Associate Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor, tenure track) in Political Science
Type of employment: Fixed-term employment, 4 years
Extent: 100 %
Location: Department of Political Science, Gothenburg
First day of employment: 2017-08-15, latest by 2017-09-01
Reference number: PER 2016/661
The Department of Political Science has an open climate which encourages involvement in broader societal debates. Research areas of specialization include elections, democracy, corruption, governance, globalization, environmental politics as well as European studies. The department houses research programs such as QoG institute, Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), Governance and local development (GLD) and The Swedish Election Studies Program. The department offers education on all levels; undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate, carried out in both English and Swedish. We have a total of 1,400 students enrolled in our courses, and 140 people are employed at the Department. The Department is centrally located in the city of Gothenburg.
Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a new large-scale data collection and research-program. The V-Dem Institute, Directed by Professor Staffan I. Lindberg, has received several large-scale grants from among others the European Commission, several from ministries of foreign affairs, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, The Swedish Research Council, and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
http://www.pol.gu.se/varianter-pa-demokrati–v-dem-/
https://v-dem.net.
Subject area
Political Science
Specific subject description
Political science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, nation, government, and politics and policies of government on a national and international perspective.
Job assignments
The Assistant Professor (Associate Senior Lecturer) is primarily expected to conduct research with a focus on the main questions of the research program «Failing and Successful Sequences of Democratization», in collaboration with others on the project funded by the European Research Council Consolidator Grant. You can download the project description from http://pol.gu.se/english/varieties-of-democracy–v-dem-.
In addition, the successful applicant is expected to teach in the department and to contribute to the daily activities of the V-Dem Institute (as needed with administrative tasks, coding and quality control, data management etc). Research is, however, guaranteed at a minimum of 50 percent of full time employment (FTE).
Eligibility
Eligibility for this position is stated in Chapter 4, subsec. 12 a, and 12 b of the Higher Education Ordinance and in the University of Gothenburg’s Appointments Procedure for Teachers. Applicants with a doctorate in a subject area relevant to the position, or with equivalent competence, not older than seven years at the conclusion of the application period, will be given primary consideration. Applicants who have obtained a doctorate earlier may also be considered if there are special reasons. Special reasons include leave of absence due to illness, service in the armed forces or other part of the national defense organization, commissions of trust within professional, union and student organizations, parental leave or other similar circumstances.
Assessment
Applications are evaluated primarily on research excellence, and secondary on merits with regard to teaching.
Internationally recognized scientific excellence in one, or preferably more than one, of the following areas is a requirement:
– Research in the field of comparative democratization
– Significant explicit interest in further extending on and use the sequencing methods developed in the V-Dem research program
– Advanced time-series, cross-sectional regression techniques, preferably including Vector Auto-Regression (VAR)
-Sequencing algorithms, and/or Dynamic Treatment Regimes
Documented experience with teaching at under-/graduate level, including lectures, seminars, and advising on papers, is required.
Documented experience with service to the profession and collaboration with the surrounding community is a merit. The applicant should demonstrate resourcefulness, flexibility, and very good ability to work together in different configurations. Excellence in English (orally and written) is a requirement. We will make an overall assessment of the applicants’ qualifications and potential with regards to the varying tasks that may be required within the «Failing and Successful Sequences of Democratization»-project, and select one judged to complement the rest of the team in the best way possible. Personal qualities relevant for the position are of great importance.
Additional information
Note: The term for this position in Swedish is biträdande lektor. The official translation (in British English) is Associate Senior Lecture. The position is the equivalent to what in the American university system is called Assistant Professor. The equivalent of the position as Senior Lecturer is Associate Professor (in Swedish: universitetslektor).
An Associate Senior Lecturer shall be promoted to Senior Lecturer with tenure, if he or she meets the requirements for promotion in the subject area and according to the criteria of University of Gothenburg. University teacher’s training (15 points worth in the Swedish system) or otherwise acquired equivalents, is a requirement for promotion.
For promotion to Associate Senior Lecture the candidate will also be required to have fulfilled the department’s criteria for ”Docent” (equivalent with Associate Professor), and published research findings addresing the questions of the project «Failing and Successful Sequences of Democratization» in some combination of articles in leading international peer review journals, book and/or a number of book chapters published by leading international press’.
Service to society is expected to be directed towards democracy-promoting actors in particular.
Finally, the candidate must have a one-year old documented ability to teach political science courses in Swedish (evidenced by actual teaching or by certificates in Swedish courses at advanced level)
The application for promotion must be submitted six months before the end of the employment time.
