Vacancy
KU Leuven has a full-time vacancy for a junior professor (ZAP) in the field of Architecture and Global Development. We are looking for internationally oriented candidates within the field of Global Development and Architecture, with an excellent interdisciplinary research record, with a demonstrated experience in design research and with educational competence.
The structure of KU Leuven combines faculties and research departments in a multi-campus model.The candidate will contribute to the research of the Department of Architecture within the research unit Urban Design, Urbanism, Landscape and Planning (UULP) on the Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent Campus. This unit includes researchers from both the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Engineering Science. The department offers an international research environment of excellence. www.architectuur.kuleuven.be
The candidate will contribute to the education of the Faculty of Architecture. The Faculty of Architecture consists of the academic architecture programmes (interior architecture, architecture, urban design and spatial planning and the educational master) on the Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent campus. The faculty is driven by a consciously assembled diversity of practices and is renowned for its future-oriented education that cultivates a freedom of exploration.
Research
- You will develop a research programme at an international level in the field of “Global Development and Architecture and Urban Design”. The candidate has demonstrable experience in architectural/urban design research. The candidate has academic expertise in the fundamental relationship between architecture in different urban contexts and the (uneven) global development processes also in non-Western or contested urban contexts. The research recognizes the issues in the relationship between architecture and urban contexts, critically assessing the dominant interpretations of the city and its processes. There is an increasing need for situated and contextual design, coupled with for example the ability to understand the deep socio-spatial complexity of a given location in a global context in relation to growing super-diversity; or climate change mitigation, sustainable development and equity, responsive design…. The research therefore embraces the call for decolonising theories and practices of city-making by focusing on site-specific architectural and urban analysis and design, based on critical postcolonial theory and reflection and international policy frameworks (such as the SDG’s). It looks at global development beyond a eurocentric focus. The candidate will demonstrate a commitment to fieldwork and/or institutional collaborations using the multiple scales scope as a key component. In this way, the ecological and socio-cultural dimensions of urban space and its many modes of production are unraveled critically and intersectionally in relation to design.
- The research should connect with ongoing research programmes.
- You set up collaborations within and outside of the research unit UULP and the Department of Architecture. The candidate will mobilise interdisciplinary knowledge in both fundamental and applied research.
- You support national and international collaborations of the research group/unit and you help to promote and develop them. You will also actively participate in the development of future research projects of the group/unit.
- You are capable of acquiring competitive funding for fundamental as well as applied (e.g. policy-oriented strategic) research. You publish at high scientific level and supervise PhDs at an international level.
Teaching
- You provide high-quality teaching within the field of architecture and global development with a clear commitment to the quality of the educational programme as a whole. You will also contribute to the teaching project of the faculty/university by supervising master's theses and as supervisor of doctoral students.
- The educational task includes a design studio and theoretical courses (Urban Anthropology, architectural and urban theory of Non-Western Architectural & Urban Contexts, …)
- You put your expertise to work in organising workshops, summer schools, etc. within the faculty.
- You develop your teaching in accordance with KU Leuven’s vision on activating and research-based education and make use of the professional and educational resources offered by the faculty and the university.
- Your teaching task will be determined in consultation and based on your specific profile. The scope of this is limited in the first years of your appointment. Your teaching assignment is mainly embedded in the master programmes in architecture, but with links to the bachelor programmes and the programme in urban design and spatial planning at the Faculty of Architecture.
Service
- You are prepared to provide scientific, social and internal services.
- You stay up-to-date with the field of architecture and global development and take part in public national and international discussions and communications in this field.
- You are willing to take up coordination tasks and leadership within the Department and Faculty of Architecture, in accordance to the stage of your career.
- You foster relations with the professional field and local stakeholders.