Professor in Islamic Studies, Department of Languages and Cultures of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Ghent University — LIMITE : 20/03/2023

ABOUT GHENT UNIVERSITY

Ghent University is one of the most important education and research institutions in the Low Countries. Daily, over 9,000 staff members and 50,000 students implement its motto “Dare to Think”. At the heart of Ghent University’s mission are high quality education, internationally renowned research and a pluralistic social responsibility.

 

ASSIGNMENT

The department of Languages and Cultures of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy invites applications for a full-time tenure track position in its section of Arabic and Islamic Studies/Middle East Studies. The postholder will be expected to contribute to academic teaching, research, service, and outreach in the field of Islamic Studies, especially of the intellectual and social history of Islam and being Muslim in the modern Middle East.

Appointment will be in the rank of assistant professor and will be funded by the University’s Special Research Fund. It concerns a tenure track appointment for a period of 5 years. During this period there will be a strong focus on research and the teaching load will be limited to an average of no more than 8 ECTS per semester, calculated over a period of 3 years. Please see ‘Appointment information’ below for particulars on the conditions of this position’s further career development opportunities.

Academic education

You teach various courses in the domain of Islamic Studies, ranging from ‘Introduction to Islam and Being Muslim’ and ‘Structures of Arabic (Language and Texts): Religious Thought’ in the BA Arabic and Islamic Studies, to ‘Islam and the Global World: Texts and Context’ in the MA Middle East Studies. These courses can also be offered in other study programmes (BA and MA History, MA Gender and Diversity, …). You will supervise BA final papers and MA dissertations, and you will take active part in the department’s Arabic language acquisition teaching programme.

Academic Research

You pursue research in the domain of Arabic-Islamic intellectual and social history of the modern Middle East. You set up and supervise research in this domain (research projects, doctoral research, …). You disseminate your research results through the appropriate academic media (peer reviewed journals and books, academic meetings, …) as well as to wider interested audiences beyond academia.

Academic service and outreach

You contribute actively to the administrative duties of the section of Arabic and Islamic Studies/Middle East Studies, the department of Languages and Cultures, and the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy.

PROFILE

Academic qualifications

• You have a proven track-record of excellent academic research in the advertised domain, which is clearly reflected in your doctoral research and in high-quality contributions in national and international peer-reviewed publications (books and/or journals);
• You are didactically skilled to teach university students to develop academic competences;
• You can demonstrate to have an advanced level of language proficiency (equivalent CEFR-level C1) in, or you are a native speaker of, Modern Standard Arabic (reading, writing, listening)
• You can demonstrate to have an advanced level of language proficiency (equivalent CEFR-level C1) in, or you are a native speaker of, Egyptian Arabic (speaking, listening);
• Recommended are:
  • Experience in leading research and/or supervising Ph.D. students;
  • International mobility, including research stays at institutions different from the one you acquired your highest academic degree from;
  • Acquaintance with combining perspectives and methods from the social sciences and the humanities in research and teaching;
  • Positively evaluated experience with academic teaching.

• You must master the language of instruction in which you will teach a course at CEFR-  level C1. You can demonstrate this by means of a language certificate or a diploma obtained from an institution in which that language is the language of instruction. In addition, Article II.270, §1 of the Codex of Higher Education requires that: (i) you must master the Dutch language at least at CEFR-level A2 within two years after the start of the appointment. (ii) you must be able to master the Dutch language at least at CEFR-level of B2 within five years after the start of the appointment. More info: Language requirements at Ghent University for professorial staff — Ghent University (ugent.be)

Skills / Attitude

• You are quality-oriented;
• You take initiative;
• You are a team player, who takes responsibility where needed, and gives it to others whenever relevant;

Admission requirements

• You hold a thesis-based doctoral degree or a diploma or certificate that is recognised as equivalent (article V.20 Codex Higher Education).

Upon evaluation of a foreign (non-EU) diploma, a certificate of equivalence may still have to be requested at NARIC. If this is the case, we advise you to initiate this recognition procedure as soon as possible. You are required to have the recognition no later than on the date of your appointment.

• You have at least two years of postdoctoral experience on 1 September 2023. This term of two years is determined by the date written on the above-mentioned required diploma.

