The University of Turku is a world-class multidisciplinary research university which offers interesting challenges and a unique vantage point to national and international research and education.

The Centre for Learning Analytics is a research team in the Department of Future Technologies (Department of Computing from 1.1.2021 onwards) at the University of Turku that is focused on developing learning technologies and doing research on learning and learning analytics at all stages of education in Finland as well as internationally. The team currently has some 20 researchers and teachers.

The research team is looking for 1 doctoral candidate to plan and conduct research for the Growing Mind project. The fixed-term assignment will begin on January 1, 2021, or as agreed as soon as possible, and the assignment will end on December 31, 2021.

This project works towards improving the Finnish education system with the help of high-quality academic research. The project has six focus points for supporting positive youth development:

1) Collecting long-term data on youth development and digital participation, including for the purpose of brain research

2) Interventions that enhance youth learning

3) Developing innovation and game projects that motivate learning

4) Developing next-generation learning analytics

5) Expanding teachers' expertise and advancing the education system

6) Organizing interactive events around the researcher-teacher relationship

Doctoral candidate’s work is related to work package 4 in the Growing Mind project. It includes designing learning analytics and psychometric measures, conducting research, analyzing collected data as well as combining and reporting it with other research teams' data.

Requirements

• Master's degree in a relevant field, e.g. Computer Science or Educational Sciences
• ability to write scientific reports
• experience in educational technology
• ability to work on one's own initiative
• good command of Finnish or English language
• good teamwork and communication skills

The qualification requirements of the position are stated in the University of Turku Rules of Procedure: https://www.utu.fi/en/university/organisation 

The salary is determined in accordance with the university salary system for teaching and research personnel. For a Doctoral candidate the salary will be on levels 2-4 on the job demands chart, where the task specific salary component is 2055,66- 2563,09 euros per month. In addition, a personal work performance component will be paid. The personal performance component is a 6% - 50% of the task-specific salary component. 


A six (6) month trial period applies to the position.

The position will be filled as soon as a suitable applicant is found. We will start interviewing applicants already during the application period and the selection can be made before the application deadline, so please act quickly. Applications must be submitted at the latest on January 31, 2021 (23:59) using the electronic application form of the University of Turku on the following address: www.utu.fi/careers

The link to the application system is at the beginning of this announcement (“Apply for the job”).

Applicants should enclose with their application a short cover letter, CV, degree certificate(s), list of publications, and other documents that may influence the filling of the position.

For further information, please contact associate professor Mikko-Jussi Laakso, milaak@utu.fi