3-Year Postdoc Position In Medieval Studies

3-year postdoc position in medieval studies

The Department of Culture and Language invites applications for a 3-year postdoc position in Dominican studies within the CODICUM project.

The position is expected to begin 1 April 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter. We seek a highly motivated post-doctoral researcher to work on Work Package 3 of CODICUM, led by PI prof. Lars Boje Mortensen.

About the CODICUM project

CODUCUM is a collaborative project on Nordic medieval intellectual and book history based on the c. 50.000 medieval Latin manuscript fragments kept in the major archives and libraries in the Nordic countries. The project is financed by an ERC synergy grant (2025-31) and is led by four PIs at the Universities of Bergen, Helsinki, Copenhagen and SDU in Odense. The ambition of the project is rewriting medieval Nordic book history with traditional humanities approaches combined with a substantial science element in terms of spectrometric parchment analysis of proteins and DNA.

Job description and requirements

• The successful applicant is expected to have expert Latin, palaeographical as well as text and book historical skills. The postdoc project involves identifying fragments with Dominican texts or related to Dominican environments in order to uncover patterns of educational and learned networks in the period c. 1250 – c. 1450 across the Nordic countries (the Dominican province of Dacia) and their relations to European centres of learning.
• It will count as a plus if the applicant has already published within mendicant studies
• The position also demands good collaborative skills as the project will be conducted in coordination with a number of other fragment researchers, including textual scholars, curators, IT infrastructure specialists and biochemists.
• The postdoc is expected to participate actively in CODICUM project meetings, workshops etc.
• Administrative tasks, such as co-organizing a conference, writing reports and more, will form part of the job.
• The postdoc is also expected to contribute actively to outreach activities, such as blog writing, working with the holding institutions and more.

For further information about the position contact professor Lars Boje Mortensen on labo@sdu.dk . For general questions about employment at the University of Southern Denmark, contact Vice Head of Department Anne Klara Bom at akbom@sdu.dk

For questions related to CV, diplomas etc., please contact humfak-hr@sdu.dk

If you are not a Danish-speaking applicant, please ensure that you use the English website to access the electronic application form to receive further information in English.

Application, salary and conditions of employment
The employment as postdoc is temporary. Employment stops automatically by the end of the period. An upgrade of pedagogical qualifications is not part of the position. Thus, employment as postdoc cannot stand alone as a qualification for later employment as associate professor/senior researcher.

The successful applicant will be employed in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and AC (the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations), Cirkulære om overenskomst for Akademikere i staten 2025 (the document only exists in Danish).

Persons employed in the position may, based on a specific individual managerial evaluation, be exempted from time registration, also known as a “self-organizer”.

Working at University of Southern Denmark

The International Staff Office (ISO) at SDU provides a variety of services for new employees, guests and people who consider applying for a job at the University of Southern Denmark. International staff in tenured positions will be offered Danish language training in connection with the employment and are expected to achieve Danish language competences at CEFR B2-level within 5 years from being appointed.

The Department of Culture and Language is located on the island of Funen at the university's campus in Odense – the third-largest city in Denmark with 185.000 inhabitants. Odense provides family-friendly living conditions in a historic city with an urban feel where nature and other recreational areas are never far away. The city has excellent connections with public transportation to Aarhus and Copenhagen.

The application must include

• Detailed CV including personal contact information
• Certificates/Diplomas (Master and PhD degree). If the PhD hasn’t been completed, please attach a statement from your supervisors regarding your impending completion.
• Complete list of publications, indicating which publications are most relevant for the position.
• Up to 5 of the most relevant publications. Please upload a PDF for each publication. If your publications have been co-authored, please briefly describe the extent of the co-authorship or your contribution to the individual joint publication. You can do so by using this form , or you can describe the co-authorship in such a way that the committee can assess the extent of your contribution.
• A cover letter (max. 1-1,5 pages) outlining your fit for the project, motivation, and relevant experience and qualifications

All non-Danish documents must be translated into English.

Application and all appendices must be in Danish, English or one of the Scandinavian languages. Please always include a copy of original diploma/certificates. We only accept files in pdf-format no more than 10 MB per file. In case you have more than one file per field you need to combine the pdf-files into a single file, as each field handles only one file. We do not accept zip-files, jpg or other image files. All pdf-files must be unlocked and allow binding and may not be password protected.

The assessment process
Applications will be assessed by an assessment committee and the applicant will receive the part of the evaluation that concerns him/her. The assessment report will subsequently be forwarded to the Head of Department who will assemble an appointments committee. An interview may form part of the overall assessment of the applicants' qualifications.

The committee may request additional information, and if so, it is the responsibility of the applicant to provide the necessary material.

If the application does not meet the requirements mentioned above, the Faculty of Humanities may reject your application without further notice. Applications received after the deadline will neither be considered nor evaluated.

Shortlisting and tests will be used in the assessment process. Please note that only a shortlisted applicant will receive an assessment. Here you can read more about shortlisting at SDU.

Application deadline
Application deadline 8 January 2026 at 23.59

Applications should be sent electronically via the link "apply online" and the Faculty expects applicants to read the information " How to apply " before applying.

We recommend that as an international applicant you take the time to visit Working in Denmark where you will find information and facts about moving to, working and living in Denmark, as well as the International Staff Office at SDU .

The University is signatory of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). We wish our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

About SDU

SDU was founded in 1966 and now has more than 27,000 students, almost 20% of whom are from abroad. It has more than 3,800 employees, and 115 different study programmes in the fields of the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, and engineering. Its main campus is located in Odense, but SDU is present also in Kolding, Sønderborg, Esbjerg and Copenhagen.