Job Description

at the University of Southern Denmark, Campus Odense, invites applications for one or more positions as Assistant Professor in Demography. The position(s) are expected to commence October 1, 2024, or soon thereafter.
The position will be either a 6-year tenure track position with the potential for progression to Associate Professor latest after 6 years, or a fixed-term Assistant Professor position of 3 years with the possibility of a 1-year extension. Eligibility to one or the other option will be decided by an assessment committee.
Read more about the tenure track scheme below.
One of the prime directions of the Centre’s research is ageing in modern societies and its diverse implications. We maintain a strong and unique profile in analytical demography, demographic modelling and forecasting. We are expanding to also include more application-oriented research and we plan to develop research strands in fertility and migration. We (1) conduct high-quality research to innovate theory and methods in the field of demography and on topics of high societal relevance, (2) plan on delivering high-quality research-based teaching and supervision at the Population Studies Master’s programme (first cohort to start in Autumn 2024), and (3) disseminate research knowledge to key stakeholders in Denmark and internationally and contribute to on-going public debates.
The new assistant professors are expected to contribute to these efforts and help us become even stronger in developing one of the key research strands. Much of our research is financed by large external grants; our new colleagues are expected to work on these trailblazing projects as well as developing their own projects and apply for funding.
We put great emphasis on successful applicant(s) being able to:

• Publish research at a high international level in areas of relevance to demography, broadly within population aging and reproduction. Specificially, in at least one of the following areas:
  • Inequalities in health, mortality, survival and lifespan
  • Macro level trends, theory and/or modelling of fertility and/or survival
  • Macro level trends, theory and/or modelling of formation and dissolution of unions, families, and/or households
  • Aging, health and morbidity
  • Forecasting fertility and/or survival and/or health/morbidity
  • Population projections
  • Methods development, formal demography and/or mathematical/statistical modelling
  • Fertility analysis
  • Regional demography
  • Migration

In addition, it is highly desirable that the applicant possesses:

• Programming fluency (e.g. R/python) to conduct research
• Statistics, data analysis experience
• Interest in working with some of the best population registry data in the world.
• Interest in analysis of individual and/or aggregate population data
• Interest in interdisciplinary collaborations, and capacity to coordinate joint work in such groups

The applicant is expected to:

• Contribute to development of research projects by, e.g., participating in the development of research projects within the group, working on existing projects, and/or seeking external funding. Of particular relevance is to work on an ERC grant on modelling fertility and survival, developing new methods for population analysis applicable for general populations, that is for human and non-human systems.
• Strengthen the group’s national, international, and interdisciplinary network/research collaborations,
• Support the development of the group’s research, including helping PhD students in their career via e.g., mentorship, co-authorship and introduction to network,
• Conduct teaching and supervision within the Master’s in Population Studies, however on a substantially lower level than that commonly expected at other departments across faculties of SDU.
• Engage in knowledge exchange activities in Denmark or internationally.

For applicants to be deemed qualified for the position of both Tenure-track and fixed term Assistant Professors, they must meet respective criteria described in (please consult the matrix).
To be considered for the 6-year tenure track position we expect the candidate to have in particular:

• A highly promising research profile: This includes an innovative research agenda and a strong research track record and research potential documented by high-quality publications and an ambitious research strategy. This also includes potential and plans for attracting third-party funding.
• Strong methodological skills: Skills in quantitative and/or qualitative methods are considered an advantage.
• Teaching experience and strong interest in innovative teaching: We expect applicants to document experience in university-level teaching as well as to demonstrate interest in contributing to developing a strong teaching profile.
• Keen interest in research cooperation and outreach: We expect applicants to document their ability to engage in professional networks and international research cooperations, and their interest in outreach activities beyond academia.

The Centre believes in fostering a stimulating and inspiring environment for both faculty members and students. The Centre's ambition is therefore to recruit, develop, and retain talented scholars committed to both academic excellence and departmental development. Furthermore, the centre wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and, thus, welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

More information

Please contact Director, Professor Annette Baudisch, e-mail: , tel.: +4565509355.
As mentioned earlier, the position will be either a 6-year tenure track position with the potential for progression to Associate Professor latest after 6 years, or a fixed-term Assistant Professor position of 3 years with the possibility of a 1-year extension. Eligibility to one or the other option will be decided by an assessment committee.

