Conditions
In order to apply for admission as a Docent at the Faculty of Science and Engineering you have to meet our special requirements regarding scientific and teaching skills, as stated in the document Guidelines for the appointment of docents at the Faculty of Science and Engineering (PDF).
You also must have completed the "Supervision of doctoral students" course, including the faculty-specific part, when applying. If your research supervisor training has been conducted at another university, an equivalent assessment will be made by Didacticum, which is LiU's centre of pedagogic excellence. A successful assessment still requires the faculty-specific part to be completed at Didacticum.
The final admission decision is made by the Appointments Board of the Faculty of Science and Engineering following a thorough review by a Docent Board. The Docent Board is set up specifically for your case and has three members: one permanent chairman and two members appointed for your individual case. The proposer (Head of Subject or equivalent) is co-opted to the Board.
Application process
Apply by filling out this form and uploading the attachments you would like to invoke. Please ensure that the information provided in your application meets the requirements to be admitted as a Docent.
Your application must arrive no later than 14 days before the next meeting of the Appointments Board to ensure ample time to review it, request any additional information and distribute all documents to board members ahead of the meeting. Appointments Board meeting dates can be found here.
Subject area
Please state the subject area for the docentship in your application letter. In general, the subject area should match one of our doctoral studies subject areas listed here. If you are in doubt, consult the Head of Subject/Scientific Director before applying.
Statement of the Head of Subject/Scientific Director
The statement by the Head of Subject/Scientific Director contains an assessment of your scientific and pedagogical expertise as specified in the Guidelines document (see PDF link above). The Head of Subject also proposes an external expert. This expert must have been notified and found to have no conflict of interests. The expert is usually a professor from another university.
Attachments
The application form clearly indicates what should be included. Ensure to attach the following:
- A statement from the Head of Subject (or equivalent) including a suggestion for an expert
- Your doctoral degree diploma
- A description of your research profile and planned research activities
- A list of publications. Please indicate works that have been produced as a result of your doctoral thesis
- A list of up to ten scientific publications that you consider the most meritorious for your Docent application. For co-produced articles, please indicate your contribution to the research idea and the implementation/data collection, analysis, and writing of the article
- The above articles, in PDF format
- A certificate of completed higher education pedagogical training (in particular the research supervision course with the faculty-specific part)
- A summary of your personal pedagogical activities and pedagogical reflection
- Research supervision documentation. Ask the Research Coordinator or the Director of Graduate Studies for a certificate, or request a Ladok extract
- Course evaluations (if available).
We may request additional documentation if your qualification originates from activities outside of Linköping University.
Expert review
The Employment Board will consider your application. If the Board decides to elevate your case to peer review, a Docent Board will be set up and an external expert will be appointed.
The expert will be given access to your application documents and our Guidelines (see PDF link above). After careful consideration, the expert writes a statement that will assist the Docent Board in assessing whether you meet the qualifications for being admitted as a Docent. This process usually takes around six weeks.
Docent lecture
After receiving the expert statement, the Docent Board will meet again for a preliminary assessment. If favourable, the Board sets a time and place for a teaching test (Docent lecture). You will then receive instructions about the intended audience and the desired form of your lecture so that you can prepare.
No later than ten days before the lecture, you must provide the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Science and Engineering with the title, summary and venue of your lecture. The Dean's Office relays this information to the collegium and LiU calendar administrators. The Head of Subject/Scientific Director is responsible for disseminating information about your lecture to his/her home department.
Final decision by the Appointments Board
After your lecture, the Docent Board is meeting again to assess your performance and whether or not to approve your application for admission as Docent. The minutes from this meeting, along with additional documents relating to your case, are forwarded to the Appointments Board which makes the final decision. If they say yes, you will receive a Docent certificate. You will also be invited to an annual ceremony where our Dean presents diplomas to all newly appointed Docents.
