You hold a PhD in Korean Studies with a focus on art or popular culture, or a PhD in Art History, Cultural Studies or a related field, with a focus on East Asia. You have successfully defended your dissertation at the time of submitting your application. You have excellent teaching skills and an affinity with designing and delivering multi-faceted university education.
You have a strong and validated, international academic portfolio with highly regarded publications in your field. You also have a clear vision of how your research can develop further in relation to the available research expertise.
You openly and enthusiastically contribute to the university study programmes of Japanese Studies, Chinese Studies, Art History and Cultural Studies of the future, in a spirit of open collaboration. Organisational skills, leadership qualities and good social skills are a must. Experience with scientific outreach or collaboration with the work field is a plus.
A good knowledge of Korean and English is required. The official administrative language used at KU Leuven is Dutch. If you do not speak Dutch (or do not speak it well) at the start of employment, KU Leuven will provide language training to enable you to take part in administrative meetings. Before teaching courses in Dutch, you will be given the opportunity to learn Dutch to the required standard.
The Research Unit East-Asian and Arabic Studies of the Faculty of Arts at KU Leuven is seeking a full-time tenure track professor (ZAP) in East-Asian Arts and Popular Culture, with a focus on Korea. The professorship will commence on 1 September 2026. KU Leuven is the largest university in Belgium and is consistently ranked within the top 10 universities in Europe. The University belongs to the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and attaches great importance to attracting and appreciating talent. At the Faculty of Arts, research is conducted in the fields of Arabic and Islamic studies, archaeology, art history, Chinese studies, history, Japanese studies, musicology, linguistics, literary and cultural studies and translation and interpretation studies. The Faculty employs over 800 junior and senior researchers, and teaches around 4,500 students in various study programmes at its campuses in Antwerp, Brussels, Kortrijk and Leuven. The Faculty strives to be an open and inclusive environment, with a focus on dialogue, social safety, sustainability and a healthy work-life balance, We are looking for a motivated lecturer and researcher to reinforce the Faculty of Arts’s Japanese Studies Research Group, the Center for Korean Studies and the broader research field of non-Western art and popular culture. The Japanese Studies Research Group is renowned for its research on the relationships between law, politics and modern and contemporary Japan, the relationship between Japan and North and South Korea, EU-Japan relations and the history of modern Japan. It counts more than 20 senior and junior researchers. Your teaching duties will be embedded in the study programmes Japanese Studies, Chinese Studies, Korean Studies, Art History and Cultural Studies.
We offer a full-time tenure track professorship (ZAP) in a dynamic faculty with diverse disciplines. You will be part of an intellectually challenging and international environment, with plenty of space and opportunity to grow as a lecturer and researcher, thus making a significant contribution to society. KU Leuven provides support and benefits for starting professors who have a partner and/or family, cf. www.kuleuven.be/english/life-at-ku-leuven/partner-and-family.
You will be appointed as tenure track professor for a period of five years. After a positive assessment following the five-year term, you will receive a permanent professorship at the level of ‘hoofddocent’ (associate professor). Within this function promotions to higher academic degrees are possible. All academic degrees have the ius promovendi.
You will work in Leuven, a historic and lively city in the centre of Belgium, twenty minutes from Brussels, the capital of the European Union, and less than two hours from Paris, London and Amsterdam.
The start date for this position is 1 September 2026. To facilitate scientific integration and the start-up of research, KU Leuven provides start-up funding of 110,000 euros for new professors with an appointment of at least 50%.
KU Leuven is well equipped to welcome foreign professors and their families and offers practical support with immigration and administration, housing, childcare and career coaching for the partner.