Department of Philosophy and Humanities
Institute for English Language and Literature
Salary grade: Initially W1; after evaluation W2 with tenure
Reference code: GlobLitMed
This tenure-track professor position is supported financially through the German federal and state governments’ tenure-track program to promote the careers of researchers early on. Applications from researchers who have just completed their doctoral degree and are in the early phase of their career are strongly encouraged.
The successful applicant will assume research and teaching responsibilities in the field of English literature and culture with a special focus on global literature and its media as well as gender studies. The junior professorship is based at the Institute for English Language and Literature, and the successful candidate will be expected to participate in the Excellence Cluster 2020, “Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective.”
Appointment requirements are governed by Section 102a of the Berlin Higher Education Act (Berliner Hochschulgesetz – BerlHG).
In addition, the appointee should demonstrate teaching experience along with excellent, internationally visible research activities in the field of English literature (outside the USA) from a global perspective. Their research should demonstrate an awareness of literature as one practice within a greater medialized environment. The successful candidate will have research experience and knowledge in the area of gender theory and/or intersectionality, with a focus on modern, postmodern and/or contemporary literature and culture. They should have experience in interdisciplinary collaborations, e.g. within research partnerships, along with the ability to teach courses in English.
Along with the regular official duties of professors listed in Section 99 of the Berlin Higher Education Act, we expect the appointee to engage in the following activities:
The junior professor will be expected to participate in the Excellence Cluster EXC 2020, “Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective,” and to contribute to the further development of its research program from an interdisciplinary perspective. They will also be expected to research English literature (outside the USA) from a global perspective, giving special attention to the variety of media and formats that constitute literature itself (e.g., orality, manuscript cultures, the printed book, periodicity, the New Media, etc.) and the entanglements and conceptualizations of literature across spans of time, space, and cultures. They will develop gender perspectives in research on globality in literature.
The appointed candidate will teach in the degree programs offered by the Institute for English Language and Literature, as well as within interdisciplinary degree programs such as the master’s degree in applied literary studies. They will be expected to contribute to the development of new interdisciplinary research partnerships and to prepare grants for externally funded projects. They should also be prepared to fill any gaps in their knowledge of German by the time of their tenure review so that they demonstrate at least C1-level (CEFR) proficiency.The successful candidate will also be expected to address gender issues as part of their research and teaching.
The position entails a three-year appointment as a civil servant for a fixed period (“Beamter/Beam-tin auf Zeit”). Following a successful midterm review (“Zwischenevaluation”), the position can be extended for another three years. If the appointee then successfully passes their tenure review, they will be appointed to a permanent professorship through a streamlined appointment procedure (i.e., the permanent appointment will not be advertised as a separate position). As part of this pro-cess, performance goals will be negotiated at the time the junior professor is hired. The fulfillment of those goals will be assessed as part of the tenure review (Section 102c of the Berlin Higher Edu-cation Act, § 102 c BerlHG).
The performance goals will cover (but are not limited to) the following areas:
At the time of appointment to the permanent professorship, all general regulations and conditions regarding public sector employment must be fulfilled.
In addition, any candidates who completed their doctoral degree at Freie Universität Berlin and/or are employed at Freie Universität Berlin must comply with the regulations stipulated by the Berlin Higher Education Act, Article 102c, paragraph 3.
Applications should include a CV, copies of all certificates of academic qualification in German or English; a list of publications, a list of courses previously taught, and evidence of teaching competence. Please include information on involvement in ongoing and future research endeavors, joint research projects, and externally funded projects. If necessary, please include language certificates. If applicable, please give information on experience in primary and secondary education, partnerships with industry, inventions/patents, and spin-offs.
Please submit all application materials electronically as one PDF file (maximum 5 MB) by November 11th, 2021. Be sure to include a personal postal address and email, as well as the reference code for the position. For formal purposes, (i.e., for formatting application documents), you may use the following postal address, but please send your application to the email address below it:
Freie Universität Berlin
Fachbereich Philosophie und Geisteswissenschaften
Dekanat
Ms. Hehn
Habelschwerdter Allee 45
14195 Berlin
Email: bewerbung@geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de
Application documents will be deleted from our servers after the legal retention period has lapsed.
Application guidelines, general information on the appointment procedure, appointment require-ments for professorships at Freie Universität Berlin, and the regulations defined by the Berlin Higher Education Act which are relevant for professorships (Sections 99, 100, 101, 102a,102c Ber-lHG) can be found online: www.fu-berlin.de/bbs