Postdoctoral position in History of Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen

The Department of Communication, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), invites applications for a postdoctoral position in History of Philosophy from 1 September 2025.
The position is a fixed term position for 36 months.
Introduction
The Postdoc will contribute to the ERC-funded project “Women in the Nordic Enlightenment (WHENCE). Changing the narratives of early modern philosophy and uncovering women’s contribution to Scandinavian gender equality” led by PI Sabrina Ebbersmeyer. The core of this project is to bring to light and critically assess women’s intellectual contribution to the Nordic Enlightenment by examining a text corpus consisting of unpublished material and published texts written by more than a hundred women in Scandinavia. The guiding hypothesis is that the Nordic way of women’s Enlightenment significantly differs from developments prevalent in other regions of Europe, and that women played a decisive role in creating a sustainable identification of the Nordic countries with gender equality.
The expert on the “political public sphere and political equality” will explore the political thought of women as expressed in journal contributions, political pamphlets, poems, and dedications. The impact of the various text genres will be critically assessed. The expert will systematically analyze women’s thoughts on freedom of speech, democracy, religion, and on women’s political rights and liberties. Special emphasis will be given to arguments for women’s political participation and rights and women’s presence in the political public sphere.
Read more about the WHENCE project here: https://inspire.ku.dk/research-activities/whence/ .
For further information about the position, please contact the PI of the project, Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, e-mail: ebbersmeyer@hum.ku.dk .
The Postdoc will be affiliated with the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Women in the History of Philosophy (INSPIRE) and with the internationally renowned Section for Philosophy, which is part of the Department of Communication. The department is home to approx. 80 faculty members, 40 PhD students, 20 postdocs, 40 part-time lecturers, 27 administrative staff, and 2200 students. The department annually generates approx. 30 million DKK in external research funding, and it produces research and scholarships that are world leading, and which sets the agenda for many national initiatives and conversations.

Read more about INSPIRE here: https://inspire.ku.dk/
Read more about the Section of philosophy at https://comm.ku.dk/research/philosophy/
Duties and Responsibilities
This is a full-time research position. The successful applicant will be expected to engage actively in the WHENCE project, including project meetings, working with project partners, participating in international conferences, and publishing in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, as well as participating more broadly in the research environment at the University of Copenhagen. The successful applicant is also expected to participate in the collective research activities of the WHENCE project, including organizing conferences and workshops and the edition of a collective volume and a source book.

The successful candidate will be working in close cooperation with the PI and the other members of the WHENCE team.

Qualification requirements and assessment criteria
Employment as a Postdoc requires academic qualifications at PhD level in philosophy or in relevant related subjects, such as history, literature, or history of ideas.

All applicants are expected to be able to use English as the working language (written and spoken). Successful candidates will demonstrate a clear potential to deliver high quality peer-reviewed research publications.

The applicants must have:

• expertise in history of philosophy and history of political thought or history of ideas
• high proficiency in English and in Swedish or Danish or Norwegian

In the assessment it will be considered an advantage if the candidate has:

• familiarity with feminist history of philosophy or Scandinavian intellectual history
• expertise with editorial work and manuscripts and familiarity with early modern Scandinavian texts.

More information on careers at UCPH and the requirement for the different academic positions is available on:
Career at The University of Copenhagen – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk)

For more about postdoc positions and qualification requirements, see the Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities: Ministerial Order on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities (ufm.dk)

Applicants will primarily be assessed in relation to their research qualifications, including their publications, ability to conduct independent research and participate in research collaborations, and their experience of research management. In addition, the applicant’s research plan and research potential will be assessed in relation to the overall project WHENCE as described above.

Teaching qualifications are not a requirement, but documented teaching experience can be included in the overall assessment.

Application
Applications must be submitted online in PDF or Word format. Click on the “Apply now” button at the bottom of this advertisement to apply.
Applications must be written in English and must include the following attachments:  

Letter of motivation

CV

Documentation of qualifications (exam certificates and PhD diploma) 

Complete publication list (attached publications must be marked with an asterisk). The list must be structured systematically and divided into the following categories:

• Peer-reviewed publications:
  • Monographs and anthologies
  • Articles in journals
  • Book chapters/anthology contributions, etc.
• Non-peer-reviewed publications:
  • Publications disseminating research findings, etc.
• Applicants can attach a maximum of 5 [five] publications. The publication dates must be clearly marked on the list. The selected publications must be uploaded as attachments and numbered [X-X]. 

Research plan: Applications should include a project proposal addressing the research question: ‘To what extent did women’s philosophical and political writings provide a different perspective on political topics and on the question of women’s rights and liberties?’ The proposal should demonstrate the capacity to develop a postdoctoral project, identifying the relevant methodological tools to realise the outlined project.

Applicants are invited to familiarize themselves with the faculty’s strategic landmarks here: Strategic landmarks – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk) .

Salary and terms of employment
Terms of appointment and salary will be in accordance with an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). It is possible to negotiate salary supplements on an annual basis.

The recruitment process
Once the deadline for applications has expired, the Head of Department will consider advice from the appointment committee and select applicants for assessment. All applicants will be notified whether they have been shortlisted. The Head of Department will then set up an expert assessment committee to consider the applications. The selected applicants will be informed who is serving on the committee. They will be offered the opportunity to comment on the committee’s assessment of their application before the appointment is announced.

Further information on the recruitment process at University of Copenhagen can be found here:  Recruitment process – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk) .

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 (ku.dk) .

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 (ku.dk) .

Contact information
Information about the recruitment process is available from HR, email: HR-soendre@adm.ku.dk , please refer to ID number: 211-2189/25-2I #2.
Additional information about the position can be obtained from Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, email: ebbersmeyer@hum.ku.dk .

The deadline for applications is 23:59 (CEST) on 1 June 2025.

Any applications or additional material submitted after the deadline will not be considered.