Assistant professor in educational leadership in higher education institutions

The Centre for Educational Development (CED) at Aarhus University invites applications for a position as assistant professor. The position is full-time (37 hours per week) for three years from 1 December 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. The place of employment is Aarhus University, Denmark.

About the position as assistant professor at CED

We look for a profile that can strengthen our research in educational leadership in higher education institutions. Educational leadership can include a variety of roles, like university middle leaders, team coordinators, resource persons, and collegial competence development for experienced faculty in higher education.

The assistant professor in educational leadership in higher education institutions is placed in CED’s Department of Teaching Development referring to the division manager. The assistant professor is also included as active participant in our cross-departmental research group that focuses on applied research in higher education. The Centre director leads the research group across the three departments.

At CED, an assistant professor’s time divides equally between research and teaching (including the connected admin tasks). Teaching is valued highly at our centre. Therefore, the assistant professor must contribute to the centre’s continuous on-site collaboration with teachers and educational leaders across Aarhus University. We expect the successful applicant to teach staff / faculty development courses and workshops in collaboration with colleagues, obviously in their own topic of expertise, but also broader about teaching-learning theory and practice. The daily tasks, therefore, also involve close collaboration with the pedagogical consultants at CED.

About the tasks

Your primary tasks are to

• conduct applied research and publish at an international level about educational leadership
• support and co-supervise younger research colleagues in the CED research group
• fundraise externally for research activities
• teach selected topics at CEDs courses and workshops for university staff / faculty
• participate in relevant development projects with colleagues and university staff.

   

About your qualifications and competence

You have

• a PhD degree in a relevant field
• two to three years of postdoc work experience
• developed a research profile relevant to educational leadership in higher education institutions
• teaching experience, including experience of teaching university faculty/staff
• project team leadership experience.

• collaborate in an interdisciplinary research-group
• contribute to an interdisciplinary higher education teaching-learning centre
• co-create respectfully and professionally with university staff and colleagues
• lead well-defined development projects within your profile area.

• thrives on complex processes with multiple agendas and stakeholders
• 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).

   

About the Centre for Educational Development (CED) at Aarhus University

The mission of CED 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 in higher education, 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 collaboration and 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 postdocs, three PhD-students, and two research assistants. The group has ongoing research on topics that include student learning, transitions and career, teacher development and educational leadership, health sciences education, and the uses of learning technology in higher education. We come from a wide range of research methods and theoretical frameworks, but all focus on practical and applied higher education research of high quality.

For further information about CED, please visit our website.

Conditions and place of employment

The assistant professorship is a full-time (37 hours) position limited to a 3-year period starting from the date of employment.

Expected start date is 1 December 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.

You will be placed in the Department of Teaching Development with a reference to the department manager. Regarding the research tasks, there is daily close collaboration with the research group at CED, led by the center director.

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

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.

International applicant?

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark on https://international.au.dk/research

The hiring process

We encourage diverse research and educational backgrounds, and the position is therefore not limited to specific degrees or preferred methods. Many pathways leading to CED can be relevant.

In addition to your motivated application, please attach the following:

• CV
• Documentation for your PhD degree
• An overview list of all your publications
• Three selected publications for assessment
• Outline of a 3-year research plan (max 3 pages)
• Your teaching portfolio (max 3 pages)
• An example describing a development project you have been leading (max 3 pages)

We use shortlisting in the hiring process lead by the centre director. In this shortlisting process, we exclude applicants that are far from being eligible for the described position.

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 department manager invites the most qualified 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.

Interviews are expected to take place medio October 2024.

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.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.

Aarhus University

Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/