The Institute of Design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design calIs for applications for 4-year positions as Assistant Professors in interaction design. The Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) is an internationally leading, specialized university within the disciplines design, architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism. AHO offers a unique research-based education of international standing. Established in 1945, today it has built a solid national funding base and is prominently ranked internationally. AHO awards three Master’s degrees in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Design, as well as a PhD programme. AHO offers Master’s degree programmes that are designed to best equip the student to enter directly into professional practice or academia. Within the Master’s programmes, students may specialise in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism, industrial design, interaction design, service and systems-oriented design. In its education, the school follows a studio-based model with a low faculty-to-student ratio that encourages individual development and collaboration. The school has approximately 700 students and 145 employees.
About the positions
About Insitute of Design
The Institute of Design at AHO is one of the leading Nordic design-institutions. The Institute of Design is responsible for AHO’s 5-year integrated Master-programme in Design and has a broad portfolio of research projects that connects across disciplines and domains. The institute takes a broad, holistic approach to design that emphasizes the relevance and importance of design within contemporary society. Our perspective is that good design creates aesthetic and functional products, services and experiences that delight and improve the lives of people and contribute to a sustainable future. The institute develops research and teaching within and across the fields of industrial design, interaction design, service design, and systems oriented design.
The Institute collaborates closely with industry, public sector and governance, and is an important actor in research- and innovation-projects. The institute has an extensive international and national network across industry and academia, covering both the growing digital sector, as well as established areas such as healthcare, maritime industry, future-studies and innovation, and service development in the public and private sector. AHO’s design alumni are found in leading design studios and consultancies, in tech-companies, in industry, in research and innovation projects, as well as in policy and governance. The Institute of Design is internationally recognized and highly ranked; projects from the institute are frequently represented in national and international design awards.
The Institute of Design is growing and will expand the number of faculty extensively over the next few years. To meet the growing demand for designers in Norway, the Ministry of Education and Research granted AHO funding for 30 new student places in design in 2020. The size of the 5-year integrated Master programme in design will double, going from 30 to 60 students per year. This means that the Institute of Design is going through a unique and exciting transition - developing new curriculum, new research, and hiring new staff. In this process it is central for us that we develop and maintain a staff with a diverse and balanced mix of gender, age and social and cultural background. Women and persons with a minority background are particularly encouraged to apply for this position.
About Interaction design at AHO
Interaction design is one of the main domains at the Institute of Design. Interaction design is an integrated part of the 5-year Master programme in design and an important part of the institute's research-portfolio. AHO was one of the first design schools in the Nordics to develop an interaction design curriculum, and has been a leading contributor to research and innovation within this field for two decades. Interaction design at AHO has been developed and taught alongside service- and industrial-design, as well as systems oriented-design, giving interaction design at AHO a unique interdisciplinary profile. The interaction design team at AHO collaborates closely with the growing digital sector in Norway, and has an extensive international network across academia and industry. AHO has been at the forefront of developing curriculum, research and innovation within areas such as digitalisation and digital design, the maritime industry, digital cities and societies, future studies, tangible interactions, healthcare and technology. Alongside our service design team, interaction design at AHO has been central in building knowledge and educating designers that are taking part in developing digital services in both the public and private sector.
For this 4-year assistant professor call we have two 100% position available but are also open for applicants that want to be involved at AHO in smaller percentages. The Institute of Design at AHO is expanding and has a growing demand for staff within Interaction design over the next few years. If you are interested in becoming part of our team, but don't think this position is a good fit for you, please contact us directly (info below) and we will stay in touch about future calls.
About the position
We are looking for highly motivated persons to be part of our interaction design team. These persons will be responsible for teaching courses that cover various parts of interaction design across our 5-year Master in design. They are expected to develop and teach new, self-driven courses and projects that can contribute to the development of the Master in design programme.
With these positions we want to expand and complement the competencies of our existing team, and are looking for applicants from a broad range of backgrounds and skill sets. The discipline of interaction design is rapidly developing and diversifying into new fields, technologies and problematics. We see the need for bringing new, diverse competencies into our teaching team and we are looking for practicing designers who are curious about teaching and interested in developing our discipline. We are looking for designers that want to use their experience to contribute to design education, and perhaps want to creatively challenge, question and expand the technological and societal role of our discipline. We welcome interaction designers from a diverse set of backgrounds to apply. This could be someone coming from for example: design studios or consultancies; start-ups or the tech industry; public sector; research and innovation projects; or freelance practice.
The institute's pedagogy is based around studio- and practice-based teaching where teachers mentor students through developing design-projects. Teachers are typically responsible for developing briefs and course-material, teaching skills and tools and teaching the students design methods and processes.
An interest in, and motivation for, design education and the future development of the discipline of interaction design is a requirement for these positions. Experience from engaging with discussions in the field, through for example conferences, talks, meet-ups etc, would be valuable. Experience from practice-led and studio-based teaching in a design school would also be valuable, but is not a requirement. It is important for us to develop a diverse interaction design team with a balance of gender, age, and social and cultural backgrounds. For these positions, we are particularly looking for applicants who want to contribute to broadening the scope of our discipline with their own experiences, mindsets and approaches.
Responsibilities
Teaching studio-based undergraduate and Master course with a focus on interaction design.
Developing curriculum or projects that can contribute across AHO's 5 year Master in Design.
Develop collaborations and networks with partners in industry
Participation in administrative work
We offer
An outstanding, stimulating and international research and teaching environment
Depending on qualification, the position is placed in government pay scale, position code 1009 Assistant Professor.
Membership in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (a monthly deduction of 2% of gross salary will be made as a contribution to the fund)
Standard terms applicable for the position
In the light of a personnel policy aiming at a working staff which reflects the composition of the population in general, as regards gender and cultural diversity, women and persons with a minority background are particularly encouraged to apply for the position. AHO is eager to support career development.
Qualifications
The preferred candidate for the position must:
Hold a master degree or equivalent in design
Have extensive practice from interaction design
Have experience from developing digital design projects
Have experiencing from communicating design
Have excellent written and spoken English language skills
Have excellent written and spoken Norwegian/Scandinavian language skills, but for non-Scandinavian applicants you must learn Norwegian within two years so you can teach undergraduate
And should have an interest in design-education
Personal skills
- Outstanding collaboration and communication skills
- Innovative, proactive and solution-oriented perspectives and approaches
- The ability to engage students and colleagues
- Being able to support and flourish in an ambitious atmosphere with periods of high work intensity
Personal suitability for the position will weigh in.
The position requires residency in the Oslo region.
Application
For this 4-year Assistant Professor call we have 100% positions available. If you are not interested in a 100 % position, we ask that you specify what percentage you would be interested in.
The application must include:
Application and motivational letter. The motivation letter should include a reflection on teaching interests and ambitions for disciplinary development
CV
Portfolio of design-projects relevant to this position (can be online)
Certificates/diplomas
A list of 2-3 references with name, relation to candidate, e-mail and phone number
The applicant is responsible for documenting all aspects of his/her competence in the application. Application with attachments must be submitted via our online recruitment system jobbnorge.no. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.
The applicants will be assessed on an artistic basis, but academic experience will count into a holistic assessment of the candidate's competence. At AHO teaching is the main component of the Assistant Professor positions, also a small component of administrative or development tasks will be agreed upon at the conclusion of the contract.
If questions about the possition, please contact the leader of the institute, Rachel. B Troye, rachel.troye@aho.no.
