Tenure-track Assistant Professorship or Associate Professorship in Psychology and Social Data Science

The Department of Psychology and the Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS), both Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark, invite excellent candidates for a tenure-track Assistant Professorship or an Associate Professorship in Psychology and Social Data Science. The position is available from August 1st, 2025, but an earlier or later starting date might also be possible. It is a joint position between the Department of Psychology (Department of Psychology – Department of Psychology - University of Copenhagen) and SODAS (Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science – University of Copenhagen), with the idea that the larger share will be at the Department of Psychology (e.g., 80%-20%).

The call includes the following types of positions:

• Tenure-Track Assistant Professor:
  The position comes with research, teaching, societal impact, and/or innovation obligations and offers the candidate a contract of six years that can result in a tenured associate professorship (contingent on positive evaluation).
• Associate Professor:
  The position is a permanent position with research, teaching, societal impact, and/or innovation responsibilities. 

Please note that candidates will only be evaluated at the level of position(s) that they apply for, but that candidates can apply for more than one level. Hence, it is important that candidates clearly indicate the level of position(s) they are applying for.

The ideal candidate for the advertised position holds a PhD in Psychology, Social Data Science, Computational Social Science, Cognitive Science, or a related field, and has a strong academic record across these fields. We also appreciate if applicants have shown adhering to principles of Open Science, facilitating transparency and reproducibility of their research.

A tenure-track assistant professorship is a six-year, fixed-term academic position involving both research and teaching. The successful candidate will be obliged to complete a teacher-training course designed especially for assistant professors, and will be expected to be able to take part in the activities of the Department of Psychology and SODAS, including examinations and administration.

At the latest six months before the end of the six-year period as tenure-track assistant professor, a committee set up by the Dean will assess whether the assistant professor can be considered for promotion to a tenured position as associate professor.

You can read more about the tenure-track program at the University of Copenhagen here: Tenure track at the University of Copenhagen – University of Copenhagen.

The Department of Psychology

The Department of Psychology is one of the leading psychology departments in Northern Europe, and covers a broad range of psychological approaches and disciplines in research and teaching. The Department has about 40 faculty members, 10 postdocs, and 40 PhD students. About 200 students graduate in the five-year master’s program in psychology per year.

The research of the department is organized in three broad sections with associated post-graduate (PhD) students and postdocs. The sections are “Clinical, Health, and Humanistic Psychology”, “Cognition and Neuropsychology”, and “Social, Cultural, Organisational, Personality and Educational (SCOPE) Psychology”. The hired applicant will be part of the SCOPE section. The current strategy of the Department can be found here: Department of Psychology strategy 2022-2025

SODAS
SODAS is an interdisciplinary research, teaching, and impact center, combining traditional social science theories and methods with novel data science methods and paradigms. We are interested in a range of topics, anchored in an interest in understanding fundamental aspects of human behavior and life outcomes, such as education, mobility, the science of science, or the impact of AI on society including its implementations. We approach these topics through a range of social data science methods including, e.g., (causal) machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, network science, or various statistical analysis. Teaching-wise, SODAS hosts the English-language Social Data Science (SDS) Master degree program at the Faculty of Social Sciences and has an active doctoral program with about 20 PhD students.

Duties and Responsibilities
The chosen candidate is expected to contribute actively to the advance of the research and impact of the Department of Psychology and SODAS, as well as to the teaching in related educational programs and courses, especially the Master degree program in Social Data Science. The chosen candidate also has administrative responsibilities.

Your Competencies and Opportunities
The chosen candidate must hold an academic record demonstrating internationally competitive research on the level one has applied for, and/or have internationally recognized potential to make a significant future impact. Six overall criteria apply for appointments at the University of Copenhagen. The six criteria (research, teaching, societal impact, organisational contribution, external funding, and leadership) are considered a framework for the overall assessment of candidates. You can read more about the criteria here: Criteria for recognising merit – University of Copenhagen. Furthermore, each candidate must be assessed according to the specific requirements stated in the job advertisement.

