Assistant Professor in History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (EXPIRED)

Assistant Professor in History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (0.8 - 1.0 FTE)

Job description
Are you a Philosopher working on the recent history and philosophy of the life sciences (e.g. genetics, molecular biology, neurosciences, systems biology, bioinformatics, biophysics, environmental biology)? Then you might be interested in the position of Assistant Professor in History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences at the HPS group of the Freudenthal Institute of Utrecht University.

In this position you will be actively involved in teaching and developing teaching material for Bachelor programmes, particularly in Biology and the HPS Master's programme. You will also be teaching research integrity (RCR) courses. Furthermore, you will be supervising Master's students and PhD students. Besides education you will have the opportunity to contribute to research in your chosen field and publish the results in high-quality journals and books. You will be embedded within a diverse and collaborative community of Teachers and Researchers across the Utrecht Science and city centre campus.

Qualifications
You will play a committed role in all aspects of academic life. Ideally, your eligibility is exemplified by:

• a PhD in (history and) philosophy of the life sciences;
• significant research achievements and promise for the future;
• a track record of international publications in leading journals;
• high potential for the acquisition of external research funds;
• affinity with collaboration within an HPS environment;
• a committed role in (inter)national activities in scientific and/or societal communities;
• a strong commitment towards high quality teaching and student supervision;
• ideas about organising research conferences, workshops and seminars, and public engagement activities;
• the willingness to acquire a working knowledge of the Dutch language within the first two years of the appointment.

 
In view of our aspiration to improve the gender balance we strongly invite women to apply.

Offer

• An appointment at the level of Assistant Professor, initially for a period of 5 years. The position will be subject to a mid-term evaluation after approximately 2.5 years and an end-term evaluation. Following a positive evaluation the position will become permanent after 5 years.
• The gross salary – depending on previous qualifications and experience - ranges between €3,637 and €4,987 (scale 11 according to the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities(cao)) per month for a full-time employment. Salaries are supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3% per year.
• We offer a pension scheme, collective insurance schemes, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities.

In addition to the employment conditions laid down in the cao for Dutch Universities, Utrecht University has a number of its own arrangements. For example, there are agreements on professional development, leave arrangements and sports. We also give you the opportunity to expand your terms of employment yourself via the Employment Conditions Selection Model. This is how we like to encourage you to continue to grow. For international employees the University offers help with finding housing, child care and schools, as well as a partner programme and a Dutch language course.

Facilities for sports and child care are available on our campus, which is only 15 minutes away from the historical city centre of Utrecht. Utrecht is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, with a charming old centre and an internationally oriented culture that is strongly influenced by its centuries-old university. Utrecht city has been consistently ranked as one of the most attractive cities to live in the Netherlands.

More information about working at the Faculty of Science can be found here.

About the organization
The Utrecht History and Philosophy of Science group is part of the Freudenthal Institute, Department of Mathematics. We study the foundations, practices, and cultures of the sciences, combining historical and philosophical perspectives to study past and present science. We are especially interested in the interplay of science with cultural, social, political and institutional factors. We also analyse the fundamental structure of theories such as general relativity, quantum mechanics, evolution, and genetics.

The HPS group is part of the Utrecht Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities. The Centre unites historians and philosophers of all seven Utrecht University Faculties. Together, the members aim to offer a long-term historical and philosophical perspective on scientific developments that have a major impact on society, for example in the fields of scientific integrity, the position of science in society, academic publishing and research funding. The Descartes Centre members contribute to social and political debates by critically reflecting on the foundations and the dissemination of knowledge.

At the Faculty of Science there are 6 departments to make a fundamental connection with: Biology, Chemistry, Information and Computing Sciences, Mathematics, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Physics. Each of these is made up of distinct institutes which work together to focus on answering some of humanity’s most pressing problems. More fundamental still are the individual research groups – the building blocks of our ambitious scientific projects.

Utrecht University is a friendly and ambitious university at the heart of an ancient city. We love to welcome new scientists to our city – a thriving cultural hub that is consistently rated as one of the world’s happiest cities. We are renowned for our innovative interdisciplinary research and our emphasis on inspirational research and excellent education. We are equally well-known for our familiar atmosphere and the can-do attitude of our people. This fundamental connection attracts Researchers, Professors and PhD candidates from all over the globe, making both the university and the Faculty of Science a vibrant international and wonderfully diverse community.