Full Professor / Associate Professor in Water Technology and Engineering at the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University

The Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering at Aarhus University is currently expanding activities within water technology, to strengthen research, educational capacity and innovation in the entire water sector. We are therefore seeking a new professor / associate professor as scientific light house within research and education in relation to technologies of the piped water cycle in particular and water cycle management in general.

Expected start date

The position is to be filled by 1 October 2023 or as soon as possible thereafter. This may also be agreed with the right candidate to find an appropriate time point for starting the position.

Job description

The selected candidate will be affiliated with the Section of Environmental Engineering that comprises water and air research disciplines. The section offers education programs in Bachelor of engineering (B.eng), Bachelor of science in engineering (B.Sc Eng), Master of Science in engineering (M.Sc eng), as well as PhD programs. The existing water technology research is currently focused on determining toxicological effects and eliminating micropollutants (e.g. PFAS), resource recovery and energy production in wastewater treatment plants, and recovery of biopolymers for new carbon neutral materials.

The selected candidate for a full professor / associated professor in water technology is expected to:

• Lead a research group within water technology.
• Contribute to developing and enhancing interdisciplinary research and collaboration within the engineering departments and other university departments.
• Play an eminent role in establishing a regional stronghold in water technology, in collaboration with Water Valley Denmark, Aarhus Municipality, Aarhus Water Utility and other key organizations and industries.
• Accelerate funding acquisition aiming for larger Danish or EU R&D calls to contribute to the project portfolio at the department. Externally funded research, and company and advisory projects with national and international partners.
• Consolidate and develop international research relations through outreach activities.
• Conduct and publish internationally recognized research in peer review journals within water technology.
• Conduct high quality teaching in the department, develop new courses in environmental engineering and water technology in particular, and in general contribute to the development of educational activities and study lines in environmental engineering incl. water technology.
• Supervise students (Bachelor, Master or PhD level) in thesis research projects.

Your profile

The ideal candidate has experience within several of the following research areas:

• Microbial ecology and environmental engineering.
• Greenhouse gas emissions in the water sector.
• Biological and chemical processes in wastewater treatment plants.
• Antimicrobial resistance.
• Process engineering and process design for piped water.
• Pilot scaling of water technologies.
• Micropollutants fate, effect, and treatment in water.
• Laboratory setups for providing biotechnological solutions.
• Drinking water filtration and distribution, water recycling, and wastewater treatment.
• Resource recovery from wastewater treatment plants such as carbon sources, nitrogen and phosphorous.
• Next generation WWTP, and associated process engineering.

Qualifications:

• Experience from position as assistant, associate or full professor at a university.
• Experience in management of interdisciplinary. international research projects. Educational programs are also relevant here.
• A proven publication record in international peer-reviewed ISI journals.
• A documented track record of successful external scientific and applied research funding.
• Experience with teaching and mentoring PhD, graduate and/or undergraduate students.
• Experience with industrial collaboration.

The candidate is expected to be enthusiastic and dedicated to water technology and engineering in a highly international and academic environment. Moreover, the candidate should be open-minded and with collaborative skills for working in a highly academic and multi-cultural environment. Equal consideration will be given to all qualified applicants independent of their gender, race, and cultural background. Employment record from industry history is considered an advantage.

Applicants applying for the Full Professor position should hold scientific qualifications of combined 8-10 years experience as assistant and associate professor level. Applicants applying for the associate professor position should hold a Ph.D. and have combined 3-5 years of experience at the assistant and associate professor level. The successful applicant should be able to demonstrate significant publication activity in relevant journals and with high impact corresponding to the research area. Participation in national and international networks of researchers is preferable.

Who we are

The

Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering

work with water, energy, food and industrial biotechnology, agriculture and health engineering sciences and therefore has an established academic foundation providing knowledge and education for the green transition of society. Both biotechnological and physicochemical solutions are here combined in solving water, energy and climate challenges on a global scale. Research and innovation are almost entirely conducted in collaboration together with the public sector and private companies. The department collaborates closely with other researchers at Aarhus University within water science through the interdisciplinary center

WATEC

. The department was established on 1 January 2021 at the

Faculty of Technical Sciences at Aarhus University

at the same time as three other engineering departments:

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

,

Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering

and

Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering

. Currently, about 228 staff and PhD students are working in the department.

What we offer

  Biological and Chemical Engineering department offers:

• A research infrastructure under development where the candidate can have an impact, laboratories and access to shared equipment.
• An exciting interdisciplinary environment with numerous national, international scientific 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 characterized by professionalism, equality and a healthy work-life balance.
• A highly skilled and motivated support for researchers comprising business relations, consortium building, laboratory technicians, technology transfer and active inclusive management.

Place of work and area of employment

The place of work will be at Aarhus University, Universitetsbyen 36, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. Later during 2023 moving to another building on campus at Ole Worms Alle is expected. The area of employment is Aarhus University, Faculty of Technical Sciences at Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering. Aarhus is the second largest city in Denmark, and has several larger industrial companies within water, energy, digitalization and food production located in the region of Jutland. The beautiful campus area is situated near the city center. The city provides immediate access to a wealth of cultural and recreational pursuits. International candidates may find information concerning living and working in Denmark at

www.workindenmark.dk

.

Contact information

Further information may be obtained by contacting: Head of Section, Professor Anders Feilberg af@bce.au.dk +45 30 89 60 99; or Head of Department, Professor Lars Ditlev Mørck Ottosen ldmo@bce.au.dk +45 51 37 16 71.

Deadline

The application deadline is June 29th 2023.

If you want to apply for the position as full professor, please apply online HERE .

If you want to apply for the position as associate professor, please apply online HERE .

If you want to apply for both types of positions, please send two applications - one for each link.

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.

Ensuring gender balance at the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering is a high priority at Aarhus University, and therefore, we particularly encourage women to apply for this position. No candidate will be given preferential treatment, and all applicants will be assessed on the basis of their qualifications for the position in question.

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.