Swedish-Language Professor or Associate Professor in Civil and Commercial Law

The University of Helsinki Faculty of Law invites applications for a Swedish-language professorship in civil and commercial law to be filled on a permanent basis. The successful candidate will be appointed primarily to a professorship, but if no professor-level candidate with sufficient language skills can be found, the selected candidate can be appointed to an associate professorship.

The duties of a professor include carrying out and supervising scholarly research, providing teaching based on it, following developments in research and participating in public engagement and international cooperation in the field.

The professor or associate professor of civil and commercial law will provide undergraduate teaching in the disciplines of civil and commercial law in Helsinki and, to a lesser extent, at the Faculty’s Vaasa Unit of Legal Studies. The appointee’s official language of instruction will be Swedish, but the appointee will also provide English-language teaching suitable to the Faculty’s international students. Moreover, the duties of the professor or associate professor of civil and commercial law will include supervising bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral theses, particularly in Swedish, but also in English.

The professor or associate professor will conduct research in civil and commercial law in accordance with their research orientation. They will apply for research funding, lead a research group, and play an important role in promoting Swedish-language research and educating Swedish-speaking students. Each year, the Faculty admits approximately 35 Swedish-speaking students, of whom some study in Vaasa. In addition, the Faculty offers a bilingual Bachelor of Laws degree in Swedish and Finnish, which means a number of Finnish-speaking students attend Swedish-language teaching. 

Requirements for the position and assessment of qualifications

According to the Regulations of the University of Helsinki, an appointee to a professorship must hold an applicable doctoral degree and have top-level scholarly qualifications, experience in the supervision of scholarly research, the abilities to provide top-level teaching based on research and to supervise theses, and documentation of international cooperation in the appointee’s research field. Furthermore, the position of professor calls for academic leadership skills.

Pursuant to the Government Decree on Universities (770/2009), appointees to teaching and research positions at the University must be proficient in the language in which they provide instruction, i.e., Finnish or Swedish. To successfully attend to the duties of the position, the appointee must also have good English skills. If the appointee does not speak Finnish, they must acquire proficiency in Finnish sufficient for everyday communication within three years from the beginning of their employment.

The Swedish-language professorship in civil and commercial law is one of the positions at the Faculty of Law that have been determined in the Regulations of the University of Helsinki as having Swedish as the language of instruction. To successfully attend to the duties of the position, the appointee must therefore have excellent skills in Swedish. The recommended level of Swedish proficiency corresponds to level C2 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Further information about language skills and their demonstration can be found on our website .

When assessing applicants’ qualifications, attention will be paid to both scholarly and teaching merits. Scholarly qualifications include scholarly publications and other research results of scholarly value, success in obtaining external research funding, scholarly work outside Finland and international elected positions. Teaching qualifications include teaching experience and pedagogical training, the ability to produce learning materials, other teaching merits and, if necessary, a teaching demonstration, as well as participation in doctoral education. Furthermore, account will be taken of the applicant’s leadership and interaction skills, as well as activity in the research community

An appointee to the position of assistant professor or associate professor must hold a doctoral degree and have the ability to conduct independent scholarly work as well as the teaching skills necessary for the position. In addition, the appointee must have the ability and motivation to pursue an academic career, as demonstrated by publications and other means. When assessing the qualifications of applicants for the associate professorship, attention will be paid to not only research work and teaching qualifications, but also success in the acquisition of external research funding as well as international scholarly work and other international experience.

The salary for the position will be based on levels 8–10 (professor) or level 7 (associate professor) of the job requirement scheme for teaching and research personnel in the salary system of Finnish universities. In addition, the appointee will be paid a salary component based on personal performance. The gross annual salary is €64,000–€96,000 (professor) or €50,000–€68,500 (associate professor). There will be a six-month trial period for the position.

The application must be accompanied by the following documents in PDF format:

A curriculum vitae A list of publications, with the 10 most significant publications clearly marked A report (max. 3 pages) describing the applicant’s research activities, such as activities in the scholarly community, success in obtaining research funding and international research A plan (max. 2 pages) on the development of the field and the direction of the applicant’s research A report (max. 2 pages) on the applicant’s teaching qualifications  

Further information about academic portfolios is available on our website .

All of the above attachments must be in English. Other attachments, including letters of recommendation or certificates, are not required at this point.

Applicants are kindly asked to prepare to select up to 10 publications from their list of publications and submit them for assessment through the electronic application system after the application period.

Applications must be submitted through the University of Helsinki electronic recruitment system by clicking on the link below. Current employees of the University of Helsinki must submit their applications through SAP Fiori’s Suffeli recruitment portal.

Further information about the position can be obtained from Dean Johanna Niemi (johanna.niemi(at)helsinki.fi). Further information about the recruitment process can be obtained from HR Specialist Rosa Beckmann (rosa.beckmann(at)helsinki.fi).

The Faculty of Law  at the University of Helsinki is the leading Finnish institute of legal education. Some of the degrees awarded by the Faculty are completed at its bilingual Vaasa Unit of Legal Studies . The Faculty’s mission is to train qualified, ethically responsible legal professionals for both the Finnish and international markets through research of an international standard and research-based teaching. The Faculty offers undergraduate degrees in Finnish, Swedish and English as well as a bilingual degree in Swedish and Finnish. The Faculty has a teaching and research staff of around 120 people and 2,400 undergraduate and postgraduate students.