KU Leuven has a full-time vacancy for a junior professor (ZAP) in the field of Architecture and Global Development. We are looking for internationally oriented candidates within the field of Global Development and Architecture, with an excellent interdisciplinary research record, with a demonstrated experience in design research and with educational competence.
The structure of KU Leuven combines faculties and research departments in a multi-campus model.
The candidate will contribute to the research of the Department of Architecture within the research unit Urban Design, Urbanism, Landscape and Planning (UULP) on the Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent Campus. This unit includes researchers from both the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Engineering Science. The department offers an international research environment of excellence. www.architectuur.kuleuven.be
The candidate will contribute to the education of the Faculty of Architecture. The Faculty of Architecture consists of the academic architecture programmes (interior architecture, architecture, urban design and spatial planning and the educational master) on the Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent campus. The faculty is driven by a consciously assembled diversity of practices and is renowned for its future-oriented education that cultivates a freedom of exploration. www.arch.kuleuven.be
Website unit
Duties
Research
- You will develop a research programme at an international level in the field of “Global Development and Architecture and Urban Design”. The candidate has demonstrable experience in architectural/urban design research. The candidate has academic expertise in the fundamental relationship between architecture in different urban contexts and the (uneven) global development processes also in non-Western or contested urban contexts. The research recognizes the issues in the relationship between architecture and urban contexts, critically assessing the dominant interpretations of the city and its processes. There is an increasing need for situated and contextual design, coupled with for example the ability to understand the deep socio-spatial complexity of a given location in a global context in relation to growing super-diversity; or climate change mitigation, sustainable development and equity, responsive design…. The research therefore embraces the call for decolonising theories and practices of city-making by focusing on site-specific architectural and urban analysis and design, based on critical postcolonial theory and reflection and international policy frameworks (such as the SDG’s). It looks at global development beyond a eurocentric focus. The candidate will demonstrate a commitment to fieldwork and/or institutional collaborations using the multiple scales scope as a key component. In this way, the ecological and socio-cultural dimensions of urban space and its many modes of production are unraveled critically and intersectionally in relation to design.
- The research should connect with ongoing research programmes.
- You set up collaborations within and outside of the research unit UULP and the Department of Architecture. The candidate will mobilise interdisciplinary knowledge in both fundamental and applied research.
- You support national and international collaborations of the research group/unit and you help to promote and develop them. You will also actively participate in the development of future research projects of the group/unit.
- You are capable of acquiring competitive funding for fundamental as well as applied (e.g. policy-oriented strategic) research. You publish at high scientific level and supervise PhDs at an international level.
Teaching
- You provide high-quality teaching within the field of architecture and global development with a clear commitment to the quality of the educational programme as a whole. You will also contribute to the teaching project of the faculty/university by supervising master's theses and as supervisor of doctoral students.
- The educational task includes a design studio and theoretical courses (Urban Anthropology, architectural and urban theory of Non-Western Architectural & Urban Contexts, …)
- You put your expertise to work in organising workshops, summer schools, etc. within the faculty.
- You develop your teaching in accordance with KU Leuven’s vision on activating and research-based education and make use of the professional and educational resources offered by the faculty and the university.
- Your teaching task will be determined in consultation and based on your specific profile. The scope of this is limited in the first years of your appointment. Your teaching assignment is mainly embedded in the master programmes in architecture, but with links to the bachelor programmes and the programme in urban design and spatial planning at the Faculty of Architecture.
Service
- You are prepared to provide scientific, social and internal services.
- You stay up-to-date with the field of architecture and global development and take part in public national and international discussions and communications in this field.
- You are willing to take up coordination tasks and leadership within the Department and Faculty of Architecture, in accordance to the stage of your career.
- You foster relations with the professional field and local stakeholders.
Profile
- You hold a master’s degree in architecture (or a similarly related degree), and a PhD whereby the subject of your doctorate’s thesis was related to the research and educational field of architecture and global development. You have a clear expertise in architectural design in combination with social or political science methodology for a cross-cultural understanding of urban settings (morphologies, typologies, social practices, etc.). An additional master’s degree in social sciences is an asset.
