Junior or senior professor of literature in Spanish outside Spain

Department: Department of Literature
Regime Full-time

Let’s shape the future - University of Antwerp

The University of Antwerp  is a dynamic, forward-thinking university. We offer an innovative academic education to more than 20000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research and play an important service-providing role in society. We are one of the largest, most international and most innovative employers in the region. With more than 6000 employees from 100 different countries, we are helping to build tomorrow's world every day. Through top scientific research, we push back boundaries and set a course for the future – a future that you can help to shape.

The Department of Literature in the Faculty of Arts has the following full-time vacancy: junior or senior professor of literature in Spanish outside Spain.

Position

You will contribute to the University of Antwerp’s three core tasks: education (40 %), research (40 %) and services (20 %). Your role also includes organisational and managerial aspects.

Education

• You will provide high-quality education in the Bachelor and Master of Linguistics and Literary Studies.
• In the three year bachelor’s program, you will teach two courses that examine chronologically the literature of the Global Hispanophone:
  • Introduction to the study of the literature in Spanish (1st  year, 6 ECTS). This is a semester course on modern and contemporary literature in Spanish. This course is conceived as a general overview that introduces students to the culture of the Spanish-speaking world.
  • Literature in Spanish III (3rd  year, 3 ECTS). This course examines literature from the 15th  to the 18th  centuries in all Spanish-speaking regions.
• In the one-year master’s program, you will teach two courses on literature and culture in Spanish (6 ECTS each). These courses focus mainly on Spanish-language literature outside of the Iberian Peninsula: Latin America, Africa or Asia. Diaspora, migration and border areas may also be addressed.
• In your teaching, you will pay attention to the needs of students in terms of Spanish proficiency.
• The teaching load may evolve to meet the needs of the course programme and internal consultation with colleagues. The total teaching load will remain more or less the same as the above (with a maximum of 24 ECTS and a minimum of 18 ECTS).
• You will play a role in developing activating, student-centred and competence-driven programme components and study programmes.
• You will supervise students during the writing of bachelor’s and master’s papers.

Research

• You will develop high-quality scientific research literature in Spanish with a transnational, postcolonial or decolonial focus. The focus is not on the Iberian Peninsula, but on other areas of the Global Hispanophone: Latin America, Africa or Asia. We seek scholars with strengths in interdisciplinary and intersectional approaches and a strong theoretical foundation in ethnic, gender and queer studies.
• You will initiate new lines of research and coordinate the progress of scientific research projects. You will also participate in ongoing research programmes.
• Connection to ongoing research in the Department of Literature and/or the Faculty of Arts is an asset (for example, Digital Humanities, Theater, Film and Visual Studies, Children’s Literature, Jewish Studies, Urban History or Global Hispanophone in a comparative context).
• You will acquire and manage national and international research funding.
• You will publish in international, peer-reviewed journals and will write, edit or contribute to books published by leading academic publishers.
• You will develop an international scientific network.
• You will supervise PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. The numbers of PhD and postdocs depend on acquiring fellowships and project grants from national and international institutions. On the one hand, talented young researchers can initiate their own research by applying for personal fellowships and involving you as a supervisor. On the other hand, as a junior or senior professor, you are also supposed to acquire research funds yourself, with which you can then recruit suitable doctoral students and/or postdocs.

Services

• You will play a role in the provision of both academic services and service to society, within the institution and externally. Among other service activities, you will participate in student recruitment, boards and committees, and popular communication to a non-academic audience.

Organisation and leadership

• You will accept coordinating responsibilities in the areas of education, research and/or service provision and you will contribute to policy.
• Your leadership style will be motivating and coaching. You will pay attention to junior researchers’ growth, mental well-being and career planning and to the social cohesion among researchers in the department.

Profile

• You hold a PhD in literature in Spanish.
• You can demonstrate several years of postdoctoral experience (or equivalent).
• Your research qualities are in line with the faculty and university research policies .
• You have established an excellent international research portfolio with academic peer-reviewed publications in the literature of the Global Hispanophone outside the Iberian Peninsula.
• You have proven experience in teaching, preferably also to non-Spanish speakers. Training in teaching foreign and second languages is an asset.
• Your courses will be taught in Spanish so your writing and speaking skills should be at the level of native speakers (European Reference Framework C2).
• A good command of English is an asset as this will be the language for grant acquisition.
• Your teaching competences are in line with the University of Antwerp’s educational vision . You are motivated to develop your teaching skills further through the professionalisation opportunities  available.
• If you do not speak Dutch, the administrative language of the university, you should be willing to obtain a CEFR B2 level of proficiency in Dutch. As soon as you take on teaching duties in Dutch as a programme component coordinator, you should be able to demonstrate a CEFR C1 level of proficiency in the language of instruction. The University of Antwerp supports international staff members through an integration trajectory and offers tailor-made language coaching in compliance with Flanders’ statutory language regulations .
• You demonstrate leadership potential and organisational skills.
• You act with attention to quality, integrity, creativity and cooperation.
• You commit yourself to turning your work environment into an inclusive place in which diversity is valued and all students, including those with special vulnerabilities, feel safe.

What we offer

• We offer a full-time appointment as a member of the Senior Academic Staff (Dutch: Zelfstandig Academisch Personeel, ZAP). The level of your appointment (assistant professor, associate professor, professor or full professor) is determined on the basis of your professional experience and academic qualifications. Junior ZAP members are usually offered temporary appointment as a tenure track assistant professor for five years, which is then followed by permanent appointment as an associate professor. Appointment as an associate professor or higher leads to permanent appointment (tenure) after a maximum of three years. A favourable performance appraisal is always required for permanent appointment.
• We offer, after a positive evaluation of a PhD project application you submit, an attractive starter package consisting of a four-year PhD project and €15 000 of consumables to boost your research from the start of your employment at the University of Antwerp.
• Your gross monthly salary is calculated according to the pay scales  for Senior Academic Staff.
• You will receive ecocheques, a laptop, a workplace, an Internet-connectivity allowance and a bicycle allowance or a full reimbursement of public transport costs for commuting.
• The planned starting date is 15 September 2024 or as soon as possible after that date.
• You will do most of your work at the City campus of the University of Antwerp (Prinsstraat 13) in a dynamic and stimulating working environment.
• Find out more about working at the University of Antwerp here  and discover all the other benefits .

Want to apply?

• You can apply for this vacancy through the University of Antwerp’s online job application platform up to and including 26 February 2024 (by midnight Brussels time). Click on 'apply', complete the online application form and don’t forget to include the following documents:
• The selection committee will review all of the applications as soon as possible after the application deadline. As soon as a decision has been made, we will inform you about the next steps in the selection procedure. We kindly request that you already reserve 22 April 2024 for a selection interview and a teaching sample on campus. If you are invited to the selection interview, you will also be asked to propose a topic for a four-year PhD project.
• If you have any questions about the online application form, please check the frequently asked questions  or send an email to [email protected] . If you have any questions about the job itself, please contact prof. Diana Arbaiza, member of the Spanish section and vicechair of the Department of Literature, [email protected]

The University of Antwerp received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award  for its HR policy. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organisation which invests in its employees’ growth. We encourage diversity  and attach great importance to an inclusive working environment and equal opportunities, regardless of gender identity, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse characteristics to apply.