Professor of Japanese with specialisation in linguistics

Lund University was founded in 1666 and is repeatedly ranked among the world’s top 100 universities. The University has around 44 000 students and more than 8 000 staff based in Lund, Helsingborg and Malmö. We are united in our efforts to understand, explain and improve our world and the human condition.

Lund University welcomes applicants with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We regard gender equality and diversity as a strength and an asset.

The subject environment at Lund

The subject of Japanese at the Centre for Languages and Literature provides education from first cycle up to PhD programme level, specialising in Japanese linguistics. The first cycle education is very popular, usually with two first-choice applicants per study place, and has very good student retention. The subject has a long history of good collaboration with partner universities in Japan.

The recruitment of a professor is part of the subject's determined efforts to strengthen and develop the research in Japanese linguistics. This can be achieved by strengthening the existing lines of research or by broadening them to include additional specialisations in the field.

Current research within the subject mainly investigates prosody and its interfaces with syntax and information structure, among other things. Examples include ongoing research into the production and perception of sentence prosody and research investigating the interfaces between prosody, syntax and information structure. At SOL, collaboration with a number of other subjects is of great importance to the research environment in the subject area. For example, the seminar series, the Lund Circle of East Asian Linguistics (LCEAL), is organised in collaboration with researchers from general linguistics, who regularly invite researchers from home and abroad. The phonology seminar is organised in collaboration with researchers from Nordic languages, Neurolinguistics and Phonetics at SOL, with regular discussions on phonology and its interfaces with other parts of the language system.

Duties

The aim of the professorship is to ensure high research expertise in Japanese linguistics. We welcome applicants who strengthen the existing focus of research as well as applicants with other research specialisations in Japanese linguistics.

As a research leader in his/her field, the professor is primarily expected to be a driving force in the work to develop the local research environment and to strengthen the connection between research and education at all levels.

The following duties are included in the position of Professor of Japanese with specialisation in linguistics: (i) responsibility for the development of research and PhD programmes; (ii) the applicant's own research, planning, and participation in and management of research projects, including applications for research funding; (iii) teaching, supervision and course development in education in all cycles of study, including at post-doctoral level.

The professor must be physically present in the research and institutional environment.

Eligibility requirements

Applicants will be eligible for appointment as professor if they have displayed both research and teaching skills. For appointment as professor, training in teaching and learning in higher education of at least five weeks is required, or that equivalent knowledge has been acquired in some other way.

The ability to teach in English and Japanese from the first day of employment is a requirement. If the holder of the position is unable to speak Swedish, Danish or Norwegian at the time of appointment, he/she will be expected to acquire sufficient knowledge of Swedish to be able to use it in a work context within two years.

If the successful applicant has undergone fewer than 10 weeks of training in teaching and learning in higher education and/or has no training in teaching and learning in higher education for the supervision of doctoral students, this training is expected to be completed during the first two years of employment.

Further requirements for employment are as follows:

• attained doctoral degree in a subject relevant to the position
• documentary evidence of first class research skills in Japanese linguistics
• expertise in planning, initiating, leading and developing research
• documentary evidence of ability to obtain research funding in competition
• documented and extensive experience of teaching and supervision in Japanese linguistics at university level
• documented good ability to cooperate.

Assessment criteria

The grounds for assessment for appointment as a professor shall be the degree of the expertise required to be eligible for the appointment.

• A very high level of research, teaching, administrative and other skills
  important to the subject content and duties associated with the appointment, as well as the personal skills in general that are important in the effective fulfilment of the duties.
• A very high level of research skills, including very good national and international standing as a researcher. Demonstrated by: extensive documentation of research efforts and through the applicant maintaining high quality activities both nationally and internationally, internationally competitive publication record demonstrating both breadth and depth, documented expertise in planning, initiating, leading and developing research, documentary evidence of ability to obtain research funding in competition, documented experience of and demonstrated expertise in supervision, a broad international network and active participation in the national and international research community demonstrated by, for example, documented experience of assignments as an expert, editor, peer reviewer (referee) and project manager, membership in formal networks and various positions of trust.
• A very high level of teaching expertise, which involves a very good ability to carry out, develop and lead teaching and other educational activities on different levels and using a variety of teaching methods. Demonstrated through both experience of the educational activities described above and a reflective attitude to the applicant's own teaching role.
• Good ability to supervise doctoral students to attain a PhD. Good ability to engage with the surrounding community and to inform about his/her activities. Good general ability to lead and develop activities. Demonstrated through documented experience, with positive testimonials and clear results, of leading, coordinating and developing research activities, as well as collaborating with others.

Particularly meritorious in descending order of importance:

• documented ability to coordinate research activities, initiate and lead research collaborations (locally, nationally, internationally) that benefit the local research environment 
• documented ability to motivate and create the conditions required by colleagues, especially junior researchers, to effectively achieve both their own and common goals 
• documented ability to plan long-term research activities so that the research environment benefits at a local level 

Equal care is given to testing the teaching skills as testing the research skills.

Instructions for the application

The application must conform to the instructions that can be downloaded at https://www.ht.lu.se/en/the-faculties/academic-vacancies/instructions-for-applicants. The applicant is responsible for making sure that the application is complete, in accordance with the vacancy announcement and instructions, and for submitting the application to the University ahead of the deadline through the recruitment portal.

The Academic Appointments Board normally selects a shortlist of applicants. This selection can be made in one or several steps and, if necessary, with the help of external experts. Applicants who go through to expert assessment may be invited to supplement their application with a brief plan for the activities they intend to conduct if they are appointed, with a special focus on how the environment can be developed and the collaborations they intend to establish or further develop locally, nationally and internationally. The applicants who are selected for expert assessment may also be invited to submit physical copies of the papers they wish to submit within 14 days.

Conditions

The University applies individual salary setting.

The Joint Faculties of the Humanities and Theology have eight departments and carries out large and varied work within research and education with the purpose to understand people as cultural and social beings. The faculties have around 700 employees and around 4000 students.

The Centre for Languages and Literature at Lund University (SOL) is Sweden’s largest university department for languages, linguistics, literature and area studies. SOL provides a wide range of freestanding courses complemented with an increasing number of first and second cycle degree programmes. Housing 33 subjects and roughly the same number of PhD programmes, SOL is a solid foundation for broad and deep education and research, characterised by national and international visibility. SOL is managed by a board chaired by the Head of Department. The management also includes two assistant heads of department with special areas of responsibility. More than 250 people are employed and around 3 000 students, including around 100 PhD students, conduct their studies at SOL.

We kindly decline all sales and marketing contacts.

Type of employment Permanent position
Contract type Full time
First day of employment 1 January 2023 or by agreement
Number of positions 1
Working hours 100
City Lund
County Skåne län
Country Sweden
Reference number PA2020/2070
Contact
Maria Persson, prefekt, https://www.sol.lu.se/person/MariaPersson
Johanna Johansson, fakultetskoordinator, https://www.ht.lu.se/person/JohannaJohansson/
Published 26.Nov.2021
Last application date 31.Jan.2022 11:59 PM CET