The University of Oulu is an international scientific community, with approximately 15 000 students and 3 000 employees. The strengths of the University are wide multidisciplinary study and research interests, modern research and study environment and extensive cooperation with international educational and research institutes. For more information, please visit http://www.oulu.fi/english/.

The Faculty of Science at the University of Oulu is announcing two (2) Full Professorships in Mathematics with emphasis on Mathematical Analysis. The positions are located at the Research Unit of Mathematical Sciences, which has an internationally strong position at the forefront of research in its focus areas. The research unit is a partner in the Centre of Excellence in Inverse Modelling and Imaging, funded by the Academy of Finland (https://wiki.helsinki.fi/display/inverse/Home).The Unit is committed to high quality undergraduate and graduate teaching.

Subject field and description

Mathematics with emphasis on Mathematical Analysis. It is considered as an advantage if the research of the applicant is related to the focus research areas of the Unit in the field of mathematical analysis. These include dynamical systems, fractal geometry, geometric measure theory, random structures and probability. Exceptionally strong applicants in other areas can also be considered, provided they have the capacity to support existing research directions.

Duties

The new Professor will be responsible for developing high-quality scientific research that supports and focuses on the research activities in the Unit. He or she is also expected to be competitive in attracting external research funding, to publish in leading scientific journals, to supervise doctoral students, to be an active member of the international scientific community, and to exhibit academic leadership. In addition to this, teaching, supervising bachelor’s and master’s theses, as well as some administrative duties are included in the annual 1,624 working hours. The teaching duties will not exceed 30 % of the working time.

Eligibility

A Ph.D. in the field of Mathematics, or equivalent, and adequate post-doctoral experience are required.

By Government Decree, Full Professors must be proficient in Finnish. They must also have at least satisfactory spoken and written skills in Swedish. Foreign citizens, non-native Finnish citizens or citizens who have not been educated in Finnish or Swedish may be exempted from this requirement without a separate application.

If the new Professor is exempted from the language requirement of the previous paragraph, he or she is nevertheless expected to acquire sufficient proficiency in Finnish within 4 years of appointment in order to be eligible for renewal of the position after the first five-year term.

Grounds of assessment

Special emphasis will be given to research expertise within the subject field, demonstrated by an outstanding international publication record. Pedagogical expertise, including teaching experience, pedagogical training and the skill to create teaching material, is considered as an additional merit.

It is considered an advantage to the candidates to have work experience from research environments other than University of Oulu. Periods of working abroad and other international experience will be regarded as an asset.

The candidates are expected to establish strong independent research directions in a field compatible with or complementary to those of the Research Unit, or which can suitably be adapted to support its current research directions. The long-term development potential as well as the ability to establish and maintain research collaboration and any evidence of attracting external research funding will also be vital.

In addition, the applicant's potential in developing and leading academic activities is important, including knowledge about matters of diversity and equal treatment, with particular focus on gender equality.

Salary

The salary of Full Professor will be based on levels 8 to 10, respectively, of the requirement level chart for teaching and research personnel in the salary system of Finnish universities. In addition to the basic salary, the appointee will be paid a salary component based on personal work performance with a maximum of 50 % of the basic salary. The full salary is approximately 5,600 – 7,200 euros per month.

Reviewer Assessment

A recruitment committee will take care of the evaluation process. A minimum of two external reviewers will be consulted with regard to the selection process. Top candidates will be interviewed by the recruitment committee.

Selection criteria for Full Professorship

The position of a Full Professor requires high-level scientific competence, experience in leading scientific research, ability to provide high-level research-based teaching and to supervise final theses, and merit in international co-operation projects in his/her field of expertise. The position of a Full Professor also requires the ability to act as an academic leader. When evaluating the merits of an applicant, his/her scientific publications and other research results with scientific or artistic value, teaching experience and pedagogic training, ability to produce teaching material, other merits as a teacher, teaching demonstrations and supervised doctoral theses shall be taken into consideration. Other factors to be taken into consideration are the active role of the applicant in the scientific community, practical experience in the field where applicable, success in acquiring supplementary research funding, scientific work abroad, international positions, and leadership and interaction skills.

Application

The application should be written in English and include the following documents: :

1) A motivation / application letter with contact information

2) Brief curriculum vitae, compiled in accordance with the instructions of the Finnish Board on Research Integrity (http://www.tenk.fi/en/template-researchers-curriculum-vitae).

3) List of publications classified according to the guidelines of the Academy of Finland (https://www.aka.fi/en/funding/apply-for-funding/az-index-of-application-guidelines/list-of-publications/).

4) Teaching merits of relevance to the post concerned are requested to be presented in the form of a teaching portfolio, or a comparable document. The portfolio or other document should follow the table of contents presented below.

5) Brief research and teaching action plan (max. two pages) with a special emphasis on how the plan benefits the research in the field.

Applicants are kindly asked to prepare for the situation in which, after the closing of the application period, the Faculty might request them to submit 10 publications of their choice to be sent to the reviewers for assessment. When requested, the publications should be submitted as PDF files.

Applications should be addressed to the Faculty of Science, and submitted, together with the required enclosures, using the electronic application form.

The deadline for applications is 19.4.2020

The position will be filled as soon as possible or upon agreement with the appointee. A trial period of 6 months is applied in the position.

About Oulu

The City of Oulu is Northern Finland’s largest and oldest city, with a population of over 200,000. Located in the Gulf of Bothnia in the Oulu River delta, the city has good access from anywhere. Oulu is a very safe and family friendly community with one of the highest qualities of life in all of Nordic countries. As  the  world’s  northernmost  tech  hub,  Oulu  has  a  highly educated and innovative workforce and the University has a strong role in the community.

Contact information

Professor Esa Läärä, Research Unit Leader, tel. +358 (0)40 500 9299, email: esa.laara@oulu.fi

 

Teaching portfolio, table of contents

Teaching skills will be evaluated according to the outline below:

1. Teaching philosophy, teaching strategies and methods
1. Teacher’s self-reflection on his/her teaching style, a personal background idea of teaching; how are these reflected in teaching work?
2. A description of oneself as a teacher and an implementer of educational work
2. Practical experience in teaching and efforts to improve teaching
3. Description of educational material (curricula, handouts, assignments, workbooks)
4. Professional development as a teacher
5. Evaluation from teaching (student evaluations, peer evaluations, awards and assessed test lectures)
6. Future teaching goals and plans

Teacher’s plans for future directions in his/her teaching development, for example in relation to the teaching curriculum of the Degree Programme in Mathematical Sciences.