Position Announcement: Postdoctoral Researcher in History or Cultural Heritage, University of Helsinki

The University of Helsinki

Founded in 1640, the University of Helsinki is one of the best multidisciplinary research universities in the world. The high-quality research carried out by the university creates new knowledge for educating diverse specialists in various fields, and for utilisation in social decision-making and the business sector.

The Faculty of Arts is a significant international community fostering research, education and cultural interaction. The Faculty has 7,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and employs 500 experts.

Heldig is a newly-founded Digital Humanities Centre at the University of Helsinki. The objective of Heldig is to foster the combining of computational methods in humanities and social science and study different phenomena related to digitalization. Heldig also provides teaching in digital humanities. One of the research strands in Heldig is the historical and linguistic study of public discourse, conceptual change and knowledge production.

The Faculty of Arts invites applications for a fixed term period from 1 September 2017 onwards (or as agreed) for a maximum of three years. The period (1-3 years) depends of the candidate’s research plan.

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER IN HISTORY OR CULTURAL HERITAGE

The successful candidate will have proven ability to function as part of a multidisciplinary research group with particular focus on public discourse and knowledge production in early modern and/or modern Europe. The candidate must also show knowledgeability in the use of computational methods in historical research. The candidate needs to have a doctoral degree from history, cultural heritage or related field and proven expertise of independent research. The successful candidate will actively collaborate with the research group and participate in joint publications.

The successful candidates will become part of a multidisciplinary research group with the main aim in applying a big data approach to large historical metadata and full-text collections. The idea is particularly to study the development of public discourse and knowledge production in history. The research community in Helsinki offers opportunities for broad, multidisciplinary and international collaboration. It is an advantage if the candidate’s own research plan supports these common goals. More specific objectives for the position and forms of collaboration will be discussed during the possible interview of the candidate. Duties of postdoctoral research include normal participation in teaching at the Faculty (5-10%) and academic service. 

An appointee to the position must hold a doctoral degree, the ability to conduct independent scientific research and possess the teaching skills required for the position. In addition, the candidates are expected to have excellent skills in English (For language requirements for Finnish citizens please see the advertisement in Finnish). 

The salary shall be based on levels 5 of the job requirement scheme for teaching and research staff in the salary system of Finnish universities. In addition, a salary component based on personal performance will be paid. The annual salary range will be approx. 41,000 EUR – 50,000 EUR (gross income). In addition, occupational healthcare will be provided.

Please submit your application as a single pdf file which includes the following documents in Finnish, Swedish or English:
* Curriculum Vitae (maximum 2 pages)
* List of Publications
* Research Plan (maximum 5 pages, should include budget for research and travel expenses).
* Names of references 

Please submit your application, together with the required attachments, through the University of Helsinki Recruitment System via the link Apply for job. Applicants who are employees of the University of Helsinki are requested to send their application via the SAP HR portal. The deadline for the application period is July 9, 2017 at 23.59 (local time GMT +3). 

Further information of the positions can be obtained from Professor Mikko Tolonen, mikko.tolonen at helsinki.fi 

Technical assistance with the University’s electronic recruitment system or SAP HR portal can be obtained from Mikael Vänttinen, mikael.vanttinen at helsinki.fi (July 7, 2017, at the latest)

Deadline: 09.07.2017

Apply here.