Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies

Duties and responsibilities

Engaging in research, teaching and dissemination activities in the realm of e-governance and digital public services in close cooperation with public and private institutions both within Estonia and internationally. Developing domain-specific know-how within the University of Tartu, cooperating with colleagues at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies as well as with scholars from the Faculties of Social Science, Economics, Law and Computer Science. Working closely with the ERA Chair Steering Committee. Supervising MA and PhD theses on topics related to e-governance and digital public services, including at least one successful PhD defense over the course of four years. Teaching and developing new courses on e-governance and digital public services and contributing to the development of MA programmes. Working on applied projects in the e-governance domain. Actively seeking research and development funding and leading grant projects. Performing administrative functions related to research and teaching. See also job description.

Required qualifications

PhD or an equivalent qualification. See also requirements for teaching and research staff.

Required experience

Requirements for the position include a record of internationally recognised research in e-governance, digital public services and/or related fields in the volume corresponding to three doctoral dissertations. A suitable candidate must be currently active in research: internationally recognised research in the last five years at least in the volume equivalent to that of 1.5 doctoral thesis. The candidate must be able to manage the teaching and research work of the ERA Chair and direct and organise degree programmes (particularly doctoral study). Applicants should have a record of obtaining national and international grant funding and of successfully executing both researches and applied grant projects. In the field of teaching, the minimum requirements include experience corresponding to two years of working as an Associate Professor, as well as experience with supervising master and doctoral students. Experience in carrying out research organisational and administrative work is desirable.

Required language skills

English (excellent).

Starting at 01.09.2020, temporary contract to 31.08.2024
Workload 1,00
Salary 9000 euros (gross) per month. See also UT salary rules.

Additional info Please do not hesitate contacting: Varje Kuut, varje.kuut@ut.ee.

The ERA Chair project foresees building a research team around the recruited Professor at the Center of IT Impact Studies (CITIS), Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu. The ERA Chair in e-Governance and Digital Public Services (ECePS) will be expected to create a top-level research team capable of conducting cutting edge research on e-governance, public e-services and data driven public innovation. The ERA Chair will also engage with the public to raise awareness and understanding of the topic and will raise additional funding to ensure the sustainability of the position beyond the initial five years supported by the EU-project.

The ECePS ERA Chair will have access to multiple resources in carrying out this work. This includes the benefits of working in Estonia, a leader in e-governance implementation. Taking into account the resources available in Estonia and elsewhere, briefly describe your vision for conducting research (in addition to the aim and action plan statement) to answer any or all of the following questions: How to harness the benefits of the digital transformation of government while minimizing the associated risks and ensuring security, privacy and equal access? How can obstacles that prevent governments from implementing e-governance systems be overcome? How can researchers and practitioners best utilize the vast amounts of data that is already being generated throughout the world (via existing public e-services)?