Associate Professor jobs in United Arab Emirates

Position Details

School of Geography Earth and Environmental Sciences

University of Birmingham Dubai campus

Salary: Competitive

Grade: 9

No. of positions: 1

Full time

Location: Dubai UAE

Closing date: 14th May 2025

UK and International travel may be required for this post.

University of Birmingham Dubai

Having established ourselves in Dubai International Academic City in 2018, we have now moved to our new state-of-the-art campus which opened in Sept 2021. These posts represent an excellent opportunity to join an ambitious World Top 100 University as we continue to grow our long-term strategic mission in Dubai, the UAE, and the wider region. Our campus reflects the very best of Birmingham through our presence in Dubai.

Background

We are recruiting an Associate Professor in Sustainability (Education) who will join the highly interdisciplinary School of Geography Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES). The position offers an exciting opportunity to support the launch, teaching, and leadership of our new BSc Sustainability programme on our Dubai campus.

We are keen to attract candidates whose work engages with contemporary sustainability issues from interdisciplinary perspectives across a range of Sustainable Development Goals. Our BSc Sustainability is the first such programme in the United Arab Emirates, and the post holders will work on the creation of new content, programme development, as well as enabling the launch and running of the new programme. We also wish for post holders to work closely with sustainability practitioners and relevant government officials in the greater MENA region to ensure that our teaching engages with living projects and that in-demand green skills are embedded throughout our modules.

As well as contributing to BSc Sustainability, the post holders may also provide wider support for the teaching delivery and administration of GEES Dubai and Edgbaston based programmes. As part of the broader School, the post holder will also be expected to contribute to our ongoing innovation of teaching and assessment.

The University of Birmingham is an equal-opportunity employer wishing to recruit talented individuals from anywhere around the world. We encourage applicants from all sections of the community.

Successful applications will receive a competitive package and play a key role in our ambitious University’s expansion as we enhance our international reputation and global footprint.

Role Summary

Contribute at a senior level on a sustained basis to the whole range of teaching, leadership, and administration though mainly in support of our BSc Sustainability programme. In addition, you will be expected to demonstrate academic citizenship, developing and maintaining mutually respectful and supportive working relationships with all staff and students, and ensuring the way you carry out your role impacts positively on how others carry out theirs.

Teaching is likely to include: (a) development and leadership of major teaching programmes or equivalent; and (b) enhancement of the student experience or employability that are of manifest benefit. It is expected that you will demonstrate a significant contribution to the advancement of teaching (policy, practice, standards) of the subject, provide leadership in teaching and learning that is innovative to the subject area or institution, with a significant contribution to the debate nationally about teaching.

Management and administration is likely to include School level leadership and management activity with University-wide involvement, for example, through sustained high value impact knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, public engagement, or similar activities.

Main Duties

Education

You will contribute across the range of teaching and learning activities:

• Making a significant contribution to the pedagogical knowledge base of the subject that advances teaching through the enhancement of practice, the development of teaching resources, and/or through practice-based research;
• Leading on the management and the development of approaches to teaching and learning, including designing innovative approaches and supporting colleagues to use them in the subject area or institution;
• Leading on curriculum design at module and programme level to ensure it is contemporary, inclusive, engaging, and academically challenging;
• Actively engaging students in curriculum design;
• Making an impactful, high-quality contribution to debates about education policy, methods, and practices through internal and external publications, subject societies, and conference activity;
• Developing an external profile evidenced through engaging in external quality assurance activities related to teaching, e.g., external examining and engaging with/supporting education in other institutions;
• Where appropriate, playing an important and sustained role in the recruitment and admission of students;
• Co-supervising doctoral students to completion;
• Leading the development of teaching, learning, and assessment policies and strategies;
• Acting as an education mentor to colleagues in the School/College or more widely;
• Leading the development of new and appropriate approaches to learning and teaching;
• Leading sustained high value impact in knowledge transfer and enterprise (including business engagement, public engagement) that enhances the student experience and/or employability and is of manifest benefit to learning and teaching in the College and the University;
• Undertaking own teaching which will include teaching and examining courses at a range of levels, planning and reviewing own teaching approaches, developing programme proposals, supervision, marking, and examining. You will ensure that your teaching practice is informed by discipline-based research through participating in the research culture of the School.

