Lund University, Faculty of Science, Department of Physical Geograhy and Ecosystem Science

Lund University was founded in 1666 and is repeatedly ranked among the world’s top universities. The University has around 47 000 students and more than 8 800 staff based in Lund, Helsingborg and Malmö. We are united in our efforts to understand, explain and improve our world and the human condition.

Lund University welcomes applicants with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We regard gender equality and diversity as a strength and an asset.

The Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science has about 100 employees, the majority being active within research. Research groups within biogeophysics/biogeochemistry, ecosystem science, remote sensing, GIS and climatology investigate landscape and ecosystem processes based on laboratory studies, field measurements, data analysis and modelling. The department hosts a Bachelor of Science programme in Physical Geography and Ecosystems Analysis and a Bachelor of Science programme in Meteorology and Biogeophysics. Five Masters programmes are offered (http://www.nateko.lu.se). Undergraduate programmes have a strong participation by international students, and all teaching is given in English.

Description of the position
The Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science (INES) is seeking to recruit a Senior University Lecturer whose principal duties will be to lead and contribute to research and postgraduate training in Ecosystem Science with a specialisation in Macroecology and Applied Biogeography. The appointee will also participate in development and teaching of the undergraduate curriculum of the department. The proportion of time devoted to research and postgraduate training depends on access to external research funds and relative proportions of research, teaching and other duties may change over time.

Interactions and linkages across scales are of fundamental importance for ecological processes, affecting future patterns and levels of ecosystem services and biodiversity. The appointed Senior University Lecturer will be a senior scholar within the field of macroecology and applied biogeography, specifically the study of large-scale processes and interactions that characterise and underpin the coupled dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity on regional to global scales, particularly in response to anthropogenic drivers, perturbations and threats. Relevant themes include the characterisation of regional and global land use, biodiversity and ecosystem changes and their attribution to global change drivers and response mechanisms. The assessment of policy and management measures targeting mitigation of and adaptation to global change and its impacts on biological systems constitutes a related theme of relevance for the position.

The appointee will be expected to establish a research programme of high international quality within one or more of the research themes described above, and to establish linkages and cooperation with existing relevant research areas at INES and within the Strategic Research Area Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate (BECC; http://www.becc.lu.se). The research performed should be in line with relevant international science agendas, for example as articulated within core programmes of Future Earth and Horizon 2020.

The appointee will be required to apply for and raise external research funds from Swedish and international funding agencies in order to finance establishment and running costs for the envisaged research, including contributions to own and research group members’ salary costs.

The appointee will be expected to contribute to the development and teaching of postgraduate courses and to supervise doctoral and other graduate student research on topics that complement, strengthen and extend the existent postgraduate training at INES and within BECC. 

Additional duties will include the development, coordination and teaching of undergraduate courses and course units from basic to advanced level on relevant topic areas within Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science. Supervision of Bachelors’ and Masters’ level dissertation projects is expected.

The appointee will be expected to be active in outreach and stakeholder engagement, developing contacts and collaboration within other sections of Lund University and with authorities, organisations and private individuals having a stake in the research performed and the societal issues it addresses.

Appointees to a Senior University Lecturer position having attained a sufficiently high level of academic achievement have the possibility to apply for promotion to Professor. 

Qualifications
Those qualified for appointment as a senior lecturer, except in disciplines in the fine, applied or performing arts, are according to the Swedish Higher Education Ordinance, a person who has demonstrated teaching expertise and been awarded a PhD or has the corresponding research competence or some other professional expertise that is of value in view of the subject matter of the post and the duties that it will involve. Ordinance (2010:1064).

Appointees must possess a doctoral degree or equivalent in Physical Geography, Ecosystem Science or another field of relevance to the position.

The successful candidate will have a strong research track record in the study of the ecological and geographic processes whose responses to global environmental change govern large-scale vegetation patterns, ecosystem composition, and ecosystem functions of value to human society. The successful candidate will be experienced in the synthesis of large-scale data sets, or in the application of modelling or model-data fusion approaches, to characterise regional and global patterns of land use, land cover and terrestrial biodiversity and their responses to global change drivers and trends, or in the application of similar methods to the assessment of proposed policies and management interventions in the face of regional to global-scale ecosystem and biodiversity change. 

Experience from participation in relevant international research projects and programmes, especially at a scientific leadership level, is a requirement for the position.

Applicants will be evaluated based on their degree of academic achievement including scientific productivity in terms of quality and quantity of scientific publications, external research funding raised in international competition, and leadership experience from international research networks and programmes. A research plan must be included as part of the application. In the ranking of applicants, emphasis will be placed on an appraisal of how the applicant, by means of her/his experience, expertise and planned research may be expected to enhance and develop research within the field of Ecosystem Science with a specialisation in Macroecology and Applied Biogeography at INES and within the context of BECC. 

Qualified candidates will have:

- a demonstrated track record in the successful acquisition, independently or as leader of an applicant team, of research funding grants in national and international competition,

- a demonstrated track record of independent and successful scientific leadership within research area(s) of relevance to the appointment,

- achieved international recognition as a scholar in an academic field and topic of relevance for the appointment.

Experience of the supervision of doctoral students up to graduation is an advantage.

Documented experience and skill in the development and teaching of courses at undergraduate level, and the supervision of undergraduate thesis projects, are a requirement for the position. Documented skill in the development and teaching of postgraduate courses is an advantage.

The assessment criteria for appointment as a senior lecturer, according to the Swedish Higher Education Ordinance, shall be the degree of the expertise required as a qualification for employment. As much attention shall be given to the assessment of teaching expertise as to the assessment of other qualifying criteria laid down in the first paragraph above. 

Regulations for the evaluation of qualifications for teaching positions are given in Lund University Appointment Rules.

For example, the candidate must have completed at least five weeks of training in higher education teaching and learning or acquired equivalent knowledge by other means. The overall assessment will also take into consideration any personal capabilities that are of value to carry out the duties of the position well.

It is expected that any non-Swedish speaking appointee within a three-year period will master the Swedish language well enough to be able to teach and to communicate with the university administration in Swedish.

Required content of the application
The Faculty Board has specified instructions for the application and its accompanying documents. These can be found here.

We decline all offers of advertising and recruitment assistance associated with this announcement.

Type of employment Permanent position
Contract type Full time
First day of employment As soon as possible
Salary Monthly
Number of positions 1
Full-time equivalent 100%
City Lund
County Skåne län
Country Sweden
Reference number PA2016/3277
Contact
  • Professor Karin Hall, Department Chairman, +46(0)46-2229579, karin.hall@nateko.lu.se
  • Professor Ben Smith, Scientific Director, +46(0)46-2224354, ben.smith@nateko.lu.se
  • Recruitment Officer Helen Johansson, +46(0)46-2223609, helen.johansson@science.lu.se
Union representative
  • OFR/ST:Fackförbundet ST:s kansli, 046-222 93 62, st@st.lu.se
  • SACO:Saco-s-rådet vid Lunds univ, 046-222 93 64, kansli@saco-s.lu.se
  • SEKO: Seko Civil, 046-222 93 66, sekocivil@seko.lu.se
Published 14.Oct.2016
Last application date 31.Jan.2017 11:59 PM CET

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