Doctoral student in education with a focus on co-creating futures

Malmo

Reference number P 2025/306

Malmö University is an innovative, urban, and internationally-oriented academic institution that, thanks to its committed and experienced staff, contributes to societal development. Here, teachers, researchers, and other employees with various competencies work together to conduct high-quality education and research. All professional categories and roles are important. You are welcome to apply for a job with us!
Here you can learn more about what it's like to work at Malmö University: Work with us

We are looking for
A Doctoral student in education with a focus on co-creating futures, based at the Department of Childhood, Education, and Society at the Faculty of Education and Society, and affiliated with Malmö Research Centre for Imagining and Co-Creating Futures.

Work duties
Those appointed to doctoral studentships shall primarily devote themselves to their studies. Those appointed to doctoral studentships may, however, work to a limited extent with educational tasks, research, artistic research and administration, however, duties of this kind may not comprise more than 20 per cent of a full-time post (Chapter 5, Section 2 of the Higher Education Ordinance).

The doctoral position is affiliated with the interdisciplinary research Malmö Research Centre for Imagining and Co-Creating Futures, an interdisciplinary, collaborative center for research and education for just, sustainable, and inclusive futures. The research conducted by the doctoral student will contribute to the development of the center's research areas.

Selection criteria
To be admitted to third-cycle studies, the applicant must meet the general and specific entry requirements of the subject in question. Moreover, the applicant must be deemed capable of assimilating the education.

General entry requirements for third-cycle courses and study programmes (HEO Chapter 7 Section 39) have those who:

• have been awarded a second-cycle qualification
• has satisfied the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second-cycle, or
• has acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

Specific entry requirements for third-cycle courses and study programmes have those who:
Specific eligibility applies to those having obtained the command of language required by the education as well as having presented an approved independent study within education, comprising at least 15 second-cycle credits, or having been assessed by Malmö University as possessing the equivalent knowledge.

Selection criteria
Selection among applicants who meet the general and specific entry requirements shall be made with regard to their capacity to assimilate the education (HEO Chapter 7 Section 41).

Specific selection criteria for the position:

• The relevance of the research plan to the research center's focus on future-oriented perspectives and methods.
• Ability to undertake doctoral education in an interdisciplinary research environment.
• Ability to collaborate with actors outside academia.
• Ability to explore relationships between children/childhood and climate and environmental issues, in relation to just, sustainable, and inclusive futures.
• Ability to work with creative research methods.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, documented for example through application documents in English, preferably also with good knowledge of Swedish or another Scandinavian language.

Faculty, Department and Research environment
The Faculty of Education and Society offers educational programs for professionals who intend to work in the school system, with education, after-school, and sports. The faculty offers one of the largest teacher education programmes in Sweden, where students can choose one of four degrees: pre-school teacher, primary school teacher, subject teacher, or vocational studies teacher. In addition to programs for sports scientists, historians, teachers, special-needs teachers, and career and vocational guidance counsellors, we also offer Master’s degree programmes and PhD programmes as well as free-standing courses, continued education, and contract training.

The faculty embraces a new approach to the structure of its educational programmes that it offers in collaboration with schools, municipalities, organisations, and the business sector. Our research is conducted in close collaboration with the surrounding community. We are located in the Orkanen building, on Hjälmarekajen, next to Malmö’s central station.

Department of Childhood, Education, Society (BUS): The doctoral position in education is located at the Department of Childhood, Education, Society (BUS). The department has approximately 50 employees who conduct research, education, and collaborations with the surrounding society. The research at the department is organized into four research groups that, with support from historical-political, educational-philosophical, sociological-childhood/sociological, and didactic perspectives, explore issues that arise at the intersection of childhood, education, and society. The research at the department belongs to an academic and integrated knowledge tradition, which means that the research accumulates and further develops knowledge within the perspectives of the research groups, while also being relevant to and closely related to educational practices at all levels, including the education provided at BUS.

