About The Role

A five-year tenure-track assistant professorship is available at the Hans Christian Andersen Centre, Department for the Study of Culture and Language, University of Southern Denmark, with appointment from 1 January 2027 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The Hans Christian Andersen Centre is an internationally leading research environment within Andersen studies. Its research encompasses literary, cultural and public dissemination-oriented approaches to Andersen’s works, life and cultural significance. The Centre conducts research at the highest international level with the aim of developing new literary, cultural and dissemination-oriented perspectives on Andersen’s complete artistic oeuvre. The Centre provides a framework for collaboration with Danish and international researchers, cultural mediators and other actors in the field.

Job Content

The assistant professorship is a tenure-track position with a view to obtaining a permanent appointment as associate professor following a positive academic assessment.

The position is affiliated with the project Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales and Stories – the Digital Manuscript Edition and will, in close interaction with the project’s existing research activities, contribute to integrating digital, philological and literary approaches.

The assistant professor will be part of the Centre’s research environment and collaborate with the project’s editorial group, with responsibility for developing research at the intersection of digital humanities, textual genesis and literary-historical analysis.

The position includes

Research based on Hans Christian Andersen’s authorship, including the study of writing processes, the materiality of the text and versioning from a digital humanities perspective
Peer-reviewed publications at an international level
Active participation in and further development of the digital manuscript edition, including work on digital representations of manuscripts, genetic variants and collation
Contributions to the development and curation of research data, such as text corpora and annotated datasets, related to the project
Collaboration with the Centre’s researchers on the integration of digital methods, philological practice and literary-analytical issues
Active participation in the Centre’s research activities, seminars and international collaborations
Teaching and supervision within Danish/Nordic studies, literary studies and digital humanities
Contributions to the development of research applications and international project collaborations

Research Profile

We are seeking an assistant professor with a strong and integrated profile in digital humanities and literary studies with relevance to Hans Christian Andersen studies and nineteenth-century literature.

The applicant is expected to be able to combine

research in literary genesis, writing processes and literary history
experience with or strong competences in digital scholarly editing and data-oriented approaches
a solid grounding in philology, genetic textual criticism and literary-historical analysis

Emphasis will be placed on the applicant’s ability to

work with digital representations of complex textual phenomena, such as multiple textual stages characterized by a high degree of internal and external variation and parallel writing processes
develop and curate research data of high academic quality
translate literary and philological issues into explicit, formal or modelable structures

The assistant professor is expected to contribute to developing new methodological connections between digital humanities and classical literary studies.

Qualifications

PhD degree in literary studies, Danish, philology or a related field
Documented research potential within both digital humanities and literary studies
Experience with or strong potential for work with digital scholarly editing, text encoding and/or data analysis
Documented ability in philological analysis, textual criticism and the study of writing processes
Experience with or potential for developing curated datasets and digital research resources
Experience with or potential for publication in international peer-reviewed journals
Good collaborative skills and the ability to participate in a committed research environment

About the Hans Christian Andersen Centre

The Centre is based at the Department for the Study of Culture and Language, University of Southern Denmark, and has established a significant international profile within Hans Christian Andersen studies, literary history, world literature and cultural heritage research. The Centre combines philological, cultural and dissemination-related expertise and works both research-based and practice-oriented in collaboration with museums, foundations and international partners.

In recent years, the Centre has prioritised the development of digital research infrastructure. This includes, among other things:

Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales and Stories – the Digital Manuscript Edition
A new online translation of all Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales and stories into English
A complete digital edition of the entire published authorship

Together with the Centre’s researchers, the new assistant professor will contribute to developing an integrated research environment in which digital, philological and cultural-analytical approaches mutually inform one another.

About the Department

The Department for the Study of Culture and Language is a broad humanities department at the University of Southern Denmark, with research and teaching activities in areas including literature, language, history, culture, media and area studies. The department comprises a number of strong academic environments and centres and places emphasis on international research collaboration, research-based teaching, and close interaction between classical humanities disciplines and new interdisciplinary methods and societal issues.

Working at University of Southern Denmark

The International Staff Office (ISO) at SDU provides a variety of services for new employees, guests and people who consider applying for a job at the University of Southern Denmark. International staff in tenured positions will be offered Danish language training in connection with the employment and are expected to achieve Danish language competences at CEFR B2-level within 5 years from being appointed.

The Department of Culture and Language is located on the island of Funen at the university's campus in Odense – the third-largest city in Denmark with 180.000 inhabitants. Odense provides family-friendly living conditions in a historic city with an urban feel where nature and other recreational areas are never far away. The city has excellent connections with public transportation to Aarhus and Copenhagen.

The University is signatory of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). We wish our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

Contact information

For further information about the position, please contact Vice Head of Department Anne Klara Bom at [email hidden]

For questions related to CV, diplomas etc., please contact [email hidden]

Conditions of employment

Appointment to the position will be in accordance with the salary agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations.

Salary is determined in accordance with the applicable collective agreement and based on objective and gender-neutral criteria, including the content of the position, responsibilities, and qualification requirements. As an applicant, you are entitled to information about the starting salary and salary range for the position. This information will be provided during the recruitment process. SDU does not collect information on applicants’ previous salary. Further information on salary and taxation.

Persons employed in the position may, based on a specific individual managerial assessment, be exempted from time registration, also known as a “self-organizer”

Application

The Faculty expects applicants to read the information "How to apply" before applying.

The application must include

Application letter
Curriculum Vitae
Diplomas/Certificates
Teaching portfolio – please read more here
List of publications indicating the publications attached
Up to 4 relevant publications. One pdf-file per publication should be attached. In case of co-authorship, a co-author statement must be submitted as part of the pdf-file.
References letters and other relevant qualifications may also be included.

All non-Danish documents must be translated into English.

Application and all appendices must be in Danish, English or one of the Scandinavian languages. Please always include a copy of original diploma/certificates. We only accept files in pdf-format no more than 10 MB per file. In case you have more than one file per field you need to combine the pdf-files into a single file, as each field handles only one file. We do not accept zip-files, jpg or other image files. All pdf-files must be unlocked and allow binding and may not be password protected.

The assessment process

Applications will be assessed by an assessment committee, and the applicant will receive the part of the evaluation that concerns them. The assessment report will subsequently be forwarded to the Head of Department who will assemble an appointments committee. An interview may form part of the overall assessment of the applicants' qualifications.

The committee may request additional information, and if so, it is the responsibility of the applicant to provide the necessary material.

If the application does not meet the requirements mentioned above, the Faculty of Humanities may reject your application without further notice. Applications received after the deadline will neither be considered nor evaluated.

Shortlisting and tests will be used in the assessment process. Please note that only a shortlisted applicant will receive an assessment. Here you can read more about shortlisting at SDU.

Application deadline is September 24, 2026 at 11.59 PM/23.59 (CET/CEST).

The University of Southern Denmark is committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of personal background, and strive to reflect the diversity of society in our staff

If you are not a Danish-speaking applicant, please ensure that you use the English website to access the electronic application form to receive further information in English.

We recommend that as an international applicant you take the time to visit Working in Denmark where you will find information and facts about moving to, working and living in Denmark, as well as the International Staff Office at SDU .

About SDU

SDU was founded in 1966 and now has more than 27,000 students, almost 20% of whom are from abroad. It has more than 3,800 employees, and 115 different study programmes in the fields of the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, and engineering. Its main campus is located in Odense, but SDU is present also in Kolding, Sønderborg, Esbjerg and Copenhagen.