Professor of Islamic studies - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Islamic studies at CTR

At CTR, Islam is studied as a religion, a culture, an identity and an interpretive tradition. Historically, the area of study has been the Middle East and North Africa, but it is now global. A key starting point is that Islam needs to be interpreted with reference to the society in which it is situated. The consequence of this view is that Islam is seen as neither homogenous nor static, but as a religion in constant development. With roots in the history of religions, Islamic studies is now interdisciplinary, with teaching and research that actively relate to other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

The professor is expected to contribute to the Master’s programme The Religious Roots of Europe with its associated research environment focusing on early Islam, early Christianity and early Judaism. Lund University is also the host of the interdisciplinary strategic research area The Middle East in the Contemporary World (MECW), based at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at the Faculty of Social Sciences. There is an expressed objective that the professorship in Islamic studies is to have an important role in the strategic research environment and strengthen cooperation between these environments and CTR.

Duties

The appointment includes the planning and conducting of first and second cycle teaching in Islamic studies. Teaching, which is both campus-based and online, is in the form of lectures, seminars and supervision. Your own research, the organising of regular research seminars and supervision within third cycle studies accounts for at least 50% of the position. The successful candidate is also expected to actively participate in the department’s joint research activities.

In addition, the successful candidate is expected to apply for research funding for her-/himself and for her/his colleagues and thereby work to establish research environments at the department. Administrative duties are also included in the position. The applicant should be prepared, if required, to take on an academic management assignment. The professor is expected to participate in public debate and collaborate with other internal and external organisations. Therefore, duties at CMES and MECW, for example, may be included in the position.

At CTR, we safeguard the work environment, which is why employees are expected to be actively present at the department and participate in collegial events. Good teamwork skills are a requirement. The ability to teach in English from the first day is a requirement. The successful candidate is expected to be able to teach in Swedish within two years.

Qualifications and assessment

A person who has demonstrated both research and teaching expertise shall be qualified for employment as a professor. The assessment criteria for appointment as a professor shall be the degree of the expertise required as a qualification for employment. For appointment as a professor there is a requirement for training in teaching and learning in higher education amounting to at least five weeks or that equivalent knowledge has been acquired in some other way.

For appointments to professor, the following shall form the assessment criteria:

• a very high level of research, teaching, administrative and other expertise that is of value in view of the subject matter of the post and the duties that it will involve, as well as the personal skills in general that are important for successfully carrying out the duties
• a very high level of research qualifications including a very good national and international standing as a researcher
• a very high level of teaching expertise which involves a very good ability to conduct, develop and lead teaching and other educational activities on different levels and using a variety of teaching methods
• a good ability to supervise doctoral students to achieve a PhD
• a good ability to engage with wider society and communicate his or her activities
• a good general ability to lead and develop activities.

In addition to the above, the following are specific qualifications, in order of priority, which should be documented thoroughly in the application:

• experience of research focusing on both present-day and historical Islam
• Arabic language skills
• experience of having initiated and formulated strategically important research applications
• experience of educational development that includes digital tools and teaching environments
• experience of interdisciplinary research and/or education and own research in a closely related subject or subjects.

In the assessment, equal consideration is given to teaching expertise and research expertise.

Application

The application must conform to the Instructions that can be downloaded at http://www.ht.lu.se/anvisningar. The applicant is responsible for making sure that the application is complete, in accordance with the vacancy announcement and instructions, and for scanning the application and submitting it to the University by the application deadline through the recruitment portal.

The Academic Appointments Board normally selects a shortlist of applicants. These applicants are then requested to each submit up to 10 publications for assessment. Publications in digital form cannot be used instead of printout versions.

Conditions

Lund University applies individual wage setting.