Institution: Aarhus University, The School of Culture and Society, Department of Global Studies
Location: Denmark
Position: Assistant Professor

The School of Culture and Society, Department of Global Studies, at Aarhus University invites applications for an assistant professorship in Asian Studies with a special focus on contemporary socio-political trends in East Asia, in particular in Japan and its relation to the neighbouring countries.

The assistant professorship is a full-time position available from 1 January 2017 or as soon as possible thereafter. The position is a three-year training position, and subject to appropriate funding there will be an opportunity to apply for a subsequent associate professorship.

Place of employment: Jens Chr. Skous Vej 3-7, 8000 Aarhus C.

The position
The department is seeking an innovative and dedicated person who will contribute to Aarhus University’s core activities in the areas of research, education, talent development and knowledge exchange. We are particularly interested in applicants with a strong research focus on political relations in Asia. We are looking for someone whose centre of research lies on Japan and its relations with East Asia, the broader Asia and Europe. Command of Japanese is a requirement.

We expect the successful applicant to contribute to the development of research and teaching in the field of contemporary Japan within Asia in a cross-disciplinary field of politics, sociology and contemporary history. The assistant professor will be expected to develop collaborative research initiatives with other fields at the School of Culture and Society.

Research
The School of Culture and Society emphasises high-quality research and attaches great importance to interdisciplinary collaboration, participation in collective research projects, and the ability to attract external research funding. Accordingly, applicants must have a strong profile and track record in the study of the international relations of Japan with its neighbouring countries in East Asia or the broader Asia, mainly in a contemporary perspective. We are particularly interested in applicants whose training and recent research integrates Asian Studies with international relations or political studies and is willing to participate in multidisciplinary research activities locating Japan in a broader East Asian/Asian and global context.

Education
The successful applicant must be willing to participate in multidisciplinary teaching locating Japan in a broader East Asian/Asian and global context. He or she must be prepared to teach socio-political trends in contemporary Japan/East Asia at all levels, i.e. the undergraduate and graduate degree programmes in Asian Studies including contributions to courses in the broader field of Global Studies as well as auxiliary theoretical and methodological subjects in these programmes. He or she will also be expected to participate in the further development of a new interdisciplinary MA in Global Studies with focus on the language-based area studies at the school (at the moment Brazil, China, India, Japan and Russia), and to contribute to the department’s academic environment, including collaboration with other relevant academic programmes. Please see this link:http://cas.au.dk/en/about-the-school/departments/global-studies/

The person appointed to the post will be obliged to complete a course in university teaching especially designed for assistant professors.

Talent development
The assistant professor will be expected to develop his or her supervision capabilities at both BA and MA levels.

Knowledge exchange
It is expected that the successful applicant will engage in knowledge exchange as mentioned in the strategy for the Faculty of Arts, for instance in research cooperation with private companies, government consultancy, cooperation with civil society actors or public dissemination of knowledge. Applicants should document any prior experience within the field of knowledge exchange.

For further information about the position, please contact associate professor Anemone Platz phone+45 87 16 23 28 e-mail ostap@cas.au.dk

Qualifications
Applicants must have a PhD degree or equivalent qualifications in political science, sociology or related fields, and must also document:

– An internationally oriented research profile.
– A relevant and internationally oriented publication profile
– Sufficient language proficiency in Japanese required to work in a language-based area programme.
– Interest in teaching in areas of relevance to Asian Studies and political science, as well as mastery of English in the classroom.
– Experience of or interest in initiating and participating in collaborative projects with other research and teaching programmes and in international contexts.
– Experience of or potential for obtaining external research funding.
– Experience of or interest in supervising student projects and interest in researcher talent development.
– Mastery of academic English in the classroom, as the successful applicant will be expected to teach courses in English.

Applicants are expected to contribute to the department’s academic environment. We emphasise the importance of good working relationships, both among colleagues and with our students, and participation in the daily life of the department is a high priority.

Applications must be submitted in English.

If the successful applicant is not fluent in Danish, he or she will be expected to learn Danish within a period of approximately two years.

For more information about the application, please contact HR supporter Marianne Birn, e-mailmbb@au.dk.

Work environment
The Department of Global Studies has a focus on regional and trans-regional research, and aims to provide a distinct approach to and understanding of the conditions of our contemporary globality. By combining cutting-edge area studies with history and the social sciences, the Department of Global Studies offers education and research which combine distinct knowledge about certain areas, their languages and cultures with state-of-the-art academic research in the emergent field of Global Studies. Please see web address above.

Asian Studies (Japan, China, India and South Asia Studies) are closely integrated with other language-based area studies as well as with International Studies.

School of Culture and Society
At the School of Culture and Society the object of research and teaching is the interplay between culture and society in time and space:

– From the traditional disciplines of the humanities and theology to applied social research
– From Antiquity to the issues facing contemporary societies
– From familiar Danish cultural forms to other very different worlds
– From local questions to global challenges.

The school’s goal is to produce compelling research with an international resonance, as well as offering teaching and talent development of high quality. The school has a broad cooperative interface with society, both in Denmark and abroad, and contributes to social innovation, research communication and further and continuing education.

For a more detailed description of the School of Culture and Society, please see this website:http://cas.au.dk/en/

Qualification requirements

Applicants should hold a PhD or equivalent academic qualifications.

Formalities

• Faculty of Arts refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities (the Appointment Order).
• Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations .
• Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in theMemorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities .
• Further information on the application and supplementary materials may be found in Applicant Guidelines.
• The application must outline the applicant’s motivation for applying for the position, attaching a curriculum vitae, a teaching portfolio, a complete list of published works, copies of degree certificates and no more than five examples of academic production. Please upload this material electronically along with your application.

In the absence of any statement to the contrary, applications must be submitted in English.

All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background.

Deadline

All applications must be made online and received by: 3/10/2016

Please apply online at au.dk/en/about/vacant-positions/

Faculty of Arts

The Faculty of Arts is one of four main academic areas at Aarhus University.

The faculty contributes to Aarhus University’s research, talent development, knowledge exchange and degree programmes.

With its 500 academic staff members, 260 PhD students, 12,500 BA and MA students, and 2,500 students following continuing/further education programmes, the faculty constitutes a strong and diverse research and teaching environment.

The Faculty of Arts consists of the School of Communication and Culture, the School of Culture and Society, the Danish School of Education, and the Centre for Teaching Development and Digital Media. Each of these units has strong academic environments and forms the basis for interdisciplinary research and education.
The faculty’s academic environments and degree programmes engage in international collaboration and share the common goal of contributing to the development of knowledge, welfare and culture in interaction with society.

Read more at arts.au.dk/en

Aarhus University is a modern, 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 42,500 students and 11,500 employees, and has an annual budget of EUR 860 million. Over the course of the past decade, the university has consolidated its position in the top 100 on the most influential rankings of universities world-wide. Learn more at www.au.dk/en.