Academic Director For The Institute Of Art And Technology

Expression of Interest

The Institute of Art and Technology (IAT) is an exciting new project, under development, of NOVA University in the Lisbon region. The Institute aims at creating an internationally renowned space where education, research, creativity and artistic creation converge and trigger the development of materials, products and services that incorporate an aesthetic dimension based a symbiotic articulation on art & technology. Within this scope, we are inviting candidates to express their interest in the Academic Director position, being willing to contribute for IAT to become a successful endeavor by participating in the inception and co-creation of this transformative project in the Art and Technology domain.

Your profile 

The Academic Director for the Instituteof Art and Technology (IAT) will provide leadership and guidance to the future Institute. This person will design and supervise the academic program, liaising with IAT's consulting and advisory board, faculty and research community, and will advocate for the Institute both within the University and externally – alumni, funders, private and institutional partners, and government entities, both national and internationally.

The new Academic Director will deeply engage with NOVA and IAT's mission and aspirations, and will play a meaningful role in NOVA’s strategic plan and commitment to education and innovation.

The ideal candidate will have a caring and dutiful view regarding the students´ trajectories and will be flexible and agile, considering the risks and challenges that are always na intrisinc part of a new project´s implementation.

Ideal candidates will have the following academic profile, professional experience and personal skills: 

• Academic Profile: 
  • Ph.D or Ed.D
  • Excellence record on teaching, research and innovation
  • Strong network connections in the Art & Technology domain.
• Professional Experience: 
  • Development of academic programs
  • Definition and conception of new programs in the interdisciplinary field of Art & Technology.
  • Program accreditation across different degrees and disciplines. 
  • Management of programs with societal and cultural impact
  • Financial management
• Personal Skills
  • Abbility to build and motivate a team and foster a collaborative and participative working environment
  • Abbility to communicate with internal and external stakeholders
  • Abbility to communicate scientific and academic outputs to wider audiences
  • Abbility to leverage financial resources – fundraising and advocacy
  • Commitment with the advancement in the field of Art Education through the innovative use of pedagogies, methodologies, evolving technologies and both new and traditional media.

Preference will be given to candidates with artistic experience in a wide range of fields and expertises, including curatorship and heritage managment, taking into account the socio-cultural dimensions and implications of this experience. In this case, following IAT's own project as a structure that aims to position itself in the interdisciplinary field of Art & Technology, this means to address a contemporary agenda – namely regarding issues such as inclusive citizenship, participation and human rights; ecology and sustainability; activism and democracy; education and innovation; cultural policies and their repercussions.

About NOVA:

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa was founded in 1973. In a framework of expansion and diversification of higher education, NOVA adopted a new model within the Portuguese system, that privileges interdisciplinary approaches and technological developments while safeguarding offerings in traditional academic domains, including medicine, sciences, and humanities.

NOVA's MISSION

NOVA's mission is to serve society through knowledge, locally and globally, by developing teaching and research of excellence that creates significant social and economic value. 

The fulfillment of its triple mission – Teaching, Research, and Value Creation - requires: 

An academic environment that embraces equality, inclusion, and free-thinking to attract the best students from diverse cultural backgrounds and into the most varied fields of knowledge, enabling them to discover their potential and develop their talent with a strong sense of active citizenship, democracy, and justice; 

High-quality teaching with a strong international setting in all cycles of studies, student-centered and delivered by leading academics who can provide students with the necessary skills and knowledge to develop a career anywhere in the world successfully; collaborative research within the University and with highly specialized and interdisciplinary strategic partner institutions of international relevance, aimed at creating innovative results with recognized academic impact and value potential; 

A knowledge-based and high-impact value creation activity, developed in collaboration with society and the economy, promotes sustainable development at the economic, technological, cultural, social, and health levels, not only across the nation but also globally, with particular attention to the European and Portuguese-speaking regions. 

About IAT:

IAT will be an international center of excellence focused on fostering technology-embodied artistic-led creation in all its forms and oriented towards re-skilling and up-skilling public and private sector professionals, as well as facilitating youth transition from education to work.

IAT's mission is to develop – in an international framework and through training, research and innovation – the creation and provison of materials, products and services that incorporate an aesthetic dimension based on a symbiotic articulation on art & technology.

The IAT will guarantee the necessary human and technological resources and will rely on national and international partnerships at the academic and corporate levels to support its strategic vision. 

It will be a key element for change of the cultural and creative industry landscape and will contribute to the transformation of this sector in terms of training, innovation, development, and value creation.

IAT will be set in the Lisbon area in alliance with two NOVA poles – the FCSH Campi and the FCT/Monte da Caparica Campus.

NOVA promotes and runs this alliance through the School of Social Sciences and Humanities and the School of Sciences and Technology, and through the contribution of their diverse academic, public, business, and international partners.

How to apply:

Applications can be submitted until February 29th to iat@unl.pt in English or Portuguese and must comprise the following documents:

- Curriculum vitae, dated, signed and detailed according to the content of the position´s profile;
- Motivation letter; 
- Short and medium-term strategic action plan (SAP), defining the candidate´s vison for IAT, and outlining the subjects and lines of force according to which the proposed activities are meant to be developed.

This SAP must take into account the competences listed above and the potential synergies to be established between an artistic and technological area and NOVA's 2020/2030 strategic plan – bearing in mind the key role that IAT plays in that plan. 

It should also include a set of projects and other initiatives – namely in the scope of research, training, artistic production, university outreach and community relations – indicating potential sources of funding, both national and international, and partnerships deemed relevant to the SAP implementation. (limit: 4000 words).