Assistant Professor in African Studies

The Faculty of Theology invites applicants for a three-year position as Assistant Professor in African Studies to be filled by 1 February 2024.

Job description
The position will be located at the Centre of African Studies (CAS) (https://teol.ku.dk/cas/), and will be part of a collaboration between the Centre of African Studies and the Centre for Privacy Studies (www.teol.ku.dk/privacy).

The Centre of African Studies is engaged in research and teaching in African Studies, and is concerned with the complex realities, challenges, and possibilities of a simultaneously localized and globalized Africa. Research at the Centre is organized in three research platforms: ‘Environment, Climate and Sustainability’, ‘Religion and Social Change’ and ‘Sovereignties and Citizenships’.  The position falls within the ‘Religion and Social Change’ research platform.

PRIVACY is an interdisciplinary Centre of excellence, funded by the Danish National Research Foundation (2017-27). The Centre is dedicated to research into privacy and the private in a historical context, deploying work forms based on interdisciplinary collaboration. For a description of the PRIVACY work method.

The applicant must do research that falls within the ‘religion and social change’ platform and address questions of privacy in West African contexts. The successful candidate will teach courses on religion and culture in Africa.

The candidate is expected to take part in research seminars at PRIVACY and, if relevant, develop new collaborative research foci together with colleagues at PRIVACY.

Qualification requirements
Applicants are expected to have a PhD in African Studies, anthropology, history, religious studies or a related field, and document outstanding research experience in the field of religion and culture in contemporary or historical West African contexts. Relevant research topics include, but are not limited to, religious performance, spirituality in artistic expression, religion and popular culture, religion and politics, religious practice in a domestic sphere, religious secrecy, and relations between individuals and community in religious contexts.

The candidate should have teaching experience at university level, which must be documented. Applicants are moreover encouraged to read the university’s guidelines for pedagogical competence profiles here: https://uddannelseskvalitet.ku.dk/quality-assurance-of-study-programmes/development-initiatives/teaching-competencies/pedagogical-competence-profile/

The candidate should moreover have experience with research communication and dissemination.

The applicant should outline and include their prospective research project, suggesting a possible privacy dimension, as well as possible courses to be taught as part of the MA in African Studies.

Personal and professional qualifications

• Active and original research qualifications that meet the requirements of the position.
• Substantive and well-documented teaching experience.
• Active and conscious effort to participate in the communal life at the university.

The University of Copenhagen has six general criteria for the employment of assistant professors. The six criteria (research, teaching, societal impact, organizational contribution, external funding and leadership) are frameworks for the assessment of the individual applicant. Furthermore, each applicant will be assessed according to the requirements stated above.

Read more about the university’s six criteria here or here.

Further information  about the requirements to become an assistant professor is also available in the Ministerial Order on the appointment of Academic Staff at Universities:  https://ufm.dk/en/legislation/prevailing-laws-and-regulations/education/files/ministerial-order-on-the-appointment-of-academic-staff-at-universities.pdf

Applicants are invited to contact the below contact persons for questions relating to the academic aspects of their applications.

Director, Centre of African Studies, Associate Professor Karen Lauterbach (kjl@teol.ku.dk)

Director, Centre for Privacy Studies, Professor Mette Birkedal Bruun (mbb@teol.ku.dk)

Application
Applications must be submitted electronically via the “Apply online” link. Enclosures must be submitted as Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word files.

The application, which must be written in English, should include the following documents:

• Letter of motivation.
• CV.
• Documentation of degrees, diplomas, etc.
• A complete and numbered list of publications.
• Documentation of teaching experience that outlines, including planned and taught courses, teaching materials, supervision experience and pedagogical training (if any).
• Research plan (maximum one page), including a short description of previous research and a plan for the coming years.
• Publications. A maximum of five publications can be enclosed for assessment. These  publications must be clearly marked in the list of publications with an asterisk (*). The chosen publications must be uploaded and numbered 1–5.

If a publication has several authors or is a product of collaboration, it must be clearly marked in the document which parts the applicant has been responsible for. The faculty can, in certain cases, ask for a declaration from co-authors on the applicant’s contribution to the work.

Only material written in English will be accepted.

Application procedure
Following the application deadline, the Dean will select applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointment Committee. Applicants will be selected on the basis of an overall assessment of the applicants that best match the recruitment-needs of the Faculty as described in the advertisement for the post. This is compared with the applicant's research and teaching profile as set out in the application, CV incl. list of publication, teaching experience and research plan. 

All applicants will be immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an expert Assessment Committee. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee and when the committee has completed its assessment, each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicants themselves.

Further information on the application procedure can be obtained from Faculty Director Torben Rytter Kristensen, (email: trk@teol.ku.dk) or the Section for Human Resources (email: hrsc@hrsc.ku.dk). Please remember to include case 211-0358/23-2A.

The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of their personal backgrounds.

Salary and conditions of employment
Salary and other terms and conditions of appointment are set in accordance with the Agreement between the Ministry of Taxation and AC (Danish Confederation of Professional Associations). To the salary will be added a 17,1 % contribution to the pension scheme. It is possible to negotiate salary supplements on an annual basis.

Application deadline
Applications must be submitted by 1 October 2023, 23:59.

Applications received after the deadline has expired will not be taken into consideration.