We are the Department of Data Science and Knowledge Engineering (DKE) at Maastricht University, the Netherlands: an international community of over 800 students and 80 staff members, embedded in the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE). Our department has more than 30 years of experience with research and teaching in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. To strengthen our education, we are looking for a lecturer with a (PhD) degree in the field of Computer Science.

Education at the Department of Data Science and Knowledge Engineering
We offer one bachelor’s programme (Data Science and Artificial Intelligence) and two master’s programmes (Data Science for Decision Making and Artificial Intelligence). All programmes build on a combination of the three aforementioned fields (Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics) and are nationally ranked #1 in their category according to the Dutch Keuzegids ranking.

Our programmes employ the so-called Project-Centred Learning (PCL) educational model. With PCL, students work on two big projects per year alongside their courses. In groups of 6 students, they tackle projects ranging from simulating space missions to Saturn’s moon, Titan (bachelor, year 1) to enabling a robot arm to play tic-tac-toe against human players (bachelor, year 3) and designing optimal timetables or automating human facial expression recognition (master level). Apart from creating a functional product, our students write a report suitable for publication in an academic journal and present their findings to their peers and teachers.

As a lecturer, you…  
…will spend approximately 80% of your time on education. This includes teaching some of the courses offered by our department (mostly in Year 1 and 2 of the Bachelor’s; see curriculum here), supervising student projects at the bachelor level, and/or coordinating thesis projects at master level. The remainder of your time is spent on innovating education, for example by improving courses.

Naturally, we are looking for a passionate lecturer. But we also seek someone who enjoys mentoring, and who thrives in our informal and international teaching culture. We all refer to each other on a first name basis and have around 40 different nationalities in our community. We are proud of our students’ achievements. Even in the past Covid times our students have managed to present their projects and theses at research conferences. Without taking away from their talent and personality, we doubt this would've come to fruition without our dedicated teaching staff. Our new lecturer should be excited to play a role in both the academic and personal development of our students. We are especially interested in lecturers that bring in experience on new emergent technologies such as quantum computing, cybersecurity, internet of things, smart industry, and augmented reality amongst others. 

In addition, you will need the following to qualify for this position:

• A (PhD) degree in a field related to Computer Science,
• A proven track record in teaching;
• English language fluency

We offer a full-time position starting as soon as possible. You will initially be employed on a 1-year temporary contract with the prospect of a permanent position in case of mutual positive assessment.

The salary is stipulated in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities: a minimum of €2.846 and a maximum of €5.230 per month (scale 10/11), depending on experience, for a full-time position of 38 hours a week. On top of this, there is an annual holiday allowance (8% of annual income) and an annual end-of-year bonus (8.3% of annual income).

The position comes with a number of additional benefits, including:

• Partially paid parental leave and fully paid partner birth leave;
• A pension scheme;
• The option to participate in collective healthcare insurance;
• A one-time reimbursement of your relocation costs if you are moving to Maastricht from more than 40 kilometers away;
• Assistance with practical matters such as housing for candidates unfamiliar with the Netherlands, through Maastricht University’s Knowledge Centre for International Staff;
• A welcoming and open work environment with a high degree of flexibility, and plenty of opportunities for collaboration and growth;
• Mentoring to develop yourself as a teacher and obtain a University Teaching Qualification (BKO, for ‘basiskwalificatie onderwijs’: an official certification for teaching at Dutch universities) through a training programme, in case you are not yet certified.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > About UM > Working at UM.

Furthermore, applicants from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for the so-called 30% ruling, a tax cut for highly skilled migrants that applies for a maximum of five years.

Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 22,000 students and about 5,000 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

The Department of Data Science and Knowledge Engineering

Founded in 1992, we are a fast-growing department undertaking internationally respected research in the areas of computer science, human-machine interaction, artificial intelligence and applied mathematics. Much of our research takes place at the interfaces of these disciplines. We maintain a large network of industry partners and provide education through one bachelor’s programme and two master’s programmes.

Situated in the heart of Europe and within 30 kilometers from the German and Belgian borders, Maastricht and its 120,000 inhabitants have a strong international character. It is a safe, vibrant city with a history spanning more than 2,000 years. The city’s rich past is reflected everywhere in the streets: the ratio of monuments-to-inhabitants is roughly 1:73. If you are unfamiliar with the Netherlands, UM’s Knowledge Centre for International Staff will gladly assist you with practical matters such as housing.

Our new colleague(s) will be joining a tight-knit department consisting of ~70 principal investigators, postdocs and PhD students, >800 BSc and MSc students and a team of dedicated support staff members. Together, we come from over 40 different countries.

https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/dke