Management/Administration

Lead activities in the School and represent the School on College/University committees or working groups. This may include:

• Teaching and examining modules at a range of levels, with teaching activities also taking place during weekends and evenings;
• Making an important contribution to the development and running of the School, for example, leading activity on teaching assessment;
• Leading a successful international engagement at School level;
• Developing and managing staff and resources in support of major teaching activities;
• Making important contributions to the development of the school’s learning and teaching strategy;
• Contributing significantly to the development and delivery of knowledge transfer, enterprise, business engagement, and public engagement activities with sustained high value impact of manifest benefit to the College and the University in a teaching/education context;
• Developing and implementing a culture (including policies and procedures) that promotes equality and values diversity and inclusion;
• Leading, serving on, and assisting the work of committees and task and finish groups beyond School, e.g., Senate, Council, University Education or Research Committee, etc.;
• Leading external committees, e.g., those associated with public/professional bodies, or delivery of activities for an external body at an appropriate level, e.g., chairing sub-committees associated with large elements of work;
• Leading/project managing a team to devise and implement a new and/or revised process (e.g., new programme or a recruitment drive);
• Making a sustained contribution to widening participation, schools outreach, and/or public understanding of the discipline;
• Contributing to administrative activities within the University (e.g., appeals panels, working groups).

Citizenship

Contributing to an inclusive working environment:

• Identifying wellbeing issues within the School/College/University and developing appropriate solutions to address these;
• Taking collective ownership of challenges faced by the School or College and working with colleagues to develop solutions;
• Mentoring and coaching of colleagues, particularly those in the early stages of their career.

Person Specification

• Normally a higher Degree relevant to the discipline area (usually PhD) or equivalent qualifications and/or professional experience in Geography, Environmental Science, or Sustainability. The post holders must be able to create and contribute to/lead on modules including Global Environmental Issues, Climate Justice, Sustainability Theory, Sustainability Assessment Methods, Research Methods, and GIS.
• Demonstrated excellence in Learning and Teaching and Management and administration.

Learning and Teaching Requirements

An excellent teaching profile and performance in terms of both impact and quality. Teaching quality demonstrated to be informed by an appropriate level of scholarship.

Evidence of success under the following headings:

• High national reputation for the development of teaching and learning excellence within the discipline.
• Successful and sustained use of a range of appropriate teaching methods and assessment strategies that promote high quality learning, including learning that is flexible, distinctive, and current, and stimulates learners' natural curiosity.
• Significant and sustained contribution to one or more of the following: strategic development of new programmes, approaches to learning, the development of learning resources.
• High quality and sustained contributions to fostering excellence in teaching activities more widely, i.e., in the School or College and/or externally.
• Mentoring and expert advice which develops the skills of colleagues in teaching and in fostering learning.
• Sustained high value impact, knowledge transfer, and enterprise that is of manifest benefit to the College and University.

Management and Administration-Related Requirements

Demonstrated significant achievement in management and administration-related activities which may include leadership of activities/success under the following headings:

• Successful and sustained performance in significant administrative/managerial role(s) (e.g., exams officer).
• Significant and sustained high quality innovative contributions to the management/administration of the Department/School/College or University.
• Successful and sustained contribution to the corporate life of the School/College/University, displaying willingness to contribute actively to committees, collaborative teaching, and administrative tasks.
• Actively promotes equality and diversity to internal and external stakeholders.
• Able to use data to identify equality and diversity issues.
• Experience of developing interventions to address equality and diversity issues.

For informal enquiries, please contact Mohammad Radfar (Dubai Campus) or John Round (Edgbaston Campus).

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter, and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy.

You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.