Professor at the Centre for Educational Development, Aarhus University, Denmark

The Centre for Educational Development (CED) at Aarhus University invites applications for a position as professor in university teaching and learning. The professorship is a permanent position beginning 1 March 2024 or as soon as possible. The place of employment is Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.

The mission of the Centre for Educational Development is to inspire engaging teaching and excellent educations at Aarhus University. We offer teachers, academic staff, coordinators, directors, and executives at Aarhus University practical partnership, collaboration, and help concerning their ongoing teaching tasks and competencies. Furthermore, we ambitiously strive for the highest international level through applied research in university teaching and learning. We contribute to development projects and experiments in the fields of digitalization and learning technologies at universities, university teaching and program development.

CED employs almost 60 colleagues organized into three departments specialized in digital development, teaching development, and program development, respectively, plus a small administration. We have a good collegial atmosphere characterized by a high degree of professionalism, collaboration and the opportunity for continuous professional development. We value inquiry, co-creation, empowerment, and expertise.

The research group at CED works within and across the three departments. The group comprises five associate professors, three to five postdocs, and three PhD-students. The group focus on high quality applied research. The current topics of interest in the group include student learning, transitions and career, teacher development and educational leadership, health sciences education research, digitalization and learning technology in higher education. We come from a wide range of research methods and theoretical frameworks.

The centre management group consist of centre director Anne Mette Morcke, department leads Anders Hyldig (Digital Development), Liza Strandgaard (Teaching Development), and Tina Bering Keiding (Program Development).

For a more detailed description of CED, please, visit our website.

As the professor of university teaching and learning at CED, we expect you to take on leadership responsibilities and strategically develop the research field. The successful applicant can develop externally funded research in collaboration with international partners. We expect you to be a dedicated outgoing ambassador for CED, contributing significantly to the centre’s continuous collaboration with educational leaders. We expect you to take on a leading role in the cross-departmental research group and undertake supervision of junior researchers.

The position does not include personnel management, but you are an active member of the centre management group and can also foresee participating in administrative and organisational tasks. Finally, we expect you to participate in CEDs day-to-day-activities (like curriculum development, course leadership, and the practical running of courses, seminars, and workshops for teachers at Aarhus University).

Your primary responsibilities are to

• lead the cross-departmental research group at CED
• participate in the centre management group (but no personnel management)
• develop the field of applied research in university teaching and learning at international level
• attract external funding
• supervise younger research colleagues at CED
• teach and lead courses in university teaching and learning at Aarhus University and in Denmark
• contribute to and lead relevant development and implementation projects from CED
• give advice and offer consultations concerning higher education, teaching and learning at Aarhus University and relevant councils and committees nationally and internationally

You have

• a track record of internationally recognised research in higher education
• a strong international research network
• a portfolio of externally funded research grants
• research leadership experience and project management skills
• experience with supervision of younger research colleagues
• comprehensive experience in teaching and developing courses for faculty

You can

• participate in a small, divers, and well-functioning centre management group
• collaborate respectfully and professionally with educational leaders at Aarhus University
• represent CED in relevant national and international fora
• lead development and implementation projects in higher education

You are a person who

• thrives on complex processes with multiple agendas and stakeholders
• accepts that admin and organizational management is a part of the job
• keeps a cool head and high spirits when things are not going as planned
• would like to learn Danish (if you are not already speaking a Scandinavian language)
  

The professorship is a full-time permanent position from 1 March 2024 or as soon as possible.

The successful applicant will refer to centre director Anne Mette Mørcke.

Place of employment is Trøjborgvej 82-84, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.

Non-Scandinavian speaking candidates must acquire the necessary basic Danish language skills within a short period of time (2 years).

Further information on the appointment procedure can be found in the Ministerial Order
on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

The appointment is in accordance with the Danish Confederation of Professional
Associations (Akademikerne).

Further information on qualification requirements and job description can be found in
the Ministerial Order on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities.

Denmark is a great place to live. We are world class at work-life balance and attractive working conditions. Equality and trust is high, crime is low. English is our second language. Aarhus is a wonderful, safe, happy, young and vibrant town. Aarhus University ranks in top 100.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. At CED, we truly welcome international candidates for this position.
Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark on Research at AU.

We encourage diverse research and teaching backgrounds and the position is therefore not limited to for example a degree in education or Arts. We acknowledge that other pathways can be relevant.

In connection with your motivated written application, you must attach your

• CV
• documentation for the PhD degree
• listed publication overview and selected publications for assessment (max 3)
• suggested research plan covering the first two years at CED (max 3 pages)
• documentation for attracting external funding as primary investigator
• experiences with supervising and assessing junior researchers (PhDs and postdocs)
• description of experiences in leadership and management
• teaching portfolio (max 3 pages)
• documentation of participation in teaching courses
• a short teaching statement (or your teaching philosophy)
• and - if relevant - examples of leading development projects (max 3 pages)

We use shortlisting in the hiring process lead by the centre director and head of assessment committee. In this shortlisting process, we exclude applicants that clearly do not match the described position. Applicants that are not shortlisted will not receive a full assessment. After the shortlisting process, an assessment committee with international participation gives their written summary concerning each of the shortlisted applicants. Based on these summaries of qualifications, an employment committee of future colleagues and the centre director invites the most qualified 3-4 applicants for an interview. If necessary, the employment committee can invite 1-2 applicants to a second interview round before making the final decision and offer.

Applications must be made in English.

Interviews are expected to take place in the period 4 – 15 December 2023.