Associate Senior Lecturer in conservation ecology with focus on resilient forest ecosystems

Faculty of Forest Sciences

The Department of Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre

This recruitment is part of an excellence initiative – SLU Futures – which aims to attract and support promising young researchers within the strategic themes of Future Sustainable Plant Production Systems, Resilient Ecosystems, and One Health. The objective of the initiative is to create conditions for successful research in future-oriented, strong academic environments through long-term employment. Read more here www.slu.se/slu-futures

The Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre is an interdisciplinary department where research and teaching is conducted in several subjects related to sustainable forestry. The department has targeted expertise in issues related to the Southern Swedish landscape. Research areas include forest management, ecology, pathology, policy and planning. The extensive teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels covers all of these subject areas. Collaboration and communication with relevant societal actors have a high priority.

We are located at SLU’s Alnarp campus in Skåne. Read more about the department at https://www.slu.se/en/departments/southern-swedish-forest-research-centre/. Read more about our benefits and what it is like to work at SLU at www.slu.se/en/about-slu/work-at-slu/

Subject Area

The subject area is conservation ecology with focus on resilient forest ecosystems.

Duties 

The Associate Senior Lecturer is expected to develop their own research line within the subject area. The department will provide the holder with development opportunities to be able to qualify as docent and Senior Lecturer in the subject of the position.

The research shall improve the understanding of impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services resulting from alternative forest management strategies to achieve resilient forest ecosystems.

Research should be carried out in close collaboration with colleagues at the department, faculty and other parts of SLU, as well as through national and international collaborations.

In addition, the holder of the position is also expected to:

• act in accordance with the vision, goals and basic values of SLU
• initiate the development of their own research group within the subject area
• apply for external research funding in competition and publish scientific articles
• participate in postgraduate education as a co-supervisor
• conduct research-based teaching at first, second and third cycle level
• receive pedagogical training, and are expected to fulfill the requirements for promotion to senior lecturer during the employment
• collaborate and communicate with relevant stakeholders in the surrounding society

Swedish and English are used in parallel at the department. The Associate Senior Lecturer should be able to perform most of their tasks in English. However, as a public authority, the university has Swedish as its main language according to the requirements of the Language Act. Non-Swedish-speaking staff members are expected to, within four years of first being employed, have sufficient knowledge of Swedish/Scandinavian to understand information in Swedish. The department will support the holder to achieve this goal.

Qualifications

Eligible for employment as associate senior lecturer are candidates who hold a PhD or have equivalent academic qualifications. Priority will be given to candidates who have received a PhD or equivalent qualifications no longer than seven years before the application deadline. Other candidates may also be considered if there are extraordinary grounds for doing so. Extraordinary grounds consider leave due to illness, parental leave or similar circumstances.

For employment as associate senior lecturer, the candidate must be scientifically proficient within the subject area of the position.

Good ability to communicate in written and spoken English is required.

Assessment Criteria

The assessment criteria for appointment as an associate senior lecturer will primarily be based on the degree to which the applicant/candidate possesses the required qualifications specified for the position.

The assessment for appointment as an associate senior lecturer will primarily be based on qualitative indicators of the applicant's scientific skill within the subject area of the position.

The applicant’s experience in transdisciplinary studies, as well as experience in ecosystem services assessment will be assessed.

Furthermore, the assessment includes evaluating the applicant’s ability to develop an independent line of research within the subject area, and to qualify for promotion to senior lecturer during the employment period.

The position will be offered to the person who, after a qualitative overall assessment, is assessed to be most suitable to carry out and develop the above-mentioned duties and to contribute to the positive development of the organization.

Form of employment

 This is a fixed-term appointment (4 years) as regulated in the Higher Education Ordinance. The role of associate senior lecturer is a career-development position that is the first step on the academic career path at SLU. During their employment, an associate senior lecturer is entitled to apply for an evaluation review for promotion to senior lecturer. They will be assessed based on the criteria that are established when advertising the position of associate senior lecturer. 

* Swedish “biträdande universitetslektor”, a tenured position approximately equivalent to Associate senior lecturer (UK) or Assistant professor (US). The applicant who is offered this employment at SLU will be employed as Associate senior lecturer.

This position offers the vibrant research climate at SLU. The benefits of the position include Swedish family health care provisions, parenting support including generous paid leave of absence policies that allow both parents to care for newborns and toddlers. Additionally Sweden has a well-established pre-school structure as well as an educational system that provides no-cost education through university studies.

Scope

100 %

Location

Alnarp

Starting date

By agreement.

Application

It is desirable that the application is written in English, because the applications will be evaluated by expert advisers both in Sweden and abroad.

For the guidance of your application, there is SLU's appointment procedure for teachers at SLU and General assessment criteria for the appointment of teachers, which you can read here.

Last date to apply is 2025-09-15.

Fackliga kontaktpersoner:

https://internt.slu.se/min-anstallning/facket/kontaktpersoner/