The Danish tenure track scheme

The Danish tenure track scheme is a focused assistant professorship with a guaranteed assessment for a position as associate professor, not limited in time, within the tenure track assistant professor's field of study.
The tenure track assistant professor will be assigned a mentor upon employment. The head of department will further host annual performance- and development reviews to ensure the progress of the assistant professor's development towards meeting the qualifications of an associate professorship. A formal midterm evaluation will be conducted by a committee, consisting of the head of the department and two external researchers with relevant qualifications, with the purpose of ensuring the focus of the assistant professor's activities, as well as to create the basis for the planning of the remaining period.
The transition from assistant professor to associate professor
No later than the 6th year of employment, the tenure track assistant professor is expected to transition into an associate professor position, based on a positive assessment conducted by a formally approved assessment committee, consisting of a chairman appointed by the University of Southern Denmark, as well two external committee members approved by the dean, the academic council and the tenure track committee of the university.
The assessment committee evaluates the tenure track as well as the fixed-term Assistant Professor based on the in . The Faculty of Business and Social Science at SDU expects the successful tenure track assistant professor to have performed, progressed and achieved an acceptable record in accordance with requirements stated in the promotion guidelines.

The Recruitment Process

Appointment to the position requires a PhD or equivalent and will be in accordance with the salary agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations.
An application must include:

• Detailed CV
• An elaborated research plan (max 3 pages) for the next 4 years that describes:
• The potential to advance the field (both empirically and theoretically)
• Relationships to the aim and goals of the relevant research area
• Planned national and international collaborations to support the research plan
• The plans for obtaining external funding to support the research plan
• Certificates/Diplomas (Master and PhD degree)
• Teaching portfolio (please see below)
• Complete list of publications, indicating which publications are most relevant for the position
• Up to 3 of the most relevant publications. Please upload a pdf for each publication. NOTE: If publications have been co-authored, co-author statements must be a part of this pdf and must include information like in this . The statement is just for your inspiration.
• Please attach the PhD dissertation as a publication, if such exist. Furthermore, applicants applying for an assistant professorship are requested to submit a teaching portfolio with the application as documentation for teaching experience as well as supervision qualifications. Formal application instructions and guide for teaching portfolio may be found

Please note that the Assistant Professor may be expected to contribute to the ongoing external grants of the Centre depending on his qualification, needs, and upon agreement with CPop Director. Thus, the candidate may not be expected to carry out fully the research plan she/he presents in the application.
All non-Danish documents must be translated into English.
Applications that are incomplete with regards to the above requirements may be rejected without any substantive evaluation.
Assessment of applications will be done under existing Appointment Order for universities. Applications will be assessed by an academic assessment committee that determines whether applicants are qualified to be an assistant professor. The assessment committee will base its evaluation on the current . The committee may request additional information, and if so, it is the responsibility of the applicant to provide the necessary material. The committee reserves the right to arrive at a decision solely based on the material submitted.
Successful applicants to tenure track assistant professor positions must be scholars with an internationally competitive research profile, whose potential is at the forefront of their discipline. The applicants for tenure track assistant professorships are assessed based on the criteria of and the applicant's potential to reach an international level of scholarly excellence during the tenure track period. The candidate will only be promoted to associate professor when the assessment committee confirms that the candidate has scholarly merits at a level of highest international excellence with reference to the scholarly qualification policy of the research group in which the position is announced. Indicators of relevant scholarly merits could be documented through scholarly output independent of the PhD supervisor, ground-breaking publications, achievement of excellence grants, and international research network.
Shortlisting may be used in the assessment process.
When the assessment committee has submitted its report, the applicant will receive the part of the evaluation that concerns him/her. The assessment report will subsequently be forwarded to the Head of Department who will assemble an appointments committee. The appointments committee will manage and complete a series of job interviews with especially promising applicants. Based on the applications, the written assessments, the job interviews, and a deliberation within the appointments committee, the Head of Department determines which candidate(s) will be offered the position.
Applications must be submitted electronically no later than May 31, 2024, using the link "Apply online". Uploaded files must be in PDF format (unlocked).
Each field can only contain a single file of max. 10 Mb.