Lund University was founded in 1666 and is repeatedly ranked among the world’s top 100 universities. The University has 40 000 students and 7 400 staff based in Lund, Helsingborg and Malmö. We are united in our efforts to understand, explain and improve our world and the human condition.
The Faculty of Social Sciences at Lund University is one of the leading education and research institutions in Sweden and operates both in Lund and Helsingborg.
The department of Human Geography with about 55 employees, 400 fulltime students and approximately 25 Ph.D. students combines tradition with modern and highly internationalized research and education. The research conducted in several of the fields at the department was judged to be excellent in the most recent research assessment exercise at Lund University (RQ08). In addition, Geography has repeatedly been the highest ranked subject at Lund University, currently ranked 16th in the world and 1st among the Nordic countries according to the QS ranking of 2018. For decades, the department has been very successful in the competition for external research funding. In addition to being embedded in numerous national and international research networks, the department of human geography has close ties with a broad spectrum of departments and faculties at Lund University as well as with specialized centers such as CIRCLE and LUCSUS. The key areas of research and teaching at the Department are economic geography, development geography and landscape, urban and social geography.
The strong research orientation is reflected in education. Many of our courses and programs have been developed in connection with research projects and students are introduced to current knowledge by lecturers engaged in research. The teaching environment has been internationalized over the past decade, and many courses and programs offered at the department are specifically aimed at international students. The department is housed in modern premises in central Lund.
Job assignments:
The successful candidate will join an international research project titled Agents of Change in Old-industrial Regions in Europe funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. The main ambition of Agents of Change is to investigate how old-industrial regions located outside major agglomerations in Europe can deal with the unfavourable structural conditions and trends and can create a new development path leading to prosperity and well-being, contributing to social cohesion and stability of Europe as a whole. The aim of this project is three-fold:
- to develop a better understanding of the emergence of new development paths in old industrial regions and the implications for social and spatial development;
- to strengthen academic collaboration among scholars in EU countries and to facilitate knowledge exchange between academia and policy circles;
- utilising the results of international comparison and knowledge exchange, to develop policy recommendations for discovering new development paths for Europe’s old industrial regions in various socio-spatial, historical, and cultural contexts.
The doctoral candidate programme amounts to 240 credits (equivalent to four years of full time study). It formally ends with the doctoral candidate publicly defending his/her printed doctoral thesis. The holder of a doctoral position has as primary obligation to successfully fulfill the third cycle education ending with a PhD degree. Regulations concerning appointment as a full time doctoral student can be found in the Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 5, 1-7 §§.
The holder should direct research to the fields of economic geography related to the “Agents of Change in Old-industrial Regions in Europe” project, to which the doctoral candidate is expected to actively contribute.
In addition to devoting themselves to their studies, those appointed to doctoral positions may be required to work with educational tasks, research and administration, in accordance with specific regulations in the ordinance.
Eligibility/entry requirements:
To be eligible for third cycle studies an applicant must
- Have been awarded a second cycle degree
- Have completed studies the equivalent of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 credits are at the second cycle level, or
- Have acquired comparable qualifications in some other way in Sweden or abroad.
In addition to the requirements described above, the specific entry requirements for the PhD programme in Human Geography is the successful completion of an exam in social or economic geography, or the acquisition of comparable qualifications in Sweden or abroad. The exam should include independent work comprising at least 30 higher education credits – or comparable, half of which at the second cycle level.
The applicant must also have proficiency in spoken and written English corresponding to English B from Swedish upper secondary school. The assessment will be based on national guidelines.
Basis of Assessment:
The employment of doctoral students is regulated in the Swedish Code of Statues 1998: 80. Only those who are or have been admitted to PhD studies may be appointed to doctoral candidate positions. When an appointment to such a position is made, the ability of the student to benefit from PhD studies shall primarily be taken into account. The research plan and its relevance for the project “Agents of Change in Old-industrial Regions in Europe” and the Department’s research profile as well as previously written theses and publications are important indicators of ability.
The ability to communicate in spoken and written English is highly important.
The ability to contribute to the department’s ongoing research activities and teaching environment as well as knowledge of Swedish are additional assets.
Application:
The application must contain:
- Curriculum Vitae
- Copies of grades and examination certificates
- A concise research plan (maximum 2000 words / four pages). Your plan should preferably refer explicitly how it may be connected to “Agents of Change in Old-industrial Regions in Europe” project. (see link www.acore-project.eu)
- A short description (maximum 500 words) of i) your motivation to undertake a doctoral programme, and ii) how you will contribute the department’s research and teaching environment.
- Other qualifications of relevance for the position.
The application must be in English and entered into the Lund University job application portal. If you have problems or questions regarding the application in our recruitment system, please contact Emma Ohlsson 046-222 48 06 e-mail emma.ohlsson@sam.lu.se. If you have specific questions regarding the doctoral position, please see contacts below.
The Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) in Leipzig, Germany, invites applications for
