Professor in Informatics and Interaction Design

The Department of Informatics is recruiting a full-time Professor in Informatics, with specialization in Interaction Design. The employment will start from 2017-01-01 or as agreed. To be eligible for the position as a professor the candidate must have shown academic and teaching skills. Last day to apply is 2016-10-10.

Responsibilities
As a Professor of Informatics the successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the continued development of the research environment at the department. The candidate will conduct his or her own research, will lead a research group within the area, contribute to the development of the department and conduct by teaching and supervise at the bachelor, master and doctoral levels. As a professor you have a strong vision for the development of the department. Responsibilities will also include to help inform about (support) the department’s research and development activities, to initiate and participate in the planning of research projects, and to actively lead the development of applications for external funding within the topics of interaction design, human-computer interaction and digital media production (DMP). Duties may also include some administrative and managerial tasks. The location of employment is Umeå and an active participation in the department's activities is expected.

Qualifications and Eligibility
To be eligible for the position as a professor the candidate must have shown academic and teaching skills. Equal importance will be given to the assessment of teaching skills as to the assessment of academic ability. Assessment criteria will also include administrative and interpersonal skills.

Academic skills are demonstrated through independent research achievements, evidence of the ability to plan and manage scientific activities, projects and research groups, and of the ability to communicate research both within the scientific community and with the wider society. Particular emphasis will be given to research experience within the field of Interaction Design.

Skill in research leadership and successful supervision, and proven ability to attract competitive research funding will also be assessed.

Teaching skills refer to the applicant’s experience of working with students, demonstrable pedagogic progress, and perceived ability of the candidate to contribute to the advancement of the department's educational profile, including our PhD program. This includes participating in postgraduate educational activities such as postgraduate supervision and involvement in the design and implementation of courses and seminars on postgraduate level.

Administrative skills encompass the ability to develop and lead activities and externally funded research projects, the ability to interact with the wider society and to inform about research activities, studies, interventions and findings. The applicant should also have documented ability to work both nationally and internationally. In particular we emphasis established and long-term international research collaborations manifested in the form of published work. Interpersonal skills further include the ability to formulate, plan and manage projects that include multiple stakeholders – within academia, and together with external partners, as well as proven ability to participate in joint research activities and large scale research projects.

Weighting between the different criteria When weighing the various assessment criteria paramount importance will be attributed to scientific ability. Importance will also be attached to the pedagogic skills. The level of administrative and managerial skills, and science communication skills are accorded slightly lower weighing than the scientific and educational abilities.

According to Chapter 4, Section 3 of the Higher Education Ordinance, a person who has demonstrated both research and teaching expertise shall be qualified for employment as a professor. Appointment qualifications and rules for teachers at Umeå University may be found here and here.

The application should be formatted according to the guidelines set out by the Faculty of Social Sciences, here. e application should be done at the e-recruitment system MyNetwork Pro.

The department of Informatics, http://www.informatik.umu.se, provides an interdisciplinary research environment focused on the two areas of IT-management and Interaction Design. The department of Informatics is a dynamic research and teaching organization including three undergraduate programs and three master programs. We have a total of around 45 employees.

In relation to Interaction Design we have three full time professors, one undergraduate program in Digitalmediaproduction (DMP) and one master program in Human-Computer Interaction & Social Media (HCISM). Our undergraduate program DMP is now celebrating its first 10 years and our ambition is to strengthen our research in this area. In particular we are searching for a dedicated person to lead the development of this educational program, to establish a strong research program in interaction design with a particular orientation towards digital media production, and to attract external funding for large-scale research projects in this area.