Tenure track professor in Cultural Studies

KU Leuven is an autonomous university. It was founded in 1425. It was born of and has grown within the Catholic tradition.

The Research Unit of Literary Studies and Cultural Studies within the Faculty of Arts at KU Leuven is seeking a full-time tenure-track professor in Cultural Studies. The professorship will commence on September 1, 2027.

KU Leuven is the largest university in Belgium and is consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in Europe. The university is a member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and places great importance on attracting and appreciating talent. At the Faculty of Arts, research is conducted in the fields of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Archaeology, Art History, Chinese Studies, History, Japanese Studies, Literary Studies and Cultural Studies, Linguistics, Musicology, and Translation and Interpreting Studies. The Faculty employs over 800 junior and senior researchers and provides education to approximately 4,500 students across its campuses in Antwerp, Brussels, Kortrijk, and Leuven. The Faculty strives to be an open and inclusive environment, with attention to dialogue, social safety, sustainability, and a healthy work-life balance.

We are looking for a motivated lecturer and researcher to strengthen the staff of the Cultural Studies Research Group within the Research Unit of Literary Studies and Cultural Studies. The Cultural Studies Research Group is renowned for its research on contemporary cultural practices, cultural policy, cultural theories, and digital humanities, and includes more than 30 senior and junior researchers. Members of the research group teach in various bachelor's and master's programs within and beyond the Faculty of Arts, particularly in the Master of Cultural Studies program.

You are a committed, internationally oriented researcher who conducts both fundamental and applied research in the domain of:

• Cultural policy in the broadest sense, from both local and international perspectives: arts and heritage policy, the digital transformation of culture, and the institutional organization of the cultural field;
• One or more institutionally embedded cultural practices, preferably in the performing arts or popular culture.

Your research strengthens the profile of the Cultural Studies Research Group (https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/literatuurwetenschap/english/literary-theory-and-cultural-studies), but you also contribute expertise in cultural policy to the entire Faculty of Arts and collaborate, where appropriate, with relevant partners within the KU Leuven Association.

You strive for excellence in your academic research and develop your own research program. You publish at the highest academic level, initiate national and international collaborations, and help foster and further develop these partnerships.

You succeed in securing competitive research funding and in attracting and supervising PhD students. The faculty supports you in identifying suitable funding opportunities and provides guidance for applications. It places great importance on high-quality and responsible supervision of doctoral students.

You engage in science communication and contribute to public debate wherever possible. You maintain strong connections with the local or international arts sector in which you specialize.

Teaching

You provide high-quality education, primarily within the Master of Cultural Studies program (https://www.kuleuven.be/opleidingen/programmes/master-cultural-studies/index.html), and you are committed to the overall quality of the study programs. You develop your teaching in line with KU Leuven’s vision of active, research-based education, and you make use of the opportunities offered by the faculty and university to further professionalize your teaching (for more information: www.kuleuven.be/english/education/education-at-ku-leuven).

Your teaching assignment comprises 21 to 24 ECTS credits, and includes the following or similar courses:

• (1) Cultural Policy: approx. 16 ECTS
  F0YS8A Cultural Economics (3 van 6 ECTS, including coordination of the teaching team)
• (2) Arts Sector: approx. 6 ECTS
  1 MA-level course, depending on the candidate’s expertise, to be offered as an elective course in the Master of Cultural Studies

Your teaching assignment also includes the supervision of bachelor's papers and master's theses.

Your teaching assignment is primarily based at Campus Leuven, but may in the future include teaching at other campuses of the faculty.

Together with your colleagues, you will contribute to the further development and renewal of the curriculum, shaping learning trajectories across courses, rethinking academic education in light of future societal challenges, and strengthening ties with the professional field.

Service

You are willing to take on academic service tasks and roles with