Assistant Professor in Environmental Chemistry

Are you interested in the analysis and fate of trace organic contaminants in the environment, and can you contribute to the development of our cross-disciplinary section in environmental chemistry and toxicology? Then the Department of Environmental Sciences, Aarhus university invites you to apply for a four-year Assistant Professor position.
 

Expected start date and duration of employment

This is a 4–year position from 1st June 2025.


Job description

As assistant professor in environmental chemistry, you will contribute to the research, advisory work and teaching environment of the department and to overall research strategy of the faculty. You will supervise students at Master and PhD level, and you will contribute to the development of the department through individual and collaborative research of high international quality. You will work closely together with both Danish and international colleagues.

The Assistant Professor main tasks will consist of:

• Research of high international quality, including publication in top international journals
• Obtaining external research funding
• Supporting the research-based advisory work of the section
• Teaching and development of new teaching activities
• Academic leadership through skilled research management
• Extensive involvement in national and international collaboration within the field of research

Further, the Assistant Professor is expected to contribute to:

• Lead the project “Environmental Fate of Novel Antibiotics”
• Establish and consolidate target methodologies for the measuring trace organic pollutants in the aquatic environment
• Implement suspect screening methods and non-target approaches for screening of transformation products

Your profile

Applicants should hold a PhD in environmental chemistry or similar. The preferred candidate should have a track-record of peer-reviewed publications in recognized journals in the field and experience of external funding.

The ideal candidate should have a sound foundation in analytical chemistry and research experience in the field of target analyses as well as suspect and non-target screening, preferably with connections to water pollutants, water treatment technology and environmental engineering.

As such, the candidate should have experience with:

• Mass spectrometry, combined with both gas and liquid chromatography, for the analysis of environmental samples
• Different sample matrices such as water, wastewater, sludge, and sediments, but other such as biota samples will be considered as an advantage.
• Quality assurance in analytical chemistry, including method validation procedures.
• Having worked with projects with different water treatment technology will be considered as an advantage.

Excellent collaboration, management and communication skills are a requirement.


Who we are

The Department of Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary department under the Faculty of Technical Sciences at Aarhus University. The expertise ranges from social science, geography, economics and policy analysis to mathematical modelling, physics, chemistry, toxicology, and microbiology. Both pure and applied research is conducted on some of the major challenges facing society, such as pollution and pollution control mechanisms, management of land, soil, water, air and biodiversity, protection of ecosystem services and climate change. Research based advisory services within these areas are offered to ministries and other stakeholders and central to the Department economy. Currently, about 150 staff and PhD-students are working at the department. Further information may be found at http://www.envs.au.dk.


The selected candidate will be affiliated with the Section for Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology. The section conducts research and research-based advisory work targeting a better understanding of the transport and fate of organic pollutants in the environment, as well as a better understanding of the links between environmental chemistry, toxicology and human exposure. This includes tools to identify and quantify impacts, which can act as indicators of emerging problems. The aim is to provide the highest capability in Denmark for assessing risks associated with the distribution and fate of organic pollutants in the environment.


What we offer

The department and section offer:

• a well-developed research infrastructure, laboratories with high-end analytical equipment
• an interdisciplinary environment with both national and international collaborators as well as authorities and private companies
• a research climate encouraging lively, open and critical discussion within and across different fields of research
• a work environment with close working relationships, networking and social activities
• a workplace characterised by professionalism, equality and a healthy work-life balance.

 

Place of work and area of employment

The place of work will be at Aarhus University, RISØ Campus, in Roskilde, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark. The city of Roskilde (www.roskilde.dk) is located close to Copenhagen. The area provides immediate access to a wealth of cultural and recreational pursuits.
 

Contact information

For further information, please contact: Head of Section, Pedro Carvalho, [email protected].


Deadline

Applications must be received no later than 07 March 2025. 
 


Application procedure

Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the assessment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. The selection is made on the basis of an assessment of who of the candidates are most relevant considering the requirements of the advertisement. All applicants will be notified within 6 weeks whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee and will receive his/her assessment. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.


Letter of reference

If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.

If you wish to add a referee after you have submitted your application, you must send this person’s details (name, job title, place of work, and email address) as well as the name of the position you have applied for to: [email protected]


Formalities and salary range

Technical Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.
 


Aarhus University

Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/