At the Department of Law, one or more professorships in jurisprudence will be available as of 1 December 2025 or by further agreement. The place of work is at the University of Southern Denmark’s campus in Odense or Esbjerg.
We are seeking professors who want to help implement our vision about participating in shaping and impacting on the society of the future and contributing to creating a sustainable world through
- creating new and relevant legal research results of high quality
- educating a diverse pool of talent which turns into talented and requested graduates
- interacting and cooperating with the surrounding society
- communicating and exchanging our research-based knowledge
We seek professors who want to lead the way in implementing this vision.
Job content
Professors at the Department of Law will typically undertake the following tasks:
- doing research within the field/fields, including publishing and presenting scientific results within the field/fields, both nationally and internationally
- undertaking research-based teaching and exam activities involved, including supervising bachelor, master and PhD students
- developing the field as for both research and teaching, including through courses in one or more of the legal disciplines (both in terms of the academic content and in terms of the pedagogical approach)
- undertaking research management tasks and assisting younger researchers in their career development, including through finding external funding
- building relations to and cooperating with external stakeholders
- undertaking administrative tasks related to research and teaching
- contributing to the ongoing operations and development of the department, for example, by participating in various committees and working groups.
Qualifications
In order to qualify for the positions, candidates must meet the department’s qualification criteria, which are available here. This assessment is carried out by an appointed assessment committee.
In order to be considered for the positions, the candidates must be a match for the department’s current needs, the department’s strategy and the job tasks tied to the positions. This assessment is carried out by an appointed hiring committee and is based on i.e. the applicant’s research and teaching profile, the submitted research plan, the grade of the assessment and the impressions during a prospective job interview. Furthermore, the applicant’s expected level of contribution to the department’s further development will be weighted highly.
The applicants are expected to show commitment and visibility and to contribute to the department’s positive work environment and the continuous operation of the department.
The applicants must be able to teach in Danish and/or English. Non-Danish speakers are expected – within three to five years – to speak Danish on a level which enables teaching in Danish.
The application
The application must contain the following:
- motivated application
- curriculum vitae
- certificates/diplomas (from the Master’s and PhD)
- a comprehensive list of publications (incl. a specification of the publications attached to the application)
- a teaching portfolio containing documentation of the candidate’s teaching qualifications as well as an account of his/her visions on learning and reflections on teaching methods and the development thereof. Requirements for the teaching portfolio can be found here. Please note that under the section "Teaching Experience," applicants are requested to specify both the subjects taught and the number of teaching hours per subject per calendar year, as well as any related examination work, for the past five years. Additionally, applicants should provide an overview of the amount of supervisions, distributed by calendar year, for the same period
- a research plan containing information concerning the already planned research activities, publication plans and plans regarding external funding applications, if any
- up to seven academic publications based on which the applicant wishes to be evaluated. Please attach a pdf file for each publication
- If there are co-authors on a publication, the applicant must attach a co-author declaration in the relevant pdf file, stating his/her contribution to the publication. The file must include the information given in this example
- If the applicant’s PhD dissertation is attached as one of the requested publications, then the written evaluation thereof should be submitted as well
Documents which are not in Danish, Norwegian or Swedish must be translated into English. SDU may discard applications which are incomplete regarding the above-mentioned criteria without further notice.
Documents should not contain a CPR number (civil registration number) – in this case, the CPR number must be crossed out.
We request files in pdf-format no more than 5 MB per file. All pdf-files must be unlocked and allow binding and may not be password protected.
UPLOAD GUIDE: Motivated application shall be uploaded as ‘Cover letter’, Curriculum Vitae shall be uploaded as ‘Resume’. All other documents shall be uploaded as ‘Miscellaneous documents’.
Conditions of employment
Appointment as a full professor is permanent. Appointment to the position will be in accordance with the collective agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations for academics in the state with the associated circular on the protocol for the job structure for academic staff at Danish universities and the provisions for full professor as described herein. The person employed in the position may, based on a specific individual managerial assessment, be exempted from time registration, also known as a self-organiser.
SDU recommends that international applicants take the time to visit Work in Denmark, where there is information and facts about moving to, working and living in Denmark, as well as the International Staff Office at SDU.
Application procedure
Applicants are encouraged to read the information "How to apply" before applying.
When the deadline for submitting applications is met, a number of applications are selected for an academic evaluation (shortlisting), based on an overall assessment of the applicants as regards both their research and teaching profile match the job description and the department’s needs the best. Subsequently, the applications will be assessed by an appointed assessment committee. Applications that do not fulfil the formal requirements will not be assessed.
Please note that only shortlisted applicants will receive an assessment.
Once the assessment committee have completed their assessment, each of the applicants concerned will receive the assessment concerning him/her. Thereafter, a number of applicants are invited to a job interview.
According to SDU’s internal guidelines, there must be at least three qualified applicants to a professor position before it can be filled.
SDU wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of our society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified applicants, regardless of personal background.
The application must be submitted electronically via the "Apply now" link no later than 2 June 2025 at 11:59 PM/23:59 (CET/CEST).
Further information concerning the positions is available from:
Interim Head of Department Nina Dietz Legind
e-mail: [email protected]
phone: +45 6011 2781
Find further information on the department, its strategy and activities on the department’s website.
The University of Southern Denmark was established to create value for and with society. Whether our contributions come in the form of excellent research, innovative solutions, education or learning, we must make a positive difference to society and contribute to a sustainable future. We do this by cultivating talents and creating the best environments for research and learning. It is therefore crucial that SDU retains, develops and recruits talent. At the same time, we need to ensure consistently high quality in all our activities – and we can only do that with the right people. The University’s researchers, lecturers, students, managers and technical/administrative staff are the foundation of our success.
The Department of Law is part of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences, which is comprised of five departments. The department currently has approximately 65 permanent employees and a number of part-time lecturers. We work to ensure high quality and social relevance as regards both jurisprudent research, education and knowledge exchange.
The Department of Law offers the traditional law degree (the Bachelor programme and the Master’s programme) both as daytime studies and part-time studies (the teaching takes place on Saturdays). We also offer a Bachelor programme as well as a Master’s programme in Business Administration and Commercial Laws. In addition, the department is responsible for the teaching of other legal subjects offered at SDU, e.g. on the Master’s programme in Business Economics and Auditing, on the engineering programmes, on the Bachelor programmes in Economics and Business Administration and on the Diploma programmes in Business Administration.
The department is based on three of the University of Southern Denmark’s campuses: in Odense (where most of the employees are affiliated), in Kolding and in Esbjerg. The Bachelor programme in Esbjerg started in September 2023 for which reason the legal professional environment at that campus is still being developed.
