Professor of General Linguistics - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

On the subject and the content of the position

General linguistics at the Centre for Languages and Literature is an active research environment that conducts research both within the subject and in collaboration with researchers outside the subject, locally, nationally and internationally. We hold subject-based seminars and interdisciplinary seminars and collaborate closely with the Humanities Lab. The objective of general linguistics at Lund University is to become a leading centre for linguistics in Scandinavia within ten years, with successful research teams funded by the Government and large external grants.

The subject aims to further strengthen and develop research on language use, linguistic variation and typology, language technology, historical linguistics, language structure and meaning, language learning and multilingualism, and linguistic representation and processing. The methods used include fieldwork, corpus analysis, interaction analysis, psychophysiology, brain imaging and neurophysiology. We are now looking for an internationally prominent researcher with proven expertise in at least one of these areas.

The subject offers education in the first, second and third cycles, and we supervise postdocs in various research projects. We aim to provide students with a broad education of the highest quality in key areas of general linguistics: grammar, semantics, phonology, pragmatics, discourse, language learning, typology and language processing. General linguistics is also a vital part of the Centre for Language and Literature’s Master’s and PhD programmes in languages and linguistics. Our courses are popular and open to all students of linguistics at the Centre for Languages and Literature, whatever their specialisation.

The position of professor of general linguistics includes (i) responsibility for the development of the subject, and for research and third-cycle education from a national and international perspective; (ii) own research, planning of, participation in and leading of research projects including national and international applications for research funding; (iii) teaching, supervision and course development at all levels including postdoc level; and (iv) administrative tasks. In accordance with the applicable agreement on working hours, the professor must be present at the workplace to the extent required by the organisation and the work duties.

Required qualifications

A person who has demonstrated both research and teaching expertise shall be qualified for employment as a professor. 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.

Applicants who do not speak Swedish, Danish or Norwegian at the time of employment are expected to have acquired sufficient knowledge to use Swedish as a working language within two years.

Additional requirements for employment are

• proven broad theoretical knowledge in key areas of general linguistics as well as knowledge and experience of various empirical methods used in the field
• a PhD or equivalent research expertise of relevance to the subject matter and the duties of the position

When appointing a professor, the following are to serve as criteria for assessment:

• Very good research, teaching, administrative and other skills of significance with reference to the subject area and work duties of the position, as well as other personal abilities of significance for successfully carrying out these duties.
• Very good research qualifications at a very high national and international level, which implies high-quality research with considerable impact in the scientific community and that it has been published in prominent scientific journals and/or as monographs by recognised academic publishers.
• Very good teaching skills, meaning a very good ability to conduct, develop and lead teaching and other teaching activities at different levels and with a variety of teaching methods.
• A good ability to supervise doctoral students, leading to a PhD.
• A good ability to collaborate with wider society and communicate their own activities.
• A good general ability to lead and develop activities.

Research expertise is to be demonstrated through extensive and documented research efforts and by the quality of the applicant’s work, which should be of high national and international standard. The applicant must be able to demonstrate an internationally competitive publication record that demonstrates both breadth and depth. The applicant must also have demonstratedthe ability to plan, initiate, lead and develop research as well as the ability to compete for research funding, and have experience and proven ability in supervision.

Good national and international standing as a researcher includes a broad international network and active participation in the national and international research community. These aspects can be demonstrated, for example, through documented experience of assignments as an expert, editing, peer reviews and project management, membership in formal networks, as well as holding various positions of trust.

Very good teaching skills are demonstrated by both experience of the teaching activities described above and a reflective approach to one’s own teaching role. If the appointee has less than 10 weeks of training in teaching and learning in higher education and/or no training in teaching and learning in higher education in supervising doctoral students, it is expected that such training will be completed during the first two years of employment.

A good general ability to lead and develop activities is demonstrated by a proven track record of leading, coordinating and developing research activities and collaborating with others, successfully and with clear results.

Specific qualifications of additional merit:

• Proven strong ability to initiate, coordinate and lead extensive externally funded research projects involving national and/or international collaborations

The scope of the applicant’s research, in terms of both depth and breadth, is considered to be of particular importance. Equal amounts of attention will be given to the assessment of teaching expertise and to the assessment of research expertise, irrespective of the weighting of these.

Instructions for the application

The application must conform to the instructions that can be downloaded at
www.ht.lu.se/en/the-faculties/academic-vacancies/instructions-for-applicants. The applicant is responsible for making sure that the application is complete, in accordance with the vacancy announcement and instructions, and for submitting it to the University by the application deadline through the recruitment portal.

The Academic Appointments Board normally selects a shortlist of applicants. This selection can be done in one or several steps and if needed with the help of external experts. The applicants who are selected for external assessment may be invited to submit physical copies of the papers that they wish to submit for expert assessment within 14 days.

The applicants who are invited to trial lectures and interviews might be requested to complete their application with a short plan for the activity that they intend to manage within the framework of the possible employment, with special focus on how to develop the environment and which collaborations they plan to establish or further develop locally, nationally and internationally.

Conditions

The university applies individual salary setting.