Professor/Associate Professor (Physical Chemistry)
Position summary
Introduction
Job description
The School has active research and teaching programmes at the Durban and Pietermaritzburg Centres. The School aims to build its capacity in the areas of Chemical Thermodynamics and Industrial Chemistry, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The appointee will thus be expected to teach Physical Chemistry at all levels of the Chemistry programme and some modules in Chemical Technology/Industrial Chemistry, engage in an active research programme and supervise postgraduate students. Applicants from industry should fulfill the scientific criteria and have shown competency in managing a team or teams of researchers in relevant areas.
The School has state-of-the-art instrumental facilities with excellently equipped undergraduate and research laboratories. The school has an extensive research base with first class spectroscopic and analytical instrumentation in NMR, IR, Raman, Fluorescence, Singlet Oxygen Phosphorescence, Laser Flash Photolysis, X-ray diffraction (powder and single crystal) and electrochemical instrumentation. There is a wide range of HPLC and GC instrumentation available including LC-MS and GC-MS. The University have materials characterization instruments such as the HRTEM, SEM/EDX, BET and AFM among others. The School has also recently established a “university-wide” Nanotechnology Platform.
The incumbent will report to the Academic Leader: Chemistry.
Minimum requirements
Professor
A PhD degree in Physical Chemistry
Evidence of excellent teaching experience and leadership in curriculum development in a relevant field at tertiary level
Excellent and sustained publication of independent research in quality scientific journals, appropriate for the level
Excellent and sustained track record of successful supervision of postgraduate students at Masters and PhD level, appropriate for the level
Excellent and sustained track record of successful attraction of external research grants
Evidence of strong and sustained academic leadership within the Department / School/ College/ University, which includes mentorship and coaching
Evidence of national and international recognition in a research area within the discipline
Associate Professor
A PhD degree in Physical Chemistry
Evidence of appropriate teaching experience and curriculum development experience in a relevant field at tertiary level
Evidence of current and sustained publication of independent research in quality scientific journals, appropriate for the level
A sustained track record of successful supervision of postgraduate students at Masters and PhD level, appropriate for the level
Evidence of sustained and successful attraction of external research grants
Evidence of national and/or international recognition in a research area within the discipline
Applicants should indicate at which level of the post they wish to be considered for.
This appointment will be made in line with the University Guidelines/benchmarks which are available on the University Vacancies website on http://vacancies.ukzn.ac.za/Academic-Process-Proc-Guides.aspx
Enquiries and details regarding this post may be directed to the Dean & Head of School: Professor Ross Robinson at RobinsonR@ukzn.ac.za.
Appointment to this post will be on the January 2018 Conditions of Service. The total remuneration package offered includes benefits.
Kindly note that the University of KwaZulu-Natal (“the University”) is required to process any Personal Information (as defined by the Protection of Personal Act, 2013 “POPIA”) submitted by candidates when applying for positions at the University. The provision of the Personal Information is a requirement in terms of the University’s recruitment and selection process. The retention of any personal information is as a consequence of the University being bound by legislative requirements and / or good governance practices as well as record keeping for statistical purposes. The University will endeavour to ensure that the appropriate security measures are in place and implemented for both electronic and paper-based formats that are used for processing of the personal information recorded through this recruitment and selection process.
