the Ministerial Order on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities (2019), see (in Danish): Bekendtgørelse om stillingsstruktur for videnskabeligt personale ved universiteter (retsinformation.dk)

Further information about the position is available from the head of department Jens-Erik Mai, e-mail: [email protected]

Application
Applications must be written in English and must include the following attachments:

1. Application letter (max. one page)
2. CV (max. three pages)
3. Documentation of qualifications (exam certificates, PhD diploma, etc.)
4. Publications: Applicants must submit a maximum of five publications for assessment, of which a minimum of two must have been published within the last five years prior to the deadline for applications. The selected publications must be uploaded as attachments and numbered 1–5. If any of the publications have one or more co-authors, applicants must clearly identify the part(s) for which they are responsible. The university may request statements from co-authors on the scope and nature of their contribution to the work.
5. Complete publication list (attached publications must be marked with an asterisk). The list must be structured systematically and divided into the following categories:

• Peer-reviewed publications:
  • Monographs and anthologies
  • Articles in journals
  • Book chapters/anthology contributions, etc.
  
  
• Non-peer-reviewed publications:
  • Publications disseminating research findings, etc.
  • Other publications
  
  

1. A research plan that includes a brief description of previous research, current research projects and upcoming research. Applicants are also asked to account for experience with organising research events (workshop, conferences, etc.) and with research collaborations, and participation in research environments both at the local and international levels (max. five pages).
2. Teaching portfolio (max. five pages, documentation appendix max. 10 pages), consisting of a factual overview of teaching experience and areas of responsibility, a paper reflecting on own teaching competencies and a documentation appendix.

All applications must be submitted online, in PDF format, via the link “Apply for the position” at the bottom of the page.

Only material in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and English will be evaluated.

The recruitment process
Once the deadline has expired, the head of department will set an appointment committee consisting of faculty members and a student representative from the department to give advice on the appointment. The applicants will be selected based on an overall assessment of their match with the department’s recruitment needs and the qualification requirements outlined above. This will be compared with the applicants’ research and teaching profiles, as specified in their CV, list of publications, teaching portfolio, and research plan. All applicants will be notified as soon as possible whether they have been shortlisted for evaluation by the Assessment Committee. The selected applicants will be informed about the members of the Assessment Committee and they will be invited to comment on the committee’s assessment of their application before the appointment is announced.

For more information see: Recruitment process – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk)

Further information about the recruitment procedure is available from HR, e-mail: [email protected]. Please state case number 211-0210/24-2N #1.

Remuneration and terms of employment
The appointment will be made in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). It will be possible to negotiate supplements on the basis of qualifications. For further information about the Faculty of Humanities’ starter pack fortenure trackassistant professors, see:Tenure-track employment – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk)

University of Copenhagen is an internationally oriented university and attracts talents from around the world, both staff and students. At the same time, UCPH is anchored in Danish-language administrative practices and has a special role in relation to Danish society, Danish culture, and the Danish language. It is therefore expected that non-Danish speakers within 3–6 years acquire the necessary language skills to engage in different aspects of life and tasks at the university. The department will support and help faculty members to acquire knowledge and skills in the Danish language.

We strive for a diverse and inclusive university that reflects the breadth and diversity of society and encourage everyone regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability and ethnicity to apply for the position.

The deadline for applications is 23:59 CEST on August 19, 2024.

Any applications or additional material submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

Kilde: Jobnet.dk