5 asst. prof. jobs, University of Amsterdam

[hadtopost]

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG) is the largest social-science educational and research institution in the Netherlands. The Faculty serves around 9,000 students in numerous Bachelor's and Master's programmes in Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Communication Science, Psychology, Social Geography, International Development Studies and Educational Sciences. The academic staff is employed in education as well as research. There are over 1,200 employees at the Faculty, located in a number of buildings in the centre of Amsterdam.
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology is one of the Departments in the FMG. Research and education are carried out by special institutes. The College of Social Sciences (CSS) and the Graduate School for the Social Sciences (GSSS) are responsible for the undergraduate and graduate teaching programmes in the social sciences. Research takes place under the aegis of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), a multidisciplinary research institute, the biggest one of its kind in the Netherlands and possibly in Europe. The broad scope and pluralism of our education and research programmes are inspired by and reflect a strong degree of internationalisation. The Programme groups ‘Dynamics of Culture and Citizenship’ and ‘Institutions, Inequalities, and Life Courses’ form the two main cohorts of researchers. Academics from these programme groups alongside researchers from other disciplines collaborate in various interdisciplinary centres, including the Centre for Urban Studies, the Centre for Global Health and Social Sciences—both representing the UvA’s research priorities—and the Amsterdam Centre for Inequality Studies.
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology currently has an opening for a
Five Assistant /Associate Professors in Sociology
For 38,0 hours per week (1.0 fte).
The new assistant /associate professors are currently expected to spend 60 percent of their time on teaching and 40 percent of their time on research. Both activities include administrative tasks.

Tasks
• Strengthening the broad profile of sociology in Amsterdam
• Developing, carrying out and supervising social science research at a high academic level
• Providing general, specialist and methodological education in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and co-supervising graduate students
• Acquiring, or helping to acquire, external funding for research
• Actively contributing to the organization of research and teaching and to the development of the discipline in national and international contexts by publishing and participating in national and international research networks and educational initiatives
• Promoting top-level research, 'fostering research collaboration (also with post-docs and PhD candidates) and developing internationally competitive academic leadership (associate professor)
Profile
• Commitment to the research agenda of the AISSR in general (as carried out by the sociology Program Groups of the AISSR) and in the field of culture, or of cities, or of ethnicity, or of educational inequality, or of gender and life course in particular.
•
• Commitment to enhance collaborations in relevant fields
• Completed doctoral thesis in the field of sociology
• Excellent track record in sociological research, as exemplified in a strong publication record in internationally peer-reviewed journals and books published by internationally recognised publishers
• Demonstrated ability to acquire research funding from external sources (e.g. Netherlands’ Organization for Scientific Research or other research councils, European Union, or other national and international funding agencies), or the potential to do so
• Thorough mastery of quantitative and/or qualitative research methods
• Proven capability to teach and motivate students at both basic and advanced levels
• Adequate knowledge of Dutch, or the willingness to learn the Dutch language within two years
• In possession of the Dutch Basic Teaching Qualification (BKO, or foreign equivalent), or willingness to acquire this in a relatively short term
Appointment
The full-time appointment (38 hrs / week) will initially be on a temporary basis for a period of three years, with the opportunity for tenure. Depending on qualifications and experience, the gross monthly full-time salary will range from € 3,195 up to € 4,970 (scale 11/12) in the case of assistant professors, and from € 4,428 up to € 5,920 (scale 13/14) in the case of associate professors. This is in conformity with the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities. Secondary benefits at Dutch universities are attractive and include 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% end of year bonus.

Applications
Applications by email only. These should include:
i. a concise statement of motivation (2 pages max.),
ii. a CV and list of publications
iii. a statement including research plans (2 pages max.),
iv. a teaching statement (2 pages max.),
v. a list of three references

At this stage of the procedure, please do not send letters of reference or proofs of your academic writing.
All documents should be sent as a single pdf email attachment to [e-mail] . Please mention ‘Application UD Sociology’ in the subject line. The deadline for applications is 3 December 2012.
Further information
For more information about this position, please contact Prof. Dr. Jan Rath, Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, tel. [phone], email [e-mail], or go to any of these websites:
website UvA www.uva.nl/en
website AISSR aissr.uva.nl/
website Center for Urban Studies urbanstudies.uva.nl/
website Amsterdam Centre for Inequality Studies www.amcis.eu
website Global Health aighd.org/
website Graduate School gsss.uva.nl/

[insight please]

I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with the application process in Amsterdam. Is the "statement of motivation" pretty much the same as the cover letters US jobs ask for?

[Dutch employment]

I'd say that a statement of motivation is indeed similar to a cover letter, but I would keep it separate. Basically you can put in your overall research interests and teaching interests/experience. It is the first impression that they will have, before looking at the rest of your CV and paperwork.

To anyone considering these positions, I would highly recommend working in the Netherlands. It is a great experience, and the Dutch environment is supportive although also somewhat competitive. I would apply to these positions if I was not already employed here and looking to go back to North America!

[question]

Quick question to the above poster who seems to have some insight into the Dutch academic market.

Does the Netherlands have a similar policy to Canada where citizens are given first preference in hiring decisions?

Also how important is knowing Dutch? I'm certainly more than willing to learn it, but it just isn't a language that is really taught in American universities.

[Dutch Employment]

No. The Dutch are usually very open about who they hire (as are the Canadians in my experience - the preference thing is a legal requirement, and all things being equal they would hire the Canadian - something which rarely happens! There is rarely any 'bumping' up of Canucks in terms of rankings).

And no need to know Dutch, though you have to demonstrate a willingness to learn it eventually, probably teach it in 10 years or so. Mine is terrible even after a few years here. And (almost) everyone knows English - same is true for Denmark and Sweden, Norway, Finland (not Germany or France of course!) All relevant publications are in English, most teaching is too, especially in Amsterdam, so too is all EU funded research. Even the applications for the Dutch research funding agency can be in English or Dutch (though there is some steep competition).

Again, I would encourage people to apply, even though I don't know UvA's department well, the university has a good reputation.