Professorat i arkitektur (Professorship in architecture)

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The Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation invites applications for a permanent, full-time position as a professor of architecture for its Kalundborg-based architecture programme.

We are seeking a colleague who is committed to developing the open, experimental academic environment centred on the new architecture programme in Kalundborg. You are interested in shaping this new programme and in working closely with the Royal Danish Academy’s other environments to build a strong research environment, preferably drawing on capacities from your national and international networks and in dialogue with local stakeholders in Kalundborg.  You have a broad architectural and research horizon; you have an inclusive academic and human outlook; and you can gather tutors and researchers across the Kalundborg and Holmen campuses to develop the programme in keeping with relevant academic and research agendas.

Our buildings, cities, towns and landscapes are being impacted by major, rapid changes: demographic shifts, the effects of the climate and biodiversity crises, the green transition of the energy and agricultural production sectors, changes in working and trade patterns, the effects of globalisation, to name a few. Small and medium-sized provincial towns and their catchment areas therefore find themselves having to tackle many interacting transitional processes involving numerous interests, requirements and agendas, as well as major spatial challenges. Their function and importance are changing, and their self-perception and identity are thus also heading in new directions. Our relationship with nature, the landscape and rural areas is likewise undergoing rapid change in line with these dynamics.

We expect our new colleague to navigate within these themes with ease and confidence, in both their research and their academic work.

The vacant professorship is affiliated with the Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape (IBBL) in Kalundborg. We hope to fill the position by 1 September 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Read more about the programme at Kalundborg here

Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape – Holmen and Kalundborg

The Institute’s disciplines are architectural design, cities and cultural landscapes, and their spatial transformation and development, current and historical. Our focus is on how we can produce well-founded, sustainable proposals for cities, buildings, urban spaces and landscapes that are informed by relevant academic and artistic research as well as the knowledge of practice.

The Institute spans a wide variety of disciplines, and we believe architecture gains its meaning and experiential impact through a close dialogue with the specific surroundings and conditions – human, spatial, economic, geological, urban, landscape, climatic and political. IBBL offers a Bachelor’s degree programme at Campus Kalundborg, and starting in 2026, a Master’s degree programme as well as a Bachelor’s programme and two Master’s programmes at Campus Holmen.

The architecture programme at Kalundborg emphasises the importance of seizing the opportunities the town offers for building an open, experimental and innovative study and research environment in collaboration with Kalundborg’s other educational institutions, businesses and civil society. A strong local foundation goes hand in hand with a global outlook: a global outreach that springs from solutions rooted in the community. We strive to cultivate an academic environment that exploits the differences between town and country as tools for academic questioning and openness – a springboard for ways of investigating and exploring the world. Both the Bachelor’s and the Master’s programmes are under development. Starting in the autumn of 2025, the first three undergraduate years will be studying for their Bachelor’s degree, and in 2026, the first graduate students will embark on the English-language Master’s programme. In developing the Bachelor’s programme, we have moved away from finished, complete solutions to pre-defined problems and instead embraced an approach based on empathetic, inquisitive co-creation that seeks to identify opportunities – rather than simply problems – in the town as it already exists. With specific proposals for urban development, construction projects, pop-ups and interventions in the centre of Kalundborg and its social life, we hope to showcase opportunities to develop the town that start at grassroots level and that focus on the particular and specific. Alongside teaching, academic and artistic research, we will work closely with the other IBBL tutors and researchers, the rest of the Royal Danish Academy and leading international environments within our disciplines.

Read more about the Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape here

The position

The position of professor will consist of research, teaching and curriculum planning, research leadership and the related administrative duties.

It is crucial that you possess good collaborative skills, a pioneering spirit and willingness to take personal initiative as well as the ability to motivate and excite others.

Your research and academic work must substantially contribute to the themes encompassed by the position: The fundamental task of proposing and critically rethinking the ways we develop, plan and live in our cities, buildings and landscapes – and accordingly also our perception of and co-existence with nature and its landscapes.

Your duties will include:

• Building and profiling a strong research environment in Kalundborg.
• Developing and profiling the Master’s programme.
• Heading up research, also including personally publishing and otherwise presenting scholarly knowledge in the focus area of the position in collaboration with relevant external institutions, enterprises and networks nationally and internationally, as well as the other R&D areas at IBBL and the Royal Danish Academy as a whole.
• Planning future R&D projects, particularly including taking initiative to apply for external funding and fund-raising that support the development of the research environment at Kalundborg.
• Teaching, curriculum planning and the related administration associated with the programme at Kalundborg and the Royal Danish Academy’s interdisciplinary teaching.
• Supervision, examinations and external examining work as well as academic assessment work.
• PhD supervision
• Participation in a number of Royal Danish Academy and IBBL committees and collegiate bodies.
• Strengthen the fields of academic and potentially artistic research across Royal Danish Academy institutes, in collaboration with external partners and with a particular focus on Kalundborg and its environs.

Qualifications

As a minimum, you hold a Master’s level degree in architecture and a PhD or PhD-level qualifications. You have completed an assistant professorship period or equivalent teaching qualification period and have experience from an associate professorship or equivalent qualification.

