The department of philosophy at the University of Twente is internationally leading in the philosophy and ethics of technology. It currently includes seven tenured staff members, two postdocs, seven PhD students, and five part-time faculty.  The department participates in the interuniversity 3TU.Center for Ethics and Technology and will house the directorship of the Center starting 2013.  Both the department and the Center have a strong international orientation and include members from many different nationalities.

The Challenge:
You teach ethics and political philosophy in the master program in Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society (PSTS) and teach professional and applied ethics and other areas of philosophy for bachelor and master programs in engineering and social science.  Optionally, you may participate in the new ATLAS university college, an interdisciplinary, highly selective bachelor program with a focus on engineering and social science.  You are involved in the supervision of master’s theses in the PSTS program and will at some point supervise PhD students in the department’s PhD program in Ethics and Technology (the scope of which also includes social and political philosophy).

You perform research in the area of political philosophy and/or ethics, with a focus on the role of technology in society.  We are particularly interested in candidates who will be working on one or more of the following areas: environmental philosophy and technology (especially energy); safety, security, and technological risks; technology and politics; technology and well-being; technology, culture, globalization and ethics/politics; ethics and engineering science / engineering design.  However, other (future) specializations will be seriously considered as well.  Your research will be embedded in the department’s research program as well as in the 3TU.Center of Excellence for Ethics and Technology, a joint center of the departments of philosophy of the University of Twente, Delft University of Technology and Eindhoven University of Technology which currently counts sixty members, including twenty-two PhD students.  As part of your research activities, you are also expected to apply for external funding and to engage in international and interdisciplinary collaboration.

The Offer:
You are appointed as assistant professor (full-time).  A tenure-track contract enables you to direct your own career based on fixed performance agreements, in relation to which promotion from UD (assistant professor) to UHD (associate professor) and subsequently to full professor is possible.  A definitive assessment will take place no later than five years after commencement of the employment, following which employment for an indefinite period and promotion to associate professor may be agreed upon.  Salary is competitive: initial assistant professor salary is € 44,590 ($56,000) – € 69,360 ($109,000) per year, depending on experience.  Starting date is January 2013 (negotiable).  The University of Twente has excellent terms of employment.

Your Profile:
You hold a Ph.D. in philosophy, preferably with a specialization in ethics or political philosophy.  You have either had a focus on technology in your past research or you have a demonstrable interest in focusing on technology for your future research.  You already have an excellent list of publications in peer-refereed journals, and have relevant international experience.  You also have experience in teaching at the university level, preferably including students in science & engineering, social science, or other nonphilosophical fields, and preferably including professional and/or applied ethics.  You have demonstrable didactic skills in teaching, good teaching evaluations, and a passion for teaching.  You are able and willing to teach in areas of philosophy outside your philosophical specialization, both in philosophy at large and in the philosophy and ethics of technology.  You are willing and able to collaborate with researchers and teachers from nonphilosophical disciplines.  You have an excellent command of the English language.  All master programs and many bachelor programs at the University of Twente are taught in English, and English is the official language at departmental meetings.  If you do not master Dutch, we would like you to eventually learn Dutch as a second language.  You are prepared to move to the Netherlands, to the region where the University of Twente is located.

About the University and Region:
The University of Twente (UT) is a research university with a strong international orientation and a focus on science & engineering and social and behavioral sciences.  It includes more than 3,300 faculty and staff and 9,000 students.  The UT is a campus university, located in the city of Enschede, in the east of the Netherlands.  Enschede is a lively city of 150,000, located in beautiful countryside and near spectacular nature areas. It is only two hours away from major European cities like Amsterdam, Cologne and Düsseldorf, three hours from Brussels and less than six hours (by car or train) from London, Paris and Berlin.

Information and Application:
For more information, please contact Prof. dr. Philip Brey, full professor and chair (phone: +31-53-4894426).  Your application should reach us by September 24th, 2012, and should include a CV, a letter of application (including a summary of your teaching evaluations), a summary and table of contents of your dissertation (or your full dissertation), a recent paper, and contact information for 3 or more references.  Applications should be uploaded via www.utwente.nl/vacatures/en.