Postdoctoral position in emerging pedagogical technology comprehension and digital technologies in schools

A fulltime postdoc position for 26 months in the Technologies in Practice section is open for appointment 1 June 2025 or soon thereafter. The position is available in The Datafication of Wellbeing in the Danish Public School (DATAWELL) project, funded by the Danish Independent Research Fund (2025-2027). For details of the qualification requirements for the position, please see below.

The DATAWELL Project
The project explores the recent uptick in digital app technologies in student wellbeing work. Student wellbeing is a growing concern in Danish public schools. Commercial apps seeking to aid teachers in wellbeing work have become commonplace, facilitating continuous monitoring and discussion of wellbeing in the classroom and among professionals.

DATAWELL combines STS and critical education studies, theorizing wellbeing as a relational phenomenon, with wellbeing apps shaping both teaching practice and students’ self-understandings and affectual states. Critical studies of datafication in education offer a sound critique of datafication practices, but studies also show that teachers do possess data literacy skills and use digital tools to productively engage with their students.

The DATAWELL project is interested in studying these realities and the implications of turning students’ wellbeing into a self-reported, datafied object for observation and intervention. DATAWELL mobilizes ethnographic methods and media studies methods to understand these relations, and, through workshops with 1) school professional and 2) profession researchers, advance emergent professional data literacies and responsible wellbeing interventions in schools. DATAWELL is a collaboration between ITU, Aarhus University, and University College Copenhagen.

Job Description
The postdoctoral researcher will be the key fieldworker in the project. They will be required to organize their own research tasks and over the course of the project work closely with the PI Irina Papazu. The postdoc will conduct independent research during the project.

Fieldwork may take place in any part of Denmark. Candidates are encouraged to consider how to make use of existing networks to locate fieldwork venues. The researcher will conduct ethnographic fieldwork, formal and informal interviews, and co-construct questions about the social, material, digital, and affective aspects digital technologies in pedagogical and education governance work, related to the DATAWELL projects research questions.

The postdoc will be required to assist in organizing the project’s internal analytic and writing workshops, as well as organize and facilitate the project’s external-facing intervention workshops with a variety of stakeholders, e.g., profession researchers, teacher educators, school leaders, and teachers.

Additional tasks during the project may include written public outreach in news and profession media, e.g. SkoleMonitor and Folkeskolen.dk, as well as outreach or speaking in profession education programmes like the teacher education programme and education leadership courses.

The Work Environment
At ITU, the postdoc will join the active and international Technologies in Practice section, one of Scandinavia’s largest interdisciplinary STS environments doing research at the intersection of society and IT.

General information
The IT University of Copenhagen (ITU) is a teaching and research-based tertiary institution concerned with information technology (IT) and the opportunities it offers. The IT University has more than 160 full-time Faculty members. Research and teaching in information technology span all academic activities which involve computers including computer science, information and media sciences, humanities and social sciences, business impact and the commercialization of IT.

Working at the IT University
Located in modern architecture, a 6-minute metro ride from the center of Copenhagen, the IT University offers an informal working environment, a varied everyday life, and a highly motivated, ambitious, competent, and diverse international faculty, with PhD degrees from 17 different countries. The IT University is an equal opportunity employer and prides itself in actively and successfully pursuing an improved gender balance among students and among faculty.

Working in Copenhagen
Copenhagen has a solid educational system, a rich cultural life, universal healthcare, good childcare, and well-functioning infrastructure. Copenhagen is among the world’s most livable cities according to the Economist Global Liveability Index. Living and working in Copenhagen will be a good experience for you and your family.

Salary and terms of employment
Appointment and salary will be in accordance with the Ministry of Taxation’s agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) and job structure for academic staff at Universities.

Qualification Requirements
Required

• Academic qualifications at PhD level in a relevant field (e.g., science and technology studies, social anthropology, sociology) applied to the Danish public-school sector
• Experience with fieldwork in the Danish public-school sector
• Willingness to travel to municipalities and schools in various regions of Denmark for fieldwork of up to a month at a time
• Proficient or high proficient in both Danish and English

Beneficial

• Experience with collaborative project and teamwork
• Previous engagement with some of the relevant themes from the project (e.g., technology comprehension, digital transformation of Danish schools) and the capacity to narrate the leap from the PhD project to the proposed postdoc.
• Relevant networks in the University College sector
• Relevant networks in critical ‘edtech’ research
• Relevant teaching experience
• Experience with organizing workshops across university academia and profession research environments

Employment as postdoc is a temporary position for up to 4 years at the same University.

Application
The application and all other documents ought to be in English and must include:

• A motivated application (cover letter), including a detailed description of your qualifications and brief statements of research and teaching plans
• A full CV, including name, address, phone number, e-mail, previous and present employment and academic background
• Documentation of academic degrees (copy of degree certificates etc.)
• Relevant scientific publication or/and PhD thesis written by the applicant
• Documentation of pedagogical experience and teaching record within one or more of the teaching areas listed for the position

Applications without the above-mentioned required documents will not be assessed.

The applicant will be accessed according to the Appointment Order from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of 13 March 2012.

The IT University may use shortlisting in connection to the recruitment process. In case of shortlisting, the Chair of the hiring committee selects applicants for assessment in consultation with the hiring committee after the application deadline. All applicants are notified whether their application has been passed for assessment. The shortlisting of candidates for assessment is based on the criteria in the job posting. 

Further information
Questions about the positions can be directed to Head of section, Christopher Gad, IT University of Copenhagen, e-mail [email protected].

Questions related to the application procedure may be directed to HR, [email protected].

Application procedure
You can only apply for this position through our e-recruitment system. Apply by pressing the button "Apply for position" in the job announcement on our website.

Please note that all application material will be destroyed after the assessment.

Application deadline: 20 March 2025, at 23:59 CET.

Applications/enclosures received at ITU after the application deadline will not be taken into consideration. If you submit an application, it is your responsibility to ensure that it arrives before the deadline so please allow sufficient time for upload of publications and other documents.

At The IT University of Copenhagen we have an international environment and view diversity as a valuable resource. We are committed to ensuring an inclusive working environment for all our employees and encourage all qualified applicants, regardless of age, gender, religious affiliation, or ethnic background to apply for the position.