APPOINTMENT INFORMATION

We offer you a temporary appointment as a research assistant professor in a tenure track system for a term of five years. Positive evaluation by the University Board at the end of this term will lead to a permanent appointment as an associate professor. This will involve the reconsideration of the time that can be allocated to research, teaching and service.

Employment will commence on 1 September 2023.

 

OUR OFFER

The career and evaluation policy for Professorial Staff is based on talent development and growth, prioritizing vision development and strategy – at the individual as well as the group level. At UGent we focus on career support and coaching of the Professorial Staff in the different phases of the career. More information can be found on www.ugent.be/en/work/mobility-career/career-aspects/professorial-staff

Ghent University is committed to properly welcoming new professorial staff members and offering them appropriate guidance. The basic teacher training and courses of ‘Dutch’ and ‘English’ for foreign-speaking lecturers are only a few examples of our wide range of training and education opportunities. Furthermore, each Ghent University staff member can count on a number of benefits such as a bike allowance, reimbursement of public transport commuting costs, daycare, a wide range of sports facilities and EcoCheques. A complete overview of all our employee benefits (in Dutch).

Ghent University also invests in welcoming international professorial staff. It offers various housing options, a relocation bonus, the International School for school-aged children (with a discount on the tuition fee), support when registering at the City of Ghent, support with the procedure of family reunification and other administrative matters in connection with moving to Ghent. More information can be found on www.ugent.be/en/work/talent.

Candidates who are newly appointed at Ghent University with an appointment as autonomous academic staff of at least 50% or candidates whose appointment as autonomous academic staff at Ghent University is increased to a minimum of 50% receive a Starting Grant of €220.000 to contribute towards the personnel, operating and/or equipment costs of establishing a research team.

 

GENDER AND DIVERSITY

Ghent University conducts an equal opportunities policy and encourages everyone to apply. Ghent University also strives for a gender balance in which a maximum of 60% of the academic staff with a PhD degree is of the same gender. Female applicants are especially welcome. As long as this goal is not achieved at the level of the group of scientific disciplines involved, the university board will in principle, for positions within this group, give priority to candidates of the underrepresented gender but only in case of equal qualifications of the applicants. This priority is neither automatic nor unconditional; the personal situation of each candidate needs to be taken into consideration in the evaluation at all times.

 

SELECTION PROCEDURE

After the final application date, all received applications will be sent to the faculty selection committee assembled for this vacancy. The selection committee will first review all admissible candidates based on their application files only. It will compare all the elements in each file to the above listed requirements, qualifications and skills, and shortlist candidates who will be invited for a trial lesson and interview. Afterwards, the committee will rank the suitable candidates and present this ranking to the Faculty Board. The advice of the Faculty Board will then be presented to the Research Council for advice and subsequently be sent to the University Board for approval.

Candidates are asked to further discuss their 5 most impactful academic achievements. Next to academic publications, the candidate is thus also able to show merit of knowledge transfer by academic dissemination, social valorisation, public awareness, seminars or conference presentations. These competences are also taken into account when evaluating the candidates.

The evaluation of the required international mobility is broad and partly takes the gender perspective into account, thus not only considering longer stays abroad but also other forms of internationalisation.

Pregnancy leave, prolonged sick leave, parental leave, filial leave or other forms of absence are taken into account when evaluating the available time for the realisation of academic output.

 

HOW TO APPLY

Apply online through the e-recruitment system before the application deadline (see above). We do not accept late or incomplete applications, or applications that are not sent through the online system.

Your application must include the following documents:

• In the field ‘Application form’: the BOF Tenure Track professorial staff application form + all annexes mentioned in the form (a.o. 5-year research plan and long term research vision), merged into one file of maximum 10 MB.
• In the field ‘Cover letter’: your application letter in pdf format.
• In the field ‘Diploma’: a transcript of your doctoral degree. If you have a foreign diploma in a language other than our national languages (Dutch, French or German) or English, please add a translation in one of the mentioned languages.
• In the field ‘Certificate of equivalence’: only for diplomas awarded outside the European Union: certificate of equivalence (NARIC) (if already in your possession)

 

MORE INFORMATION

For further information regarding this vacancy, please contact Professor Jo Van Steenbergen (Jo.VanSteenbergen[at]UGent.be, +32 09/2643805) at the faculty of Arts and Philosophy, department of Languages and Cultures.

 

More information: here

 

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