- You have a strong research record. The rich quality of your research is proven by publications in prominent leading journals and books and ADROs (Artistic and Design-related Research Output). International experience is an important advantage.
- You have architectural and urban design experience.
- You have demonstrable qualities related to academic education. Teaching experience is an advantage.
- You possess organisational skills and have a cooperative attitude. You also possess leadership capacities within a university context.
- A good command of English is required. KU Leuven provides courses in academic English.
- The official administrative language used at KU Leuven is Dutch. If you do not speak Dutch (or do not speak it well) at the start of employment, KU Leuven will provide language training to enable you to take part in meetings.Before teaching courses in Dutch, you will be given the opportunity to learn Dutch to the required level.
Offer
We are offering full-time (100%) employment in an intellectually challenging environment. KU Leuven is a research-intensive, internationally oriented university that carries out both fundamental and applied scientific research. Our university is highly inter- and multidisciplinarily focused and strives for international excellence. In this regard we actively work together with research partners in Belgium and abroad and provide our students with an academic education that is based on high-quality scientific research.
As member of the Faculty of Architecture, you will work on the Sint-Lucas campus both in Brussels and in Ghent. Your main workplace is determined by mutual agreement. The Department of Architecture is active at locations in Brussels, Ghent and Leuven.
Since this a vacancy for a junior professor, you are appointed as assistant professor on the tenure track for a period of 5 years; after this period and a positive evaluation, you are permanently appointed (or tenured) as an associate professor.
KU Leuven is well equipped to welcome foreign professors and their families and offers practical support in the areas of immigration and administration, housing, childcare, learning Dutch, partner career coaching, ...
To facilitate scientific integration and research in the first phase, start-up funding of 110 000 euro is offered to new professors, who have no substantial other funding and are appointed for at least 50%.
Interested?
For more information on the contents of the job, please contact:
- Prof. dr. Rajesh Heynickx, Chair of the Department of Architecture (
[email protected])
- Prof. dr. Hans Leinfelder, vice dean education of the Faculty of Architecture (
[email protected])
You can submit your application, only through our online application system. If you have problems submitting your application online, please contact
[email protected].
Add to your application following documents (more information is available on the KU Leuven jobsite):
- your biosketch in which you indicate your added value as an academic for research, education and service to society of your past career and of your future activities (maximum 2 pages); it should include the following elements: 1) the crucial elements and their importance/impact from your past career; 2) the main lines of your future vision and the future activities you plan (with an emphasis on the first 5 years); 3) the added value of your activities for KU Leuven and the collaboration within faculty/department/campus;
- a file on your five most important publications or realisations;
- an extensive cv including a full publication list and if applicable a portfolio of your design projects;
- your research plan with focus on the development of your research line and research team in relation with the colleague-researchers of the entity of employment (maximum 5 pages);
- your vision on academic education and its organisation (maximum 2 pages);
- your contribution to service activities (internal representation through membership in councils and governing bodies, contributions to society from teaching and research, outreach and science communication) (maximum 1 page);
- your vision on leadership (maximum 1 page).
We ask that all documents be drawn up in English.
KU Leuven attaches great importance to scientific integrity, acting ethically and with integrity and will ask you to sign an integrity statement upon appointment.
KU Leuven is committed to creating a diverse environment and is therefore an equal opportunity employer. It explicitly encourages candidates from groups that are currently underrepresented at the university to submit their applications.
KU Leuven strives for an inclusive, respectful and socially safe environment. We embrace diversity among individuals and groups as an asset. Open dialogue and differences in perspective are essential for an ambitious research and educational environment. In our commitment to equal opportunity, we recognize the consequences of historical inequalities. We do not accept any form of discrimination based on, but not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, ethnic or national background, skin colour, religious and philosophical diversity, neurodivergence, employment disability, health, or socioeconomic status. For questions about accessibility or support offered, we are happy to assist you at this email address.
