The Department of Science Education, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen calls for applications for a 3 year postdoc position beginning 1st of September 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter. 

The project GATE
The postdoc position will be part of the research project GATE (Gender Aware Teaching for Equity in Science and Engineering), funded by The Grundfos foundation. The project strives to understand why the majority of young women who in upper secondary have selected a science study program refrain from continuing into post-secondary science and engineering. Science teaching has been pointed out as a key medium for understanding the gendered in- and exclusions of young women and how these mechanisms set the scene for their higher education choices. GATE thus aim to understand the gendered in- and exclusions within the disciplins (content, teaching, participation) with a specific focus on physics A, chemistry A and technology A.

The postdoc will be responsible for an independent work package within GATE. Empirically a group of young women will be followed with longitudinal interviews throughout second and third year at Danish Upper secondary school (stx and htx). The cohort of young women who continues into the A-level subjects will be followed more intensively into their third year through an ethnographic approach. Classroom observations of teaching and focus-group interviews with a broader groups of students will be conducted to ensure an extensive focus. Focus will be on ‘celebrated identities’ in science settings, how they are performed and how they relate to young women and their experiences with science, their life in general and how their thoughts of the future develop throughout upper secondary.

GATE aims to contribute with results relevant for practice, national knowledge and international research. Theoretically, GATE aims to contribute with combining a close focus on selected science disciplines with research in equity and gender-studies. Based on the project results and international experts connected to GATE, a group of upper secondary school teachers will work closely with the senior researchers in the project on developing, testing, evaluating and implementing a Gender Aware Teaching for Equality-approach in their science teaching. More information on GATE can be requisitioned by writing to Henriette Holmegaard (hh@ind.ku.dk) or Lene Møller Madsen (lmmadsen@ind.ku.dk).

The role of the Postdoc 

Project management:

Attend and contribute actively to regular research group meetings both in GATE and in the research group SICS. Moreover, contribute to the department’s upper secondary school group.
Manage the contact with schools and coordination of empirical activities.
Support the GATE reference-group that entails key stakeholders.

Empirical work

Plan, conduct, and analyse qualitative data.

Publications, presentations

Disseminate results through key international journals in the research field, some in collaboration with the senior researchers in the project and some individually.
Present results at international conferences some in collaboration with the senior researchers in the project and some individually.
Participate at key national events with project-presentations and publish a few national papers.

Communication

Keep the GATE twitter account updated, contribute to a podcast.
Find ways of communicating research results nationally in collaboration with the GATE-project group.

Who are we looking for?

As the postdoc will conduct empirical work in Danish gymnasium, the candidate must speak a Scandinavian language and be willing to learn Danish within a short timeframe. However, everyday work-language at the department can be English.

We seek a candidate with experience in several of the qualifications below. However, we strongly encourage all candidates to apply also if they do not meet all of the below categories.

The ideal candidate:

Have substantial experiences with planning, conducting and analysing qualitative data in particular ethnographic studies.
Hold experiences with doing research at upper secondary-level or researching young people ideally where science education have played a significant role.
Holds a Ph.D.-degree within science education or in other disciplines e.g. anthropology, geography, pedagogy or sociology.
Have published papers in international peer reviewed journals.
Documented familiarity with the literature on gender and equity in science education.
Appreciate working in a research group where research is both jointly yet at the same time individual.
Are a good communicator and can present the project nationally as well as internationall