Post-doc Fellowship

The Centre for Contemporary Buddhist Studies at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), invites applications for a 2-year postdoctoral position on the topic of contemporary Buddhism and waste to be filled on May 1, 2023, or as soon as possible thereafter.

Application deadline: November 25, 2022.

Job content 
The UCPH seeks someone with expertise in contemporary Buddhism, who is able to design and undertake a research project on Buddhism and waste. The postdoctoral position is opened in the framework of the international, collective research project Waste: Consumption and Buddhism in the age of garbage, which is funded by the VELUX FONDEN (September 2021 – August 2025). The postdoc will join a research team of five scholars working within the project Waste under the leadership of the PI, Associate Professor Trine Brox. This project will generate new understandings of how Buddhist communities and individuals generate and interpret waste, and how waste practices are intimately related to cultural imaginaries. In particular, the project is interested in Buddhist consumption practices, waste regimes, value, affect, and aesthetics as they are connected to the waste imaginaries and waste trajectories that we study. The project asks: how do Buddhists define and sort waste from non-waste? What are the effects of increased consumption practices and waste production on ecological systems, cultural practices, social relations, rituals, and customs? The postdoc and the other team members will collectively and through their individual ethnographic studies respond to these research questions.

The postdoc will work in the interdisciplinary research environment at the Centre for Contemporary Buddhist Studies at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen. As part of a team of researchers coming from language-based area studies, religious studies, and anthropology, the postdoc must be willing and able to participate in regular research and outreach activities where we engage in cross-disciplinary discussions. The postdoc is expected to actively participate in weekly meetings and reading groups at our centre, write blogs for our website, and co-organise workshops and conferences. The applicant should also be aware that postdocs at the UCPH are expected to work full-time and will be asked to spend up to 20% of their working hours on teaching or supervision within the department’s curriculum, or perform other relevant tasks. The department can offer postdocs who teach up to 20% of their working hours, the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education programme without hourly compensation.

Qualification requirements
In order to be considered for the position, applicants must have research qualifications at least corresponding to what can be achieved as part of a successfully completed PhD within a relevant field.

For further details about the qualification requirements for postdocs, please refer to the job structure for Academic Staff at Universities 2013: https://ufm.dk/en/legislation/prevailing-laws-and-regulations/education/files/job-structure-for-academic-staff-at-universities-2013.pdf

For further information about the position, please contact the PI Trine Brox, e-mail: trinebrox[ @ ]hum.ku.dk.

Application
Submit the application online in Adobe PDF or Word format.

Please click on the “Apply now” icon at the bottom of this page.

The application must be written in English and include the following enclosures:

• Application letter/cover letter (max 1 page).
• Curriculum vitae (with applicant’s email and telephone number).
• Documentation of qualifications (examination certificates/PhD diploma, etc.).
• Project description and research plan, including a short description of previous research and a plan for the proposed project on Buddhism and waste that includes an account of how the applicant will contribute to the overall project Waste: Consumption and Buddhism in the age of garbage. (Link: https://ccrs.ku.dk/research/centres/centre-for-contemporary-buddhist-studies/waste/ ) (max 5 pages).
• Documentation of teaching qualifications and research dissemination, if any
• Publications. Applicants may choose a maximum of three publications for assessment. Publication dates must be clearly marked on the publication list. The publications selected must be uploaded as attachments and listed from 1 to 3.
• Complete and numbered list of publications. The enclosed publications must be marked with *.

Should any material submitted consist of work with named co-authors, or work that is otherwise the result of collective academic endeavours, the extent of the applicant’s contribution to the work must be clearly stipulated. The Faculty may ask for a signed statement from the co-authors stipulating the extent and nature of each individual’s contribution.

Only material in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and English can be expected to be assessed.

Appointment procedure
After the application deadline, the Head of Department selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the appointment committee. All applicants are notified whether their application has been accepted for assessment. The Dean subsequently appoints an expert assessment committee tasked with carrying out an assessment of the selected applicants for the specific post. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee. Based upon the assessments, a selection of qualified candidates will be invited for an interview. Please be advised that a positive assessment does not necessarily mean that one will be invited for an interview.

Further information about the application procedure is available from HR South and City Campuses (HR), e-mail: hrsc[ at ]hrsc.ku.dk. Please refer to ID number 211-1144/22-2I,. 

Salary and conditions of employment
Terms of appointment and salary will be in accordance with an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). The salary range starts at DKK 30,965.08 per month, (EUR 4,163) + a 17,1 % contribution to the pension scheme. It is possible to negotiate salary supplements on an annual basis.

The Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) have further agreed on a protocol that makes it possible for international researchers employed by the University to achieve a pension exemption, whereby the pension contribution will be paid out as salary. For more information about the different pension schemes, please read more here: https://ism.ku.dk/salary-tax-pension/pension/

If you consider applying from abroad, you may find useful information on how it is to work in Denmark and at UCPH here: http://ism.ku.dk, http://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-us/frontpage.htm and https://www.workindenmark.dk/

UCPH wishes to encourage everyone interested in this post to apply, regardless of personal background.

Applicants must submit the application electronically no later than 25 November 2022 at 23:59 (11:59 pm) [CEST/CET]
Applications or supplementary material received thereafter will not be considered.