The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation (KADK) invites applications for a three-year part-time position as an assistant/associate professor in Visual Communication. The position, which is affiliated with the Institute of Visual Design (IVD), should ideally be filled as of 1 March 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter. An extension of the employment term may become possible.

With the assistant/associate professorship, we wish to strengthen and renew the subject area of Visual Communication and supplement our teaching competences in this field. We are looking for a visionary professional profile who can take the lead in strengthening and rethinking the subject area, adding scientific weight and current relevance in relation to the subject’s special position within the digital design field with its new technological possibilities and future requirements to visual communication designers. The primary task will be to plan, coordinate and conduct teaching and research in connection with IVD’s research within visual design, with a particular focus on digital communication. In addition, to offer and conduct teaching within the institute’s degree programmes, primarily in the undergraduate programme Visual Communication, but also to some extent in the institute’s postgraduate programmes.

Institute of Visual Design
The Institute of Visual Design forms the framework for teaching as well as scientific and artistic research within all kinds of visual design. We work with visual identity, universes for TV and film, and the development of games and digital products. The institute explores concepts such as identity, experiences and interaction. We work with computer games, analyse existing fonts and develop new ones. We design signage and games and develop applications for smartphones. In other words, we work with the design of visual communication at and for all platforms.

The institute consists of two undergraduate programmes and four postgraduate programmes, which form the framework for a variety of professional development environments across design and architecture.

Read more about the institute, programmes and scientific and artistic research here: https://kadk.dk/en/kadk.

Research linked to KADK’s research environments
The successful applicant will be expected to contribute through his/her research to the development of research within the design field of visual communication, visual culture and identity and possibly other research environments at KADK. Research is based at the institute and organised informally in a number of research environments, which are intended to create critical mass and increased impact through the development of relations to the design profession and other external research environments. The research environments at KADK are closely linked with the degree programmes.

Teaching in relation to the institute’s educational programmes

The applicant is expected to be able to contribute to the development of teaching and to teach at KADK at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and in particular, to handle the development of and contribute to teaching in digitally based visual communication in the undergraduate programme Visual Communication. The applicant is also expected to be able to contribute to teaching in the other degree programmes within visual communication. He/she should be able to document experience with and visions for internal as well as external education collaboration.

Furthermore, the applicant is expected to be able to contribute to the content and development of interdisciplinary core subject teaching with a focus on integrated use of visual interaction in and on digital platforms.

Qualification requirements
Employment as an assistant professor presupposes, as a minimum, a postgraduate level as well as scientific qualifications at PhD level or a considerable design/architecture career.

Employment as an associate professor furthermore presupposes:

• Qualifications at the level that can be achieved through a satisfactory completed period of employment as an assistant professor / postdoc; however, such qualifications can also be achieved in other ways.
• That the applicant has conducted documented research at an international level or in some other way has further or re-developed the subject area, or has practiced original artistic research at a high international level, or has a considerable design/architecture career at a high level.
• That the applicant has received supervision and undertaken pedagogical skills development, and has received a positive, written assessment of his/her teaching qualifications.
• That the applicant can document a significant professional design career and a distinctive professional profile with a focus on the digitally based design field within visual communication, including interaction design.

It would be desirable if applicants had an interdisciplinary focus that facilitates research and teaching collaboration both internally at KADK and externally in relation to the profession, public institutions and other institutions of higher education.

The focus on researchers helping to attract external research funding keeps increasing. It will therefore be an advantage if applicants can document experience from development, funding and managing of large, externally funded research projects and projects to which business collaboration is affiliated.

Importance will also be attached to the applicant having documented experience with teaching and development of teaching, and, not least, to the applicant being able to illustrate an interest in contributing actively to the development of the continued research support of the Spatial Design programme’s core areas in collaboration with the other teachers at KADK.

In the overall assessment for the appointment to this position, particular importance will be attached to qualified efforts and new developments within the teaching area.

The appointment as either assistant professor or associate professor will be based on a concrete assessment by an expert assessment committee.

Employment terms
The assistant/associate professorship is a three-year part-time position, 18,5 hours per week, with the possibility of extension. Appointment and remuneration will take place in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the appointed person’s trade union and the job structure for artistic/scientific staff at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture and Aarhus School of Architecture.

The positions include research and teaching, with a 50/50 distribution for an assistant professor and a 40/60 distribution for an associate professor, including administration of a limited extent. The distribution between the different tasks may vary according to the school’s requirements, and the school may give the assistant/associate professor other official tasks.

Work outside the school is acceptable to a limited extent only, and always subject to agreement with the school’s management.

Application

The application must include: A CV, diploma, documentation of compliance with the listed qualification requirements (see above), a description of research plans and a complete list of published works and examples of the works, on which the applicant wishes to rely (however, a maximum of seven works). Finally, the applicant should enclose all material that can shed light on his/her teaching qualifications. Any former assistant/associate professorship assessment(s) should be enclosed.

The application, CV and appendices should be forwarded electronically via https://kadk.dk/en/vacancies, to reach KADK no later than 16 February 2015 at 12:00 noon (CET).

Supporting appendix material that cannot be forwarded electronically along with the application should be forwarded by mail in four copies to reach KADK before the application deadline to the address below:

The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts,
Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation
Attn. Karina Tvedt Skorstengaard
Philip de Langes Allé 10
1435 Copenhagen K
Denmark

Marked Assistant/Associate professorship in Visual Communication

Applications and application material received after the application deadline will not be included in the assessment.

Further information
Information about the content of the position and qualification requirements can be obtained by contacting HR officer Karina Tvedt Skorstengaard by tel. +45 4170 1576 or by email kts@kadk.dk.
Further information about the more academic content of the position can be obtained by contacting Head of Institute Tine Kjølsen, email tkj@kadk.dk, tel. +45 4170 1505.

General information about KADK and the Institute of Architecture and Design can be found at www.kadk.dk.

–

The position is being advertised and will be filled in accordance with the Danish Ministry of Culture’s Executive Order no. 1208 of 12 October 2010 on the employment of artistic/scientific staff at certain educational institutions under the Ministry of Culture, and in accordance with the job structure of 30 September 1999 at the Schools of Architecture under the Ministry of Culture.

Applications are invited from anyone interested, regardless of age, gender, race, religion or ethnic association.