Center Leader (Full Professor or Associate Professor on the promotion programme)
About the Center
The USE Center is an ambitious research and development initiative within discipline-based education research (DBER) focusing on the university level based upon grant funding of DKK 125 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The grant runs for five years with the expectation of additional funding for three years of DKK 75 million. As such, it is one of the largest initiatives in university level DBER in the world.
Notice that in continental Europe, DBER is often called “didactics” (of the relevant discipline), but this term is still not widely used in English. Applicants are expected to acknowledge that DBER approaches vary considerably across disciplines and continents, and to be prepared to lead and interact with researchers who reflect that variation.
The USE Center is hosted at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) with satellite partners at Aarhus University (AU) and the University of Southern Denmark (SDU). The center is established with an overarching vision of creating an international stronghold for university science education research and development. The mission of the center is to strengthen science education at Danish universities. It will accomplish this partly by enhancing the excellence and capacity of DBER in Denmark, and partly by building on research to enhance quality of curriculum and competences of teaching faculty and to develop the learning of students. For further information, see https://use.ku.dk.
The position as associate professor on the promotion programme or professor is a permanent position, whereas the function as Center leader is limited to the duration of the Center grant.
About the Department of Science Education
The Department of Science Education aims to open up science and mathematics for all through research that enhances education, communication, and public engagement. The Department brings together expertise from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities to lead internationally in science and mathematics education, digital education, history and philosophy of science, and science communication.
The Department currently employs approx. 100 persons – 28 of which are permanently employed researchers – many of whom are international. We offer a vibrant interdisciplinary research environment and an attractive and friendly work environment. It is a hallmark of our research to unite strong fundamental and applied research with high impact in society.
A large part of the Department’s teaching activities concerns the mandatory university pedagogical training and competence development for teaching faculty at the Faculties of Science and Health.
Unlike many places in the world, the discipline-based education researchers at the Faculty of Science are not employed by the individual discipline departments. Instead, they enjoy the synergies of collaborating together within, and across, disciplines as members of the Department of Science Education – of course, in collaboration with the natural science discipline departments.
You may read the Department’s strategy towards 2030 and you can read more about the department in general here: https://www.ind.ku.dk/english/
About the Center leader candidate
The Department of Science Education invites applications from visionary and experienced candidates who can lead the development of research capacity within DBER across the participating universities, and lead research-driven changes in university science teaching practice and science programs.
The candidate should be an internationally esteemed discipline-based education researcher within one of the natural sciences (including mathematics and computer science). The candidate is expected to hold at least a master’s degree in a natural science discipline, and to have extensive research experience in DBER focused on the university level. The candidate should be interested in working with the challenges related to university science education research and science education development at university level, well beyond the candidate’s own discipline. Moreover, the candidate should have an involving approach to leadership and be able to demonstrate strong results in leadership at institutional or research programme levels.
Full description here: https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/?show=164299&fbclid=IwY2xjawKs1G5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHm6J19BFvxMN-oji6eUlg57f2IhFSlqVERlZFT6TsSqvRgiDwBVL7BKeKtnM_aem_BLnJ8vthHw4JPJM-hSgrLQ
