General information about Malmö University

Since its inception in 1998, Malmö University has grown into the country’s eighth largest institution of higher education with 25 000 students. Its education and research programmes are distinguished by their multidisciplinary, problem-oriented approach and social relevance. The university offers students a range of educations in five faculties: Culture and Society, Education and Society, Health and Society, Odontology, and Technology and Society.

The Department of Media Technology and Product Development at the Faculty of Technology and Society

The Faculty of Technology and Society consists of two departments and several technology-related subjects. Many of the subjects are components in multidisciplinary degree programmes with the aim of integrating technological, scientific and social science perspectives. The Faculty of Technology and Society has approximately 2 500 students and 80 employees.

About 1 500 students are enrolled in the department in six bachelor’s and engineering programmes, in two Master’s programmes and in several independent courses. The programmes are offered in areas such as Strategic media development, Media production and process design, Project management with publishing, Product development and design, Building engineering.The goal for the department is to work in close collaboration with industry and the public sector. The main part of our research falls under the umbrella of the research profile Information Technology of the Society, which focuses on different types of IT-support for functions that are necessary in a working society.

The Living Archives project

The Living Archives project is funded by the Swedish Research Council’s (Vetenskapsrådet) programme “Digitalized Society” (http://livingarchives.mah.se). It is a collaborative, interdisciplinary project with researchers from the Faculties of Culture and Society, and Technology and Society. This call is for the second Post Doctorate for the Living Archives project, and will be located in the Technology and Society Faculty but will work closely with researchers from the faculty of Culture and Society. Once this appointment is made, there will be a total of 11 researchers from Malmö University associated with this project.

The project addresses the challenges facing the digitized society through (1) the phenomena of public cultural heritage archives that increasingly are being digitized, and (2) the personal practices of archiving that are transforming dramatically through the widespread use of mobile, networked technologies. The project is structured through the parallel and complementary research strands of Open Data and Performing Memory. Broad project goals include:

• to explore the potentials of public digitized archives;
• to question whether archive material (photographs, film/video, audio, text) can be interactive social resources;
• to explore how the gathering of live data can contribute to archives as people move through a collaborative media landscape;
• to explore how open data can become meaningful to specific communities of practice;
• to foster a performative and critical approach emphasizing the embodied and personal qualities of archiving as a living practice;
• to explore, prototype and critique relevant possibilities for future digital archives.

It should be stressed that the purpose of this project is not simply to digitize existing content or to open up dormant archives, but to address the current problems of a narrowing of content (what is archived?) and an narrowing of inclusion (who does the archiving? and who accesses it?).

The Post Doctoral Position

We invite Post Doctoral applicants to coincide with one or more of the following approaches to archives:

1. Augmented Reality: The applicant possesses programming and visual skills relevant for transposing media (sonic, visual, sensor data) into mobile augmented reality browsers, and for further development or expansion of AR technologies. Experience and knowledge with open-source, open standards frameworks (Mobile, AR, Archival systems) that include web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, JSON, REST, and JavaScript..
2. Media Art: The applicant has a PhD in artistic research or design, with strong media skills in combination with some programming, and a vision for how to engage with archiving practices in a technological, cultural, or media art/archaeological manner.
3. Open Data: Applicants possess technological, museological or archival research experience (or a combination thereof) and a particular interest in contributing to the practices and discourses around openness, open data, open access, inclusion and privacy. Experience or knowledge of the Europeana Data Model is preferable.

For each approach, prototype development and evaluation should be combined with critical perspectives in order to establish tools, methods, and/or interventions in this area. The Post Doc is expected to propose a sub project relevant to a particular archive but is also expected to collaborate actively with one of the sub projects already existing in the Living Archives project. The Post Doctorate should be comfortable working in interdisciplinary projects and establishing contacts both nationally and internationally. We encourage interested applicants to consult the details of the Living Archives project found at: http://livingarchives.mah.se

Qualifications and selection criteria

Successful candidates for the position must possess a PhD degree, awarded within three years prior to the date of application. Previous experience with projects relevant to our research profile will be given priority. Previous experience of working collaboratively is essential.

Evidence of publications, conference presentations, exhibitions, and/or software development projects is essential, as is a plan for future dissemination of research outputs.

The research plan should indicate a position regarding archiving practices and open data. Also indicate whether, and if so how, any creative or practical work might be integrated into the project along with more theoretical considerations.

The candidate should be comfortable working in English

More information

Professor Susan Kozel, susan.kozel<στο>mah.se +46 727 445 971
Mats Persson, Head of Department Media Technology and Product Development,mats.persson<στο>mah.se, + 46 40 665 7882

The employment

The employment starts as soon as possible, or after mutual agreement. The positions are full-time positions for a period of two years at the Department of Media Technology and Product Development, Faculty of Technology and Society.

Application

Applications must be sent by e-mail (entire application compiled in one PDF document). The application, marked with the reference number, should be sent electronically to jobb<στο>mah.se. It must arrive at Malmö University no later than 2015-05-11.

The application should include the following documents:

1. Cover letter.
2. CV including brief summaries of scientific, teaching and other activities of relevance for the appointment, a list of publications, and the contact details of up to three references.
3. A description of the research plan/intentions (max five pages)
4. PDF versions of publications relevant for the appointment (at most four publications and documents). It is preferable for the relevant publications to be submitted electronically, but hard copies can be accepted if the applicant deems this appropriate (such as books).

Malmö University kindly but firmly declines direct contact with recruiting and staffing agencies, as well as job advertising sellers.

Union representatives

SACO, Olle Lindeberg, tel. 040-665 76 25 olle.lindeberg<στο>mah.se
ST/OFR Naser Eftekharian, tel 040-665 76 49 naser.eftekharian<στο>mah.se