Fixed Term Assistant Professor of Philosophy – Informed Consent and Knowledge of Ignorance

The School of Culture and Society at Aarhus University invites applications for the position of assistant professor of philosophy based at the Department of Philosophy and History of Ideas, School of Culture and Society.

The appointment is a full time and fixed-term three-year position. The position begins on July 1st, 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter.

Place of employment: Nobelparken, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 7, 8000 Aarhus C.

The university is keen for its staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified applicants, regardless of their personal background.

Members of the academic staff at the School of Culture and Society are expected to contribute to a vibrant, enjoyable and friendly work environment. We emphasise active participation in the daily life of the department.

The position

The successful applicant is expected to work on theory development, manuscript publication, and stakeholder collaboration related to the DFF-funded research project Informed Consent and Knowledge of Ignorance, which will be conducted at the Department of Philosophy and History of Ideas during the period of employment. The successful applicant will contribute to the project’s main theoretical research aim: developing an account of informed consent that explains and accommodates that informed consent is consistent with significant ignorance about what is being consented to. The successful applicant will also be required to teach courses in the BA and MA programs in philosophy, and to complete Aarhus University’s Pedagogical Program, as part of the assistant professorship. Specific tasks include:

• Publishing research related to the project
• Establishing and maintaining collaborations with other research groups
• Organizing research events, such as workshops and a final conference
• Collaboration with project stakeholders, including the Danish Medical Association and the Danish Data Ethics Council
• Contributing to applications for research further funding
• Contributing to teaching relevant courses, such as Political and Social Philosophy, Ethics, and Applied Philosophy.

Qualifications

Applicants are expected to document the following qualifications:

• Doctoral degree or equal qualifications in philosophy or a related discipline such as political science
• Research experience within the area of the research project (e.g. ethics, epistemology, or political philosophy)
• Teaching experience.

Finally, applicants are asked to provide a research plan for the next three years as well as their strategy/vision for their contribution to future developments within the field.

The application must be uploaded in English.

Please note that applications that do not include uploaded publications (maximum five) will not be considered.

Although the Aarhus University application system includes an option to upload letters of recommendation, please do not include letters of recommendation or references with the application.

Applicants who are invited to an interview may be asked to provide references.

Work environment

Active participation in the daily life of the department is a high priority, and we emphasise the importance of good working relationships, both among colleagues and with our students. To maintain and develop the department’s excellent teaching and research environment, the successful applicant is expected to be present at the department on a regular basis.

We respect the balance between work and private life and strive to create a work environment in which that balance can be maintained. You can read more about family and work-life balance in Denmark.

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs and assistant professors at AU.

International applicants

International applicants are encouraged to read about the attractive working conditions and other benefits of working at Aarhus University and in Denmark, including healthcare, paid holidays and, if relevant, maternity/paternity leave, childcare and schooling. Aarhus University offers a wide variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including a relocation service and an AU Expat Partner Programme. You can also find information about the taxation aspects of international researchers’ employment by AU.

Further information

For more information about the position, please contact Professor Asbjørn Steglich-Petersen (filasp@cas.au.dk).

For further information about the application procedure, please contact HR (iks-hr-sag@au.dk).

About the project

It is almost universally agreed that valid consent must be adequately informed, but no substantive account of what this amounts to has won widespread acceptance. In particular, it has proven difficult to understand how this requirement can be compatible with (i) the fact that valid yet apparently uninformed consent is widespread, for instance in medical practice and online; and (ii) that we can plausibly exercise a right not to know what we consent to. The project Informed Consent and Knowledge of Ignorance aims to develop an account of informed consent that explains and accommodates that informed consent is consistent with significant ignorance about what is being consented to. The main hypothesis is that cases of apparently uninformed but valid consent should be analyzed in terms of the consenter being suitably informed about her own ignorance. The account will be developed and made precise by drawing on the semantics and epistemology of questions, and will be applied and tested in two practical contexts: medical practice and personal data processing. The project will not only result in contributions to the academic literature, but also in whitepapers targeting stakeholders, to be developed in collaboration with the Danish Medical Association and the Danish Data Ethics Council.

School of Culture and Society

The School of Culture and Society.

At the School of Culture and Society, the object of research and teaching is the interplay between culture and society in time and space:

• From the traditional disciplines of the humanities and theology to applied social research
• From Antiquity to the issues facing contemporary societies
• From familiar Danish cultural forms to other very different worlds
• From local questions to global challenges.

The school’s ambition is to produce compelling research with an international resonance, as well as offering teaching and talent development of the highest quality. The school has a broad cooperative interface with society as a whole, both in Denmark and abroad, and contributes to social innovation, research communication and further and continuing education. 

For more details about the school, please see http://cas.au.dk/en/. 
 

Qualification requirements

• Faculty of Arts refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities (the Appointment Order).
• Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations.
• Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities .
• Further information on the application and supplementary materials may be found in Application Guidelines.
• The application must outline the applicant's motivation for applying for the position, attaching a curriculum vitae, a teaching portfolio, a complete list of published works, copies of degree certificates and examples of academic production (mandatory, but no more than five examples). Please upload this material electronically along with your application.

Faculty of Arts

The Faculty of Arts consists of the School of Communication and Culture, the School of Culture and Society, the Danish School of Education, and the Centre for Teaching Development and Digital Media. Each of these units has strong academic environments and forms the basis for interdisciplinary research and education.

The faculty's academic environments and degree programmes engage in international collaboration and share the common goal of contributing to the development of knowledge, welfare and culture in interaction with society.

Read more at arts.au.dk/en

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.

Aarhus University

Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/