Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in the Urban Silk-Road

Founded in 1911, the University of Hong Kong is committed to the highest international standards of excellence in teaching and research, and has been at the international forefront of academic scholarship for many years. The University has a comprehensive range of study programmes and research disciplines spread across 10 faculties and over 140 academic departments and institutes/centres. There are 28,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students who are recruited globally, and more than 2,000 members of academic and academic-related staff coming from multi-cultural backgrounds, many of whom are internationally renowned.

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in the Urban Silk-Road (Ref.: 201700179)

Applications are invited for a tenure-track appointment as Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Architecture to commence from August 2017 or as soon as possible thereafter, on a three-year fixed-term basis, with the possibility of renewal and consideration for tenure before the expiry of a second three-year fixed-term contract.

The Faculty is seeking energetic and productive candidates to strengthen its capacity to engage in teaching and research related to the Urban Silk-Road, the historical and/or contemporary extension of Chinese cultural, architectural, trading and city-building influences across the Eurasia continent. This is part of a coordinated hire across four HKU Faculties (Architecture, Arts, Education and Social Sciences) to extend the University’s urban China research and teaching capacity, with a specific emphasis on the urban Silk-Road.

Applicants should hold a Ph.D. degree in a built environment or related discipline and should have teaching and research experience in any one of the following subjects: architectural history, urban history, economic geography, urban planning, environmental planning, urban studies, sustainable regions and cities, landscape and ecology, transport and infrastructure. Those from the specialism within the above Built Environment disciplines are invited to apply. They should also have a track record of research, publications in prominent journals, teaching, and obtaining research grants.  They should be able to demonstrate that their research engages not only with one or more countries in the Silk Road region but with the emerging phenomenon of the Belt and Road (aka One Belt One Road) as a policy, economic, cultural and urban phenomenon. This might include publishing papers on the Belt and Road, being funded by or having strong links with a Belt and Road agency and so on.

Preference will be given to the candidates who can demonstrate that they have already achieved a degree of international reputation through their academic publications and other outputs and networking in one or more HKUrbanLab (the research arm of the Faculty) specialist fields (http://www.arch.hku.hk/about/hkurbanlab-intro/). This might mean, for example, researching the interface between urban planning and infrastructure development; the financial, economic, institutional, cultural and policy environment of infrastructure development; the impact of urban infrastructure on natural environments; hydrological and other ecological determinants of past, present and future settlement patterns and prospects in Belt and Road countries; big data approaches for monitoring and modeling urban and regional-scale social, economic or environmental impacts of Belt and Road infrastructure and cities; and so on.

As well as specialized elective teaching, the appointee will be expected to teach one course in at least one other HKU Faculty and to contribute to cross-disciplinary teaching across the five departments/divisions of the Faculty (Architecture, Architectural Conservation, Real Estate and Construction, Landscape, Urban Planning and Design). He/She will join one of the 12 research groups comprising the HKUrbanLab.

A globally competitive remuneration package commensurate with the appointee’s qualifications and experience will be offered.  At current rates, salaries tax does not exceed 15% of gross income.  The appointment will attract a contract-end gratuity and University contribution to a retirement benefits scheme, totalling up to 15% of basic salary, as well as leave, and medical benefits.  Housing benefits will be provided as applicable.

The University thanks applicants for their interest, but advises that only candidates shortlisted for interviews will be notified of the application result.

The University is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to equality, ethics, inclusivity, diversity and transparency; and is committed to a Non-smoking Policy