Malmö Research Centre for Imagining and Co-Creating Futures brings together researchers and teachers from across Malmö University. The aim is to develop transformative and critical potential within design, art, culture, humanities, and social sciences to broaden perspectives on what can contribute to more just, sustainable, and inclusive futures. Through research, education, and collaboration, we focus on how best to address the profound societal challenges the world faces today. These include critical areas such as climate change, environmental degradation, sustainable transition, democratic challenges and political polarization, as well as the effects of artificial intelligence, automation, and digital transformation. The center's agenda in these areas is organized around four interconnected directions for future-making, each containing a set of questions, problems, and methods: imagining the future, creating the future, organizing the future, and educating for the future.

Education
Education is a scientific discipline that includes the study of education, upbringing, and learning and how these relate to and are shaped by the institutional, economic, political, cultural, and social contexts in which they are embedded. The doctoral education subject in education at Malmö University is grounded in a societal context that focuses on processes of upbringing, teaching, and education in preschool, school, and adult education as well as non-institutionalized contexts. Knowledge formation and meaning making in everyday life and education are seen as relational and intertwined processes. The education subject at Malmö University is characterized by practice-oriented research and professional connections based on value perspectives such as democracy, diversity, and inclusion.

Further information
Contact person for the Head of the department: Peter Lilja, +46 40 66583 58, [email protected]
Contact person for the Director of Doctoral Studies, Docent Anna Jobér, +46 40 665 80 14, [email protected]
Contact person for Malmö Research Centre for Imagining and Co-Creating Futures: Professor Tina Askanius, [email protected]

In our recruitment work, Malmö University has taken a stand regarding recruitment channels and marketing. We therefore decline all offers of advertising and recruitment assistance in connection with this advertisement.

Application
You apply for this position via Malmö University's recruitment system by clicking on the "Apply" button. As an applicant, you are responsible for ensuring that your application is completed in accordance with the job advertisement, and that it is submitted to the University no later than 31st of March 2025. The application must be written in Swedish, English or any of the Nordic languages. As an applicant, you are responsible for the application and its appendices being translated.

The application must include:

• A letter describing your background and interest in pursuing a PhD in relation to the research center's themes and perspectives (max 2 pages)-
• Curriculum Vitae with up to three references (the references must contain title, employment, e-mail address, telephone number and relationship to the applicant).
• Copies of certified diplomas, transcript of records and other certificates relevant for the position.
• A research plan of up to 3000 words excluding references. The research plan must contain an overall purpose, questions that the project intends to answer, an account of the theoretical framework and the methodological approach, as well as a description of research material and data collection. It must be clear from the research plan how the applicant plans to contribute to the development of the center's research areas.
• Your independent second-cycle work (including master thesis or equivalent)

Preparation of admission to postgraduate education and employment as a doctoral student take place in parallel. Only those who are or have been admitted to third-cycle courses and study programmes at a higher education may be appointed to doctoral studentships (Chapter 5, Section 3 of the Higher Education Ordinance).

The doctoral studentship is a fixed-term position comprising four years of full-time studies, in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 5 Section 7. A doctoral student shall be employed for an indefinite period but for no longer than until a specified date, and never for longer than a year after the doctoral degree or artistic doctoral degree has been completed. The first appointment must be limited to one year at the most. The appointment can be extended by a maximum of two years at a time.

Malmö University actively promotes gender equality and equal opportunities in order to offer a workplace and a university characterised by an open and inclusive approach.
Malmö University applies salary setting for doctoral students in accordance with a local agreement on salary setting for doctoral students.

Start date
2025-09-01

Union representatives
Nils Andersson, Saco, [email protected]
Anita Marttila, OFR, [email protected]
Charlotte Paggetti, Sveriges Lärare, [email protected]

Doctoral representation
Chairman of the doctoral college, Johan Deltner, [email protected]

We look forward to your application!

You apply no later than 31/03/2025 by clicking the apply button.