Lecturer in Design for Sustainability

Aalto University is a community of bold thinkers where science and art meet technology and business. We are committed to identifying and solving grand societal challenges and building an innovative future. Aalto has six schools with nearly 11 000 students and a staff of more than 4000, of which 400 are professors. Our main campus is located in Espoo, Finland. Diversity is part of who we are, and we actively work to ensure our community’s diversity and inclusiveness. This is why we warmly encourage qualified candidates from all backgrounds to join our community.

The Aalto School of Arts, Design and Architecture (ARTS) is a Nordic leader in higher education for design, fashion, games, media, architecture, film, art education and fine art. We produce world-class research e.g. in design, digital media and visual culture, art education, urban planning and architecture. Our graduates innovate in and beyond their fields, drawing on over a century of tradition of our institution, a humane and forward-looking approach, and the latest technologies. The Department of Design is a community of creative and responsible researchers and design experts. We educate front-line design professionals and visionaries for established, changing and emerging fields of design. (https://www.aalto.fi/en/department-of-design ).

We are now looking for a

Lecturer in Design for Sustainability

We are recruiting a University or Senior University Lecturer to join our vibrant community of researchers, lecturers and students in the field of sustainable design. The position can be filled starting early 2023 or as agreed. Depending on the candidate´s merits, options are available both for a fixed term of five (5) years or for a permanent position on the University Lecturer or Senior University Lecturer level of  Aalto Lecturer track.

Aalto University has a strong focus on researching, developing and teaching sustainable solutions for the future. ‘Shaping a sustainable future’ is a part of Aalto University’s strategy.  Design for sustainability has been at the core of design education at Aalto University’s Department of Design since its beginnings, with a prestigious MA program (Creative Sustainability, CS) dedicated to it as part of the curriculum since 2010. The program, along with the research around it, has expanded consistently since then. (Learn more about Creative Sustainability at https://www.aalto.fi/en/creative-sustainability ).   Currently (2022) the department hosts a community of highly engaged students, practitioners and researchers approaching sustainability and unsustainability from many perspectives. The Department of Design as a whole is a key actor in sustainability-related endeavours across the different schools at Aalto, such as with the School of Chemical Engineering on new sustainable materials, and the School of Engineering on built environments and land use and planning. International collaboration is active e.g., with Umeå University, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University, University of Sussex, RMIT, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (Stockholm), Politecnico di Milano, TU Delft, Carnegie Mellon and University of the Arts London.

Your role and goals

Designing for sustainability encompasses activities at multiple scales, from material innovations and design decisions to co-operation between multiple stakeholders and the workings of eco-social systems. To work successfully as a lecturer in this position requires advanced understanding of design for sustainability across its different forms, forums and scales, pedagogical experience, expertise in design practice, and good collaborative skills. The successful candidate will have a vision for the future of the field of design for sustainability, and they will also be able to work as part of emerging multidisciplinary or transdisciplinary collaborations across design disciplines.

As a University Lecturer or Senior University Lecturer, your role is to deliver and develop the teaching on sustainability for the students at the Department of Design, supervise and advise BA and MA students, advise doctoral students in the research area, and engage in research. Teaching will cover courses both in BA and MA levels. Experience and merits in the teaching field at university level is required, pedagogical training is an advantage. The lecturer shall have knowledge of the international field of sustainable design and good communication and interpersonal skills in English.

Your network and team

In this position, you will be working with and be supported by several teams. In both teaching and research, your closest colleagues will be the other faculty members in the sustainability focus area in the department: professors, lecturers and adjunct professors. You will also be a member of the Department’s large, cross-disciplinary teaching faculty. Your collaboration also reaches beyond the Department and the School of ARTS, to different departments in Aalto, especially in the Schools of Business and Chemical Engineering. As a lecturer, you will also actively interact with students through courses, projects, supervision and exhibitions.

Your experience and ambitions

We value candidates with excellent teaching skills and motivation for teaching as well as ability to communicate and collaborate with various stakeholders across the academic, public, commercial and civic realms. The candidate should have a doctorate in Design or relevant field, a researcher’s mindset and a promising academic record. Because of the multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder nature of design for sustainability, experience from collaborating with, or working in, industry or positions outside academia are considered a merit. Because the position will be within the Department of Design, the candidate should nurture a critical, creative, designerly approach to sustainability. Ideally, the candidate will have a broad skills base but also in-depth knowledge from a specific focus area related to design for sustainability, so as to help them incorporate practical skills into their teaching and academic work.

What we offer

We offer the opportunity of working in a dynamic world-class community of creative professionals and researchers, who are deeply committed to exploring the frontiers of design research and practice. For hands-on projects, we have well-equipped workshops (3D printing, mechatronics, solid materials, etc.) for building prototypes from different materials.

The Department of Design is among the largest and most research-intensive units in the field of design in Europe. It builds on twenty years of development and was evaluated as ‘outstanding’ in international comparisons in Aalto RAI reviews in 2009 and 2018. Art and Design at Aalto University is consistently rated as among world leaders in QS WU rankings (13th in 2017, 7th in 2019, 6th in 2021) and it is the highest ranked unit out of all scientific fields in Finland. You can read more at https://act.aalto.fi/en/department-of-design/aalto-design-research

Salary is determined according to the applicant's experience and qualifications. Activities are mainly located in the Otaniemi campus in Espoo, part of the capital region of Finland. Aalto University provides its employees with occupational health-care services and excellent learning and development opportunities. Finland is a healthy and safe living environment, offering many excellent state-subsidized services including affordable day care and free schools and universities, which are consistently ranked among the best in the world.

Ready to apply?

If you want to join our community, please submit your application through our recruitment system by October 31st 2022. To apply, please share the following application materials with us:

- CV compiled according to TENK guidelines (https://tenk.fi/en/advice-and-materials/template-researchers-curriculum-vitae )

- Teaching portfolio compiled according to Aalto guidelines Teaching competence assessment_Guidelines_for_candidate_2020_Aalto University[1].pdf

-  A vision statement elaborating how you see that future designers should learn about sustainability (2 pages)

If you already work for Aalto, please apply via our HR system –internal jobs Workday.

For additional questions about the position, you can contact Senior University Lecturer Antti Salovaara – antti.salovaara(at)aalto.fi

For recruitment related questions, please contact HR Coordinator Katju Helminen, katju.helminen(at)aalto.fi

We reserve the right, for justified reasons, to leave the position open or to extend the application period.

Want to know more about us and your future colleagues? You can watch these videos: Aalto University – Towards a better world , Aalto People , and Shaping a Sustainable Future . And this webpage about Aalto and Finland. https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/welcome-to-aalto-university-and-finland...

Check out our new virtual campus experience: https://virtualtour.aalto.fi/ !

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