Associate senior lecturer in private law, specialising in property law - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Lund University is a full-scale and research-intensive university, and the only Swedish university to be part of the strong international networks League of European Research Universities (LERU) and Universitas 21 (U21). Lund University has partner universities in close to 70 countries and attracts more international students than any other higher education institution in Sweden. 

The Faculty of Law is characterised by internationalisation, the intertwining of education and research, interdisciplinarity, as well as close and boundary-crossing collaboration with wider society. The Faculty’s research environment and PhD-education are markedly international and, alongside the professional law degree, the Faculty offers several international Master’s programmes.

Lund University and the Faculty of Law offer an inclusive work environment that fosters development within the broader dynamic research and innovation area of the Öresund region.

Subject

Private law, specialising in property law

Subject description

Private law consists of legal norms that regulate relations between private legal entities and those legal relations between public and private legal entities that are based on voluntary legal acts. 

Property law is a central part of private law. Property law includes, for example, contract, tort, insurance, property and consumer law. The subject is primarily confined to the law in force in Sweden, whether of national, Nordic, European or wider international origin.

No legislation exists on certain private law matters, such as building and construction contracting. Instead, general principles of law are applied based on case law and analogous application of rules from related areas of law. The subject is broadly limited to the law in force in Sweden, whether of national, Nordic, European or broader international origin.

Work duties

The post as associate senior lecturer is a career development position and is to offer opportunities for gaining research and teaching qualifications within the subject area of private law. The position shall to an essential part provide scope for developing research qualifications, and the primary duty is to conduct high quality research. The research must result in national and international publications, and the associate senior lecturer must also actively apply for external funding. 

Additional duties include teaching in the faculty’s undergraduate, Master’s and PhD programmes, as well as in distance learning and contract education. The successful candidate will have special responsibility for research and teaching within the subject area of property law, especially Swedish property law. 

Furthermore, he or she is to maintain and further develop a stimulating research and study environment through teaching, supervision and collaboration with teaching staff, researchers, doctoral students, students and external contacts, and to contribute to the faculty’s other activities. 

The researchers and teachers at the Faculty are expected to contribute to a dynamic research environment as well as to other Faculty activities, and to perform work primarily in the workplace provided by the Faculty.

The tasks also include participating in an interdisciplinary collaboration with researchers from other faculties within LU (LTH, IIIEE and EHL) in the scope of a project on sustainability and circularity in the construction industry. 

The background to this thematic project initiated by LU is as follows. The construction industry's climate impact, resource consumption and waste generation currently account for 25-35% of Europe's waste. Resource efficiency in the sector is low and the raw materials used are only recovered to a limited extent. Opportunities to limit the consumption of natural resources through re-use, which conserves both resources and embodied energy, are poorly exploited. There is significant potential if recycling can be increased and greater circularity can be achieved. 

The scope of the position shall also provide an opportunity for training in teaching and learning in higher education corresponding to at least five weeks.

Qualifications

A person qualified for appointment as an associate senior lecturer is a person who has been awarded a PhD in legal science or has the corresponding research expertise. Primary consideration should be given to a person who has been awarded a PhD or achieved the equivalent expertise within five years of the deadline for application for employment as an associate senior lecturer. However, a person who has been awarded a PhD or achieved the equivalent expertise at an earlier date may also be considered if there are exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances are sick leave, parental leave or other similar circumstances.

For an associate senior lecturer, the general qualification requirements include being suitable for and having the ability in general that is needed to satisfactorily carry out the duties of the appointment in question.

Assessment criteria 

For appointments to associate senior lecturer, the following shall form the assessment criteria:

• A good ability to develop and carry out high quality research, and teaching skills. For appointments to associate senior lecturer, both research and teaching skills are considered in the assessment. The focus of the assessment shall be on research skills.

Specific emphasis will be placed on:

• Good subject knowledge of Swedish contract law and the principles of its interpretation and application
• Good capacity for interdisciplinary cooperation with other institutions
• Good knowledge of and ability to interact with actors in the construction industry

Emphasis will also be placed on:

• A Swedish, Nordic or European research approach
• Documented international research and teaching experience, for example in the form of publications and conference presentations 

Terms

The position is a fixed term (4 years) full time post. The term is regulated in the Higher Ordinance Ac (HF), chapter 4, Section 12 a.

Promotion to senior lecturer

An associate senior lecturer’s work and qualifications should be evaluated mid-way through the period of employment. The employee shall receive instructions on the specific areas that need to be developed in order to be promoted to senior lecturer employed for an indefinite term.

An associate senior lecturer shall on application be promoted to senior lecturer employed for an indefinite term if he or she has the required qualifications and is deemed to be suitable with reference to the qualification requirements and assessment criteria as stated below. An associate senior lecturer can only apply for promotion once.

The application is to be submitted to the Faculty of law at the latest after 3 years and 6 months of actual service. 

Qualification requirements for senior lecturers 

Those qualified for appointment as a senior lecturer are 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.

The assessment criteria for appointment as a senior lecturer shall be the degree of the expertise required as a qualification for employment. 

To be qualified for employment as a senior lecturer according to Lund University Appointment Rules, an individual shall have completed at least five weeks of training in higher education teaching and learning or acquired equivalent knowledge by other means, unless there are valid reasons. If there are valid reasons, an appointment can still be made. 

Assessment criteria for senior lecturer 

For appointments to senior lecturer, the following shall form the assessment criteria:

• The overall assessment criteria is to demonstrate strong development during the appointment as an associate senior lecturer regarding research expertise, and a development regarding teaching expertise. The assessment of the candidate’s development during the appointment as associate senior lecturer is to take into account the research plan and timetable submitted by the candidate with the application for the post as associate senior lecturer
• A good national and international standing as a researcher or artistic practitioner/researcher. The requirement for international experience shall be assessed with consideration to the character and traditions of the subject
• Good teaching ability, including a good ability to conduct, develop and lead educational activities on different levels and using a variety of teaching methods
• An ability to supervise doctoral students to achieve a PhD
• An ability to engage with wider society and communicate his or her activities
• A good general ability to lead and develop activities, such as experience of administrative and leadership assignments
• The ability to teach in Swedish or another Scandinavian language on the Master of Laws programme is a requirement along with the ability to teach in English

Emphasis will also be placed on:

• Documented ability to formulate research applications for external funding
• Documented international research and teaching experience, for example in the form of publications, research and teaching stays abroad, research collaborations and conference presentations
• Broad subject expertise

Instructions for application 

The application is to be submitted electronically in the Lund University application portal. Additions, in the form of research publications/equivalent, are to be sent in three copies to:

The Faculty of Law, Lund University, Jenny Lindskog, P.O. Box 207, S-221 00 Lund.

The application shall be in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian or English and must include:

• A personal letter
• A CV with appendices (max 10 pages of appendices)
• A complete list of publications 
• A list of the PhD thesis and the three other publications the applicant wants to be considered for assessment (state the DOI code for each publication if one is available)
• The four publications to be considered for assessment
• A description of the planned research activities (including a timetable and publication plan) and plans for the future (max 5 pages)
• A brief summary of teaching activities (such as a list of teaching qualifications, a personal reflection of teaching, a teaching CV (max 3 pages))
• Other documents the applicant wants to submit for assessment

Please note that documents submitted or drawn up as a result of this vacant employment position (such as applications, expert opinions and minutes) as a general rule are public. The documents may thus (with the exception if a document is classified as confidential) be read upon request.

Terms of employment

The University applies individual salary-setting. You are welcome to state your salary expectations in your application.