We also expect that you can document:

• Extensive production of scholarly work at a distinguished international level.
• Decisive influence on the disciplines via international peer-reviewed publications in recognised journals and/or books/anthologies.
• Extensive research track record reflected in research at a high international level and/or multiple citations in recognised journals and/or books/anthologies.
• Participation in national and international scientific networks and conferences, including invitations to present research.
• Solid experience in teaching and supervision at Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD level, including examination work and acting as an opponent at the defence of PhD dissertations and/or theses.
• Membership of official institutional forums, working groups and assessment committees, and an interest in acting on councils, boards and committees.
• Experience in developing, securing and managing large, externally financed research projects, preferably including projects involving industry collaborations and/or partnerships with authorities and NGOs.
• Ongoing development of teaching skills, including your own and others’ teaching and supervision practice.
• Completed and passed the Danish one-year postgraduate teacher training diploma course (Pædagogikum), and provide documentation of this. In exceptional cases, the Royal Danish Academy may dispense from this requirement, provided that you complete and pass the diploma course within two years.
• Development and management of interdisciplinary and international collaborations.
• Experience with academic management tasks such as research, course and programme management.

We attach great importance to the applicant’s experience in participating in public debate and interest in presenting academic and research agendas to broad audiences, particularly in and around Kalundborg. Such dialogue is expected to provide much of the impetus for the programme.

Other qualifications that will count favourably in the assessment of an applicant:

• Documented experience in participating in interdisciplinary and inter-institutional partnerships, nationally and internationally.
• Architectural experience and high-calibre results within IBBL’s disciplines, for example, urban development, citizen involvement, housing and institutional architecture, architectural policy, landscape architecture and urban space planning.
• Experience in conducting artistic research as part of an academic appointment – preferably involving themes related to the content of the position.
• Interest in academic leadership and in further developing personal leadership competencies.
• English at an exceptionally high academic and professional level.

What we offer

• An inspiring workday at one of the world’s newest institutions of architectural education.
• Good working relationships with colleagues united by a strong pioneering spirit, in a free-thinking environment, with broad horizons and in a setting conducive to mutual inspiration and discussion.
• The opportunity to set the direction and academic focus for the new Master’s programme and to shape the Bachelor’s programme, in particular the third and last year.
• The opportunity to set strong academic agendas in close dialogue with the local community.
• The opportunity to develop new, original fields of research.
• Affiliation with the Royal Danish Academy and its many strong academic environments at Holmen, Esplanaden, Kalundborg and Nexø.

Salary and terms of employment

The terms of pay and employment will be in accordance with the agreement in force between the Danish Ministry of Finance and a number of organisations under the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) for academic staff in public service. A qualification allowance will be negotiable, depending on your skills and experience.

The position will also be filled in accordance with the applicable job structure for artistic and scientific staff at the Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation; Aarhus School of Architecture; and Design School Kolding – Executive Order no. 1190 of 21 August 2023.

This is a full-time position with an average of 37 working hours per week and includes research and teaching duties, as well as a limited amount of administrative work. The distribution between research and teaching will generally be 40:60. The distribution of your duties may differ as deemed necessary by the Royal Danish Academy, and you may be required to undertake other job-related duties.

The place of employment is Kalundborg.

Application

Please submit a letter of motivation, an up-to-date CV, academic diplomas and certificates, and documentation of your qualifications as listed above. The application material must be in English.

In addition, your application should include the following attachments:

• A proposed research plan describing how you will contribute to developing a strong research environment in Kalundborg, based on the academic themes set out in the notice (max. three pages).
• A complete list of your published works, including copies of works you wish to highlight (maximum seven works).
• A conceptual proposal for the upcoming Master’s programme setting out your thoughts about how the programme can interface with research and practice, and how partnerships can be established with external players such as businesses, authorities and NGOs, and possibly with relevant Royal Danish Academy environments (max. two pages).
• Material attesting to your teaching qualifications in the form of a teaching portfolio or similar material.
• Any assessment(s) of previous professorships held.

You should submit your application with attachments online via the “Søg stillingen” (Apply for position) button, to reach the Royal Danish Academy no later than 21 April 2025.

Applications and application documents received after the application deadline will not be considered.

Please note that the position is being advertised and will be filled in accordance with the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science’s “Executive Order of 12 April 2019 on the employment of artistic and scientific staff at the higher artistic educational institutions within the Ministry of Higher Education and Science’s area”.

After the application deadline, in consultation with the appointments committee, the head of the institute will select applicants for assessment. Applicants will be selected on the basis of an overall assessment of which applicants best meet the criteria set out in this call for applications based on the application documents submitted. In your application, including attachments, please provide evidence that you meet the qualification requirements described in the call for applications. All applicants will then be informed as to whether or not their application will proceed to the next stage of the selection procedure, and those selected will be informed of the composition of the committee. An expert assessment committee will then assess the selected applicants for the given position. Each applicant will be sent their assessment, with an option to submit comments.

The Royal Danish Academy may use tests as part of the professorship hiring process. 

Further information 

Information regarding qualification requirements, the application process and the e-recruitment system can be obtained on request from HR assistant, Ellen Kruse Jacobsen, e-mail: [email protected], tel. +45 41701539.

Details about the academic content of the position can be obtained on request from Head of Institute Katrine Lotz, e-mail: [email protected], tel. +45 41701689.

General information about the Royal Danish Academy and the Institute of Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape can be found at royaldanishacademy.com.

The Royal Danish Academy is an inclusive workplace that regards diversity as a strength. We therefore encourage all qualified and interested applicants to apply for the position.  

About the Royal Danish Academy 

The Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design and Conservation is an internationally recognised academy that educates professionally creative graduates to the highest level and develops new knowledge that creates value for society and the labour market. The Royal Danish Academy is a state institution under the Ministry of Higher Education and Science and has approximately 1,700 students and 350 full-time staff equivalents. Find out more about the Royal Danish Academy on our website royaldanishacademy.com.