Tenure-track assistant professor in private law with a special focus on maritime law

The Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, is seeking applications for a permanent position in private law with a special focus on maritime law. The position is available from July 1, 2023, or as soon as possible.

The position includes research-, teaching- and administrative responsibilities. Teaching is expected to be related to one or more Bachelor courses: Law of Obligations, Tort and Contract Law or Property Law and Creditor Rights. Teaching in these courses are conducted in Danish.

Research
The position is linked to an externally funded project concerning the legal implications of the green transition in shipping (GreenLaSH) and candidates must dedicate a major part of their research time to this project in the period 2023-2027.

The project takes its starting point in the new regulatory framework for green shipping and investigates the consequences of this with regard to various issues including contracts and liability. The project is based in SHOC (Shipping and Ocean Law Group) at the Law Faculty. Read more here:  https://jura.ku.dk/english/shoc/
For further information about the project, please contact professor Vibe Ulfbeck, e-mail: Vibe.Ulfbeck@jur.ku.dk.

Teaching:
The Faculty is interested in applicants who can contribute with research-based teaching in private law in one or more of the following courses at Bachelor -level:

• Law of Obligations
• Tort and Contract Law
• Property Law and Creditor Rights

Since the position connected to mandatory courses taught in Danish, it is a condition that applicants can acquire a sufficient level to teach in Danish in one or more of the above-mentioned courses within 3-6 years. The faculty supports the process of learning Danish actively.

Applicants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with research and study programs at the faculty:

Research at Faculty of Law

Teaching at Faculty of Law and Teaching and structure at the Bachelor Degree (LL.B) (in Danish only)

Qualification requirements
The position requires scientific qualifications such as a PhD or equivalent within the research area. Knowledge of Nordic maritime law is an advantage.

The overall assessment of the applicant will emphasize the applicant’s research and teaching potential.

The faculty emphasizes the applicant’s interest in development and implementation of new strong research ideas with international impact. Emphasis is also placed on the applicant’s interest and engagement in teaching and development of courses and creating coherence between research and teaching. Experience with publishing research in well-known international journals or publishers as well as external funding will be an advantage but not a requirement. A broad documented teaching profile and completed pedagogical course will be an advantage.

Emphasis is placed on the applicant’s interest and experience with collaboration with other researchers and ability to complete joint research and teaching projects.

Six overall criteria apply for assistant professor appointments at the University of Copenhagen. The six criteria (research, teaching, societal impact, organizational contribution, external funding, and leadership) are considered a framework for the overall assessment of candidates. Furthermore, each candidate must be assessed according to the specific requirements stated in the job advertisement.

You can read more about the criteria UCPH criteria here: Criteria for recognizing merit – University of Copenhagen

Find more information for recognizing merit for assistant professors here: 5a_Criteria_for_recognising_merit_- Assistant_professors.pdf

The position as tenure-track assistant professor 
A tenure-track assistant professorship is a six-year, fixed-term academic position involving both research and teaching. The successful candidate will be obliged to complete a teacher-training course designed especially for assistant professors and will be expected to be able to take part in all the activities of the faculty, including examinations and administration. For candidates who are not able to teach in Danish at the time of the commencement of the employment, a plan must be developed for how to achieve the necessary competences to teach private law courses in Danish.

Approximately six months before the end of the six-year period as assistant professor, a committee set up by the Dean will assess whether the assistant professor can be considered for promotion to a tenured position as associate professor. 

Read more about the tenure-track program at the University of Copenhagen here: https://employment.ku.dk/tenure-track/tenure-track-at-ucph/

Read more about qualification requirements to assistant professors in the memorandum “Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities 2019”.

Application
Letter of motivation, appendixes and the submitted scientific publications, incl. papers, articles, and books, must be written in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, or English.

The application MUST include the following 8 elements:

1. Application / letter of motivation
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Diplomas. Documentation of qualifications (degrees/diplomas, PhD diploma etc.)
4. Publications list. Complete numbered list of publications.
5. Teaching portfolio. This must include documentation for teaching qualifications, evaluations as well as a brief statement of the applicant's teaching visions within the research area. For more information regarding teaching portfolio, applicants are encouraged to read the University guidelines for teaching portfolios when appointing academic staff at the University of Copenhagen.
6. Research plan. An outline of planned research activities, including publication plans for the GreenLaSH project and plans for applications for external funding. The plan must also document the applicant’s skills to contribute to research in the Research Group SHOC (Shipping and Ocean Law Group) in CEPRI (Centre for private governance). Furthermore, it must show how research can benefit the students in one or more of the faculty’s study programmes.
7. Publications. A maximum of five (5) scientific publications that the applicant wishes to have included in the assessment, of which no more than two (2) may be monographs. Applicants, who have written a PhD thesis or equivalent, must always submit the complete thesis and the written assessment of the thesis as a part of submitted publications if the thesis is written in one of the languages mentioned below. A PhD thesis written in another language may be submitted, but the Assessment Committee is not required to assess the thesis. The submitted research publications must be written in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, or English.
8. Co-author declaration. If citing work where the applicant has been a co-author, a co-author declaration, which addresses the applicant's share of these works, must be submitted. Material that has not yet been published can be submitted. However, please indicate if this is the case.

In addition to the material, which the applicant wishes to include in the assessment, the Assessment Committee may require further material for the assessment of the applicant. It is the applicant’s responsibility to provide such supplementary material should this be requested.

Application procedure
The application, appendixes and the submitted scientific publications must be uploaded electronically using the link below. We advise you to have the above-mentioned documents ready before you begin to fill out your online application, and it is essential that all required documents are enclosed.

Applications must be addressed to the Dean.

An automatically generated message is sent out acknowledging receipt of the uploaded application.

Applicants will be kept informed about the process of the application procedure on a regular basis via email.

Following the application deadline, the Dean selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointments Committee. Applicants are selected on the basis of an overall assessment of the applicants that best match the recruitment needs of the faculty as described in this 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 portfolio and any research/development plan.  All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been submitted for assessment by an 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.

University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding society and therefore encourages all interested parties regardless of personal background to apply for the position.

For further information about the position, please contact Dean Jacob Graff Nielsen, e-mail: dekan@jur.ku.dk.

Further information about the application procedure is available from HR, e-mail: hrsc@hrsc.ku.dk. Please refer to ID number 211-0170/23-2N #1

Salary and terms of employment
The appointment is temporary for a duration of two (2) years and will be made in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikernes Centralorganisation, AC). In addition to the basic salary, you will receive an annual supplement per month and a total contribution to your pension fund equal 17,1 % of your salary and annual supplement is paid. It is possible to negotiate further salary supplements.

Participation in the Faculty’s educational programme for Assistant Professors is obligatory.

The application deadline is 27 March 2023, 23:59 (CEST)

Applications received after the deadline has expired will not be accepted.

If your application does not include all the required supporting documents your application will be rejected and will not be considered by the assessment committee.