With regard to the specific position, we expect the chosen candidate, among other responsibilities, to significantly contribute to international research on psychology-based or -related social data science, to disseminate respective knowledge to other researchers and society at large, to supervise and mentor students and junior researchers, to apply for external funding, and to play a significant role in relevant educational courses. Examples of the latter might be courses related to Cognitive Psychology/Science, Educational Psychology, Personality Psychology, Work, Personnel, and Organizational Psychology, Elementary Social Data Science, or (Psychological or Social Data Science) Methods.

A successful candidate has also strong interpersonal skills as well as an aptitude for working collaboratively with colleagues in planning and delivering teaching, in research projects, and in the discharge of administrative duties. Relatedly, the candidate must demonstrate a commitment to student learning, supporting student welfare and enhancing the student experience.

Strategy of the Faculty of the Social Sciences
The Department of Psychology and SODAS are part of the Faculty of the Social Sciences. The Faculty is a successful academic community that strives to put knowledge into action by:

• Engaging partners in the co-creation of knowledge, learning, and social change.
• Empowering our students to become reflective and responsible citizens who have the vision, the knowledge, and the competences to change society for the better.
• Energizing global, European, and Danish communities of knowledge by innovating research methodologies and by research findings with impact 

For more on the Faculty strategy, see: Strategy for the Faculty of Social Science – University of Copenhagen.

Terms of Employment

• Employment with the Faculty of Social Sciences and progression within employment will be determined only by personal merit. We do this by applying academic criteria of the University of Copenhagen which are related to the duties and conditions of each particular post and the needs of the Department and Center concerned.
• We strongly encourage the chosen candidate to acquire the proficiency in Danish required to contribute to teaching in that language in 2-4 years. The Department and SODAS will provide and pay for necessary language training.
• Further information on qualification requirements as assistant professor can be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities here: Ministerial_Order_no._1443_of_11_December_2019_on_Job_Structure_for_Academic_Staff_at_Universities.pdf
• Terms of appointment and salary is in accordance with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikerne).
• The salary range as an assistant professor starts at DKK 40,600 and as an associate professor starts at DKK 45,000 per month + a 17.1 % contribution to the pension scheme. It is possible to negotiate salary supplements on an annual basis.

The recruitment process
Further information on the recruitment process at University of Copenhagen can be found here:  Recruitment process – University of Copenhagen

An Equal Opportunity Workplace
The University of Copenhagen is committed in its pursuit of academic excellence to equality of opportunity and to creating an inclusive working environment and therefore encourages all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of personal background, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity etc. For more on the diverse working place environment at the University and the University’s participation in the HRS4R HR Excellence in Research, see HR Excellence in Research – University of Copenhagen

International applicant?
The University of Copenhagen offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including support before and during your relocation and career counselling to expat partners. Please find more information about these services as well as information on entering and working in Denmark here: For international researchers at the University of Copenhagen – University of Copenhagen

Contact information
Information about the recruitment process is available from HR, e-mail: hrsc@hrsc.ku.dk, please refer to ID number: 211-0679/25-2E #1

Additional information about the position can be obtained from Ingo Zettler email: ingo.zettler@sodas.ku.dk or Guido Makransky email: gm@psy.ku.dk

How to Apply
Submit a complete application at our online portal. Click on the “Apply now” icon at the bottom of the page to apply.

Your application must be written in English and include the following documents:

• Motivated application (max. 3 pages)
• Curriculum vitae
• Certificates and Diplomas
• Publications. The 6 most important publications, of which at least three must have been published within the five years immediately preceding the deadline for application. The publications selected must be uploaded as attachments and named from 1 to 6.
• Publication list. A complete list of all publications with clearly marked publication dates. The uploaded publications must be marked with * on the list to be assessed.
• Teaching portfolio. Documentation of teaching qualifications in accordance with the University guidelines for teaching portfolios when appointing academic staff at the University of Copenhagen
• Documentation of ability to disseminate information. Documentation of the ability to disseminate information to and share knowledge with society.

The closing date for applications is 23:59 CEST 31 March 2025.

Applications or enclosures received thereafter will not be considered