Job opportunity: Doctoral student in technology/engineering education, focus gender studies

Umeå University is one of Sweden’s largest higher education institutions with over 37 000 students and about 4 700 employees. The University offers a diversity of high-quality education and world-leading research in several fields. And they are looking for you who want to complete a research education and study educational issues with relevance for technology and/or engineering education, as well as gender studies. 

Focus area
Your research as a doctoral student will have a focus on technology teaching in higher education, and we are therefore looking for a doctoral student who is curious about this research area. The problem of gender-biased recruitment to technical education has been a noticeable problem for several decades in Sweden. Various government efforts have been made to change these gender patterns, often without results. In order to understand why technology is still male-coded, better knowledge of teaching and learning processes within the subject of technology is needed. Statistics also show that students from the working class and national minorities are underrepresented in higher education in Sweden. There is a need for an increased understanding of how learning processes in technology subjects relate to issues of power and knowledge, where an intersectional perspective has been lacking so far.

Qualifications
To be admitted to education at the postgraduate level, the applicant must have basic qualifications through a degree at advanced level or completed course requirements of at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 credits are at advanced level, or equivalent foreign education or other equivalent qualifications.

Doctoral students can be admitted to postgraduate studies in technology or engineering education via two different syllabuses: educational work or subject matter education, both with a focus on technology. In addition to the basic qualifications, special qualifications are required that are different for the two postgraduate syllabuses.

To meet the requirement of special qualifications to be accepted in the postgraduate program of educational work with a focus on technology, besides meeting the basic qualifications, the applicant needs to have a teacher’s degree or pre-school teacher’s degree and at least one year of professional experience. The degree must include a degree project.

To meet the requirement of special qualifications to be accepted in the postgraduate program of subject matter education with a focus on technology, besides meeting the basic qualifications, the applicant needs to have at least 90 higher education credits in technology and technology education combined. The degree must include a degree project.

To be accepted, it is also required that the applicant can communicate well in English, both orally and in writing, as well as any other skill necessary to take advantage of the education. An interest in gender and power perspectives is a necessity for the position, and prior experiences of working with these questions is therefore a useful qualification.