164054 Professor of Veterinary Clinical and Comparative Neurology

Professor of Veterinary Clinical and Comparative Neurology
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen

The University seeks to appoint a professor to the Section for Surgery, Neurology, and Cardiology, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences to commence 1 November 2025 or as soon as possible. Information on the Department can be found at https://sund.ku.dk/ and https://ikv.ku.dk/english/

About us 
The Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences covers strong and internationally recognized research areas in clinical veterinary sciences. Based on these, we want to set a new standard for cross-disciplinary research, education, and innovation within animal health and disease and be among the best public workplaces in Denmark. Our research supports teaching in a manner that ensures quality and continued national and international benchmarking. The culture of the department is typical Scandinavian: a flat structure with a tradition for close collaboration where all employees expect openness, mutual respect, and sharing of ideas, resources, and competencies.

The Section for Surgery, Neurology, and Cardiology’s scientific platform is inter- and cross-disciplinary with a strong emphasis on clinical and comparative research and aims to uncover and understand pathophysiological disease mechanisms at the biomechanistic, cellular, and molecular levels. The section holds clinical teaching and service obligations within companion animal surgery, neurology, cardiology, anesthesia, dentistry, rehabilitation and contributions to clinical emergency medicine and collaborates across fields nationally and internationally. Veterinary Neurology is part of the Section for Surgery, Neurology, and Cardiology. It consists of researchers and clinicians specializing in the field, including two National specialists whereof one associated member of the European College of Veterinary Neurology (ECVN), a continuum of PhD students, and the possibility of training residents under the ECVN. One affiliated professor DipECVN is also associated with the group.

The Veterinary Neurology group is a group of highly dedicated and enthusiastic researchers and clinicians with a strong network of leading national and international veterinary and human neurologists and neuroscientists.  The neurology group strongly focuses on clinical research and comparative research, bridging basic science and clinical medicine. The main activities are currently focused on clinical and comparative studies of autoimmune inflammatory brain disease, canine dementia, epilepsy, and neuropathic pain that display the defining attributes of similar diseases in humans and thus are interesting natural animal models for investigations of genetic, neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory disease mechanisms as well as biomarkers of disease.

The Veterinary Clinical Neurology group runs a busy hospital referral service, seeing primarily secondary and tertiary neurology referrals in addition to the hospital’s first-opinion neurology patients. We also provide advice services and continuous professional education seminars for fellow veterinarians in primary practice and an international postgraduate master’s program within Companion Animal Clinical Sciences (www.cacs.ku.dk). The Veterinary Clinical Neurology group at the Dept. of Veterinary Clinical Sciences runs the only veterinary clinical neurology specialist center in Denmark.

Job description 
In considering applications for the full professorship, the main emphasis will be on the applicant´s ability to document a high level of original scientific work at an international level in veterinary clinical and comparative neurology.

The professor is expected to participate actively in the development of independent research projects and clinical studies within the field of clinical comparative neurology and further strengthen the inter- and cross-disciplinary research platform from which the neurology group’s research takes its outset. The professor is expected to interact with external researchers and private enterprises both nationally and internationally. Veterinary clinical neurology is a core discipline in the veterinary curriculum as part of veterinary education in Denmark. In addition, final-year students choosing to specialize in companion animals have additional practical neurology rotations within their coursework, and master thesis students are associated with research projects in neurology. The professor will, therefore, be expected to take a leadership role in teaching and assessing undergraduate students within neurology, participate in teaching veterinarians at a post-graduate level, and assist and promote the development of further teaching strategies within this field. Furthermore, the professor is also expected to participate in administrative duties actively.

The professor’s responsibilities will primarily consist of:

• Research, including publication/academic dissemination
• Research-based teaching, including associated examination
• Research leadership, including guidance and supervision of researchers
• Gaining research funding from national and international funding agencies
• Obligation to share knowledge with the rest of society, including participation in public debate
• Academic assessments
• Supervision and assistance of colleagues and referring veterinarians within the field of clinical and comparative neurology
• Training of PhD students, residents, and colleagues within the field of clinical and comparative neurology

Required qualifications

To be qualified for a professor position, you will be assessed according to these six overall criteria for recognising merit at the University of Copenhagen: Research, teaching, societal impact, organisational contribution, external funding, and leadership. Find information about each criterion.

Furthermore, each applicant must be able to:

• Document a high degree of original academic production at an international level, including considerable contributions to the development of the academic discipline
• Document a record of achieving national or international funding
• Manage research and other management functions, e.g. engage in the university’s external academic    activities, as well as knowledge and technology transfer
• Provide research-based teaching
• Show evidence of teaching qualifications and pedagogical competencies
• Hold a DVM with a license to practice in Denmark, or be willing to apply for such within 6 months
• Hold a PhD or similar in veterinary clinical neurology
• Hold a specialist certification (National Danish Specialist in Veterinary Neurology or European or American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Companion Animal Neurology)
• Document solid experience within academic administration and project management
• Qualifications within one or more of the following scientific areas within veterinary and comparative neurology: companion animal clinical neurology and working with referral neurology cases, comparative animal central nervous system disease models, autoimmune mechanisms, and metabolomics.

Terms of employment 
The position is permanent. The average weekly working hours are 37 hours per week.

Salary and other terms and conditions of appointment are set in accordance with the Agreement between the Ministry of Finance and AC (Danish Confederation of Professional Associations) or other relevant professional organisations. The position is covered by the Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities 2020.

Questions
For further information, please contact Head of Section Jørgen Koch,  koch@sund.ku.dk.

Foreign applicants may find this link useful: https://www.ism.ku.dk/ (International Staff Mobility).

Application
The application must be submitted in English and must include the following documents:

• Application, including information about external funding (Maximum 2 pages)
• Curriculum vitae, including information about external funding
• Diplomas (Master’s, PhD, and other relevant certificates)
• A complete list of publications
• Research plan (3‐5 pages)
• Upload of maximum 5 publications to be considered in the assessment
• Teaching plan
• Teaching portfolio (Guidelines: https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/job-application-portfolio)

Application procedure 
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointments Committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment. The Dean then appoints an expert assessment committee in order to make an assessment of the selected applicants for the specific post. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee, and each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself. You can read about the recruitment process at https://jobportal.ku.dk/

Please note that the applicant will be contacted if the assessment committee requires further documentation. The applicant will be assessed according to Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities. The University of Copenhagen encourages all interested applicants to apply for this position.

Please submit the application with the required attachments. Only online applications will be accepted. The closing date for applications is 23.59 p.m. CET, 2 June 2025.

Interviews for this position are likely to be held on 22 September 2025.