Associate professor or tenure-track assistant professor in theoretical condensed matter/materials ph

The Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Denmark (www.phys.au.dk) invites applications for a permanent associate professor or tenure-track assistant professor position in theoretical condensed matter/materials physics/surface science, complementing and strengthening existing activities. 
 
The position is open from June 1st 2021 or as soon as possible thereafter. 
 
Your profile
The successful candidate will establish an independent research activity within theoretical condensed matter/materials physics/surface science at the department. We are looking for applicants with a prior record of developing applications, and methodologies in their respective fields, who have demonstrated the ability to conduct collaborative research with experimental groups. The successful candidate is expected to be a team player and to contribute to the development of the research fields within the Department. The candidate is specifically expected to develop and strengthen condensed matter, materials physics and/or surface science across the Department, possibly in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry and/or interdisciplinary materials science centers at Aarhus University, e.g. iNano and iMat.

Applicants must have a satisfactory record of original scientific research at a high international level and they are invited to document examples of collaborative research and external funding. Applicants must hold a PhD in physics or similar, and be able to teach physics at all levels of the University curriculum.  The assessment of applicants (in particular for the associate professor level) will include an evaluation of their teaching experience and qualifications. Applicants should therefore provide a teaching portfolio, which documents their experience with all facets of university teaching, including the supervision of MSc and PhD students, depending on the level of application. It should be clearly stated if the application targets the associate professor or the tenure-track assistant professor level.

Equality and diversity
The department is committed to promoting equality and diversity. In addition to the research and teaching track records, the successful applicant is thus encouraged to show a genuine commitment to developing the role and identifying the talent of under-represented groups in physics, and demonstrate an interest in contributing to innovative programs that will target these groups at all levels.  

Who we are
The Department of Physics and Astronomy is a department at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark. The main objectives of the Department are to carry out research at the highest international level, to offer research based teaching at Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and PhD levels, and to exchange knowledge with other areas of society, e.g. by offering our expertise to industrial partners and the business world.

The Department is an attractive workplace for researchers, teachers, technicians, laboratory technicians and administrators and has a good study environment with many talented and active students at all levels. The research at the Department of Physics and Astronomy is of high quality, attracts significant international attention – in several fields the Department is within the world elite – and is characterized by many international collaborations with other high-ranking universities and research institutions around the world.

The successful candidate is offered:

• access to a well-developed research infrastructure
• a research climate inviting lively, open and constructive discussion within and across different fields of research
• a working environment with teamwork, close working relations, network activities among young scientists and social activities
• a workplace characterized by professionalism, equality and a healthy work-life balance
• A job where the overall environment in Denmark is family-friendly, safe and relaxed – contributing to Denmark consistently being voted amongst the happiest nations in the world.

Place of work and area of Employment
The place of work is Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus C and the area of employment is Aarhus University with related departments.

Job description
Your tasks include (depending on seniority):

• high quality teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels, including existing courses and development of new courses
• The successful candidate must accept to learn Danish within a time-span of 3 years, to be able to teach at the undergraduate level in Danish
• lead your own ambitious and competitive research program within the research field as well as contributing to joint research in collaboration with colleagues at the institute
• research leadership and ability to define and manage research projects.
• conduct creative and innovative research activities at the highest international level
• attract external funding from national and international funding bodies and create a vision on how to further develop this activity together with your network
• participate in advisory work for the national authorities if needed
• participate in the administration and development of the department
• strengthen national and international cooperation within the research area
• develop and enhance interdisciplinary collaboration within the Department, and between the Department and relevant national and international research communities
• establish synergies between your own research and other related research activities to secure the needed interdisciplinary approaches
• participation in international and national networks of researchers as well as international project applications/maintain a strong national and international network of contacts with leading research groups, as well as pursuing industrial contacts if relevant
• be open for effective knowledge exchange with society, companies, and industry
• mentor junior researchers in for example attracting competitive funding, career development etc.
• participate in supervision of Bachelor, Master’s, and PhD students

Contact information
Further information can be obtained from the Head of Department Ulrik I. Uggerhøj through e-mail to ulrik@phys.au.dk

Deadline
1.2.21

Natural Sciences Tenure Track
Aarhus University offers talented scientists from around the world attractive career perspectives via the Natural Sciences Tenure Track Programme. Highly qualified candidates are appointed as Assistant Professors for a period of six years with the prospect of performance- based advancement to a tenured Associate Professorship position.

The aim of the Natural Sciences Tenure Track Programme is to:

• attract outstanding talented individuals that are competitive at an international level
• to promote the early development of independent research success early in the career of scientists
• to create transparency in the academic career path

As part of the tenure track position, the candidate is offered:

• access to research infrastructure
• capability development, including postgraduate teacher training
• a mentoring programme
• support to develop scientific networks and to secure interdisciplinary research at the highest level

As part of the Aarhus University Tenure Track Programme, the University carries out a mid-way evaluation to review the progress of the tenure track candidate after three years, according to the same criteria used in the final tenure review. The final tenure review is conducted after five and a half years. If the review is positive, the candidate will be offered a tenured position as Associate Professor at Aarhus University.

Please refer to the tenure track guidelines for the tenure review criteria and for the tenure review process.

Application procedure
Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the assessment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. The selection is made on the basis of an assessment of who of the candidates are most relevant considering the requirements of the advertisement. All applicants will be notified within 6 weeks whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee and will receive his/her assessment. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.

Letter of reference
If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline. Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.

Formalities and salary range
Natural Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.

Aarhus University
Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,000 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 885 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/