Assistant Professor in Environmental and Climate Governance

The Department of Environmental Science (ENVS) at Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark invites applications for a 4-year position as Assistant Professor in policy analysis and local governance related to environment, energy and climate. 

Expected start date and duration of employment

This is a 4-year position from 1 May 2024 or as soon as possible.

Job description

The successful candidate is expected to develop internationally recognized and successful research within the field of environmental politics and governance. As part of the position, the candidate will be involved in a new Horizon Europe project, which facilitates a practical bottom-up approach towards climate neutrality within Ukrainian cities. The candidate will contribute to analysis of policy frameworks, stakeholder analyses and development of scenarios and city-specific transition pathways. The research will support climate mitigation strategies and citizen participation in climate governance within Ukrainian pilot cities, as well as twinning activities with foreign partner cities. The candidate will cooperate with AU colleagues and international research partners in the project.

The Horizon Europe project only covers part of the position. The applicant is expected to demonstrate research leadership, and contribute to further development of the externally funded environmental governance research by attracting competitive funding for the candidate’s position. Funding can be from both national and international sources, including EU, Innovation Fund Denmark, relevant Ministries and large private foundations. The candidate should develop and enhance interdisciplinary collaboration within the department, and bridge with other departments at the university, as well as relevant national and international research communities.

The successful candidate will also aim to contribute to Aarhus University’s teaching programme although there is no formal master education at the department.

The position also entails potential advisory activities for relevant regulatory authorities at national and EU level and private organizations, led by the candidate or within a team with other researchers. When part of external funded projects, the candidate can be involved in talent advisory activities.

Your profile

The ideal candidate holds a PhD degree within the social sciences (political science or related fields) and has conducted and preferably published research on local governance.
Moreover, the candidate has:

• strong methodological skills, particularly in qualitative and comparative methods.
• strong communication skills, both written and oral 
• proficiency in English, written and spoken
• demonstrated ability to publish in international journals
• ability to develop and implement research ideas
• ability to cooperate with others in an international research team
• ability to manage own research activities and meet deadlines
• teaching experience since we expect some teaching to be part of the position too

Who we are

The Department of Environmental Science

The Department of Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary department under the Faculty of Science & Technology at Aarhus University. The expertise ranges from physics, chemistry, microbiology and mathematical modelling to social science, geography, economics and policy analysis. Both basic and applied research is conducted related to some of the major challenges facing society, such as pollution and pollution control mechanisms, management of land, soil, water, air and biodiversity, protection of ecosystem services, climate change, and energy systems. Advisory services within these areas are offered to ministries and other stakeholders. Currently, about 170 staff and PhD-students are working at the department. Further information may be found at http://www.envs.au.dk/en/. The department is located at Risø Campus in Roskilde - 35 kilometers west of Copenhagen.

The selected candidate will be affiliated with the Environmental Social Science and Geography research unit (ESGO). The unit employs approximately 22 staff, focusing on interdisciplinary analysis of the interlinkages between the environment and society from political science, economics and sociology perspectives. The strategic foci of the unit include environmental policy development, regulation and instruments, understanding of actions and actors in policy formulation and implementation, spatial integrated modelling as well as policies and economics of ecosystem services. The results from the research are used for dissemination to the research community, in advisory services to decision makers as well as for teaching. The group is highly successful in attracting funding.

Our ambition is to have an inclusive and open working environment.

What we offer

The department offers:

• an exciting interdisciplinary environment with many national, international and industrial collaborators
• a research climate encouraging lively, open and critical discussion within and across different fields of research
• a work environment with close working relationships, networking and social activities
• a workplace characterised by professionalism, equality and a healthy work-life balance.

Place of work and area of employment

The place of work is Department of Environmental Science, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark, and the area of employment is Aarhus University with related departments.

Contact information

For further information, please contact: Head of Section, Senior Researcher, Anders Branth Pedersen,

[email protected]
Deadline

Applications must be received no later than 26 February 2024.

Application procedure

Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the assessment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. The selection is made on the basis of an assessment of who of the candidates are most relevant considering the requirements of the advertisement. All applicants will be notified within 6 weeks whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee and will receive his/her assessment. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.

Letter of reference

If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.

Formalities and salary range

Technical Sciences refers to the

Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here . Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here .

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.