Postdoctoral fellow in Artistic Research in Music - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Malmö Academy of Music announces one Postdoctoral position in the field of Artistic Research in Music. The position as Postdoctoral Fellow is placed at the division of Performance and Church Music Programs, Malmö Academy of Music of Lund University. The employment starts in the fall semester of 2023, dependent upon agreement between candidate and the institution. 

We are looking for a practitioner engaged in any musical activity which may benefit from reflective research. 

Malmö Academy of Music announces a position as Postdoctoral Fellow in Artistic Research in Music, with a special interest in systematic methods from areas such as organology, systematic musicology or music theory that impact the creation and performance of contemporary music. 

Systematic methods founded upon quantitative scientific analysis have recently been engaged into interdisciplinary debate over emergent properties and networks. In daily life, emergence is complex, large-scale behaviour resulting from numerous interactions at smaller scales, such as when thousands of birds’ swarm, moving in harmony without centralized control. In music, one example of large-scale behavior is a composition that results when individual components become entangled to present the illusion of connectivity. 

However, a clear, but disturbing trend reveals that emergent properties rarely occur at the intersections of systematic (scientific) research and contemporary music practice, due to the lack of symbiotic attraction between a musician’s practice and scientific experience. This means that scientific study is in principle focused on well-defined problems within a single dimension which are investigated through tightly controlled and repeatable experiments, which rarely have any influence on the production of contemporary music. On the other hand, the practice of contemporary music generally involves complex behaviors stretching across multiple dimensions which are exceedingly difficult to measure reliably, and thus not convenient to scientific study. So, not only does scientific research often fail to impact real-world musical practice; but also the inverse is true, that musical practice rarely has much impact on scientific study. 

The symbiotic relationship between real-world artistic practice and systematic research methods is at the heart of this Postdoctoral Fellowship. The postdoctoral fellow will engage in research that impacts art production and builds greater epistemic fluency related to music as dynamical system. This means conducting rigorous methodological investigation through disparate, yet interrelated paths involving historical-, practice-, and data-driven study that has the potential to significantly impact the epistemology and practice of contemporary music. The Postdoctoral Fellow will conduct advanced inquiry into the cultural, theoretical, technical, and aesthetic issues surrounding music in consultation with LU/faculty researchers and PhD candidates. 

The postdoctoral fellow shall be an active performer, composer and scholar with a PhD in music or a relevant field with a broad international profile of high standing. Especially desired are candidates who have a practice in contemporary music. 

Professor Michael Edward Edgerton leads the program. The main objective of this postdoctoral fellowship is to contribute to the understanding and practice of contemporary music by developing the symbiotic relations between systematic investigation with contemporary arts practice. Since the mid- 90s, Edgerton has pioneered the applications of vocology to the explorations of experimental voice and is involved with research that spans real-world arts practice to experimental research

The Postdoctoral fellow will work closely with Dr. Edgerton as supervisor. The Fellow is expected to produce research papers broadly related to fields such as organology, systematic musicology and performance.

Eligibility/Entry Requirements
Applicants with basic eligibility are those who:
- have completed a PhD in music or related discipline awarded no more than three years ago (unless the applicant has been on parental leave or leave due to illness)

Specific admission requirement, the applicant is eligible who has: 
- international standing within applicants’ field
- an active artistic career
- high level of technical expertise 
- aptitude and ability to conduct independent research
- practical experience with the aesthetics and development of contemporary art music 

Basis of Assessment
A good ability to develop and carry out high-quality research or artistic activities, and teaching skill. High level artistic practice and scholarly proficiency are two of the requirements for employment. The candidate must have demonstrated a high degree of research expertise with an excellent ability to develop and carry out high-quality research or artistic activities as manifested in the quality of the PhD dissertation and/or publications. 

The evaluation will take personal qualities, such as willingness to collaborate, academic independence, and communication skills, into consideration. 

Applications should be written in English and must include: 

1. Cover letter
2. Curriculum Vitae
3. Publication list Certificates 
4. References, etc
5. Portfolio of creative outputs 

Eligible applicants' proposals will be evaluated according to assessments of the following criteria
- the applicant’s suitability for artistic research
- the quality and viability of the presented project within the given time frames
- the quality of the research proposal considering relevance, originality, research questions, connection to the collective field of knowledge, and methods. 

Malmö Academy of Music offers researchers in artistic research facilities as: 
- first-rate facilities for creative work and production
- active networks across Lund University to conduct practice-led and collaborative research
- excellent opportunities to share and present research to peers and the wider academic community - higher level research seminar series
- participation in national and international interdisciplinary research labs
- fully equipped practice facilities, electroacoustic and recording studios
- facilities at Lund University for empirical research in the psychology of music and experimental research in voice
- programs inviting internationally recognized performers and composers to present practice-led research
- masterclasses and performances with experts in the field
- personalized skills training and expert career advice
- the opportunity to become part of an inspiring, collaborative group of researchers from across the disciplines
- the possibility for the researcher to acquire teaching and supervisory experience 

The practice and sharing of research is supported by the platform Inter Feral Arts for artistic and experimental research in music (https://www.iac.lu.se/projects/inter-feral-arts-7/) 

For examples of recent outputs in the artistic research program at Lund University, please see the following archive at https://www.youtube.com/@artisticresearcharchivemalmoac/videos 

Terms of employment 
The employment is time-limited to two years full-time according to the collective agreement as a postdoctoral fellow (Arbetsgivarverket). An appointment as a postdoctoral fellow is intended as an initial step in the career and as an opportunity to further deepen and broaden research competence.