Tenure Track position at the Institute for Natural Sciences and Technology in the Art (INTK)

Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien

A...kademie der bildenden Künste Wien

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The following position at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is advertised:

Tenure Track position

in accordance with § 99 paragraph 5 Austrian University Act 2002 (Universitätsgesetz 2002) at the Institute for Natural Sciences and Technology in the Art (INTK) for data science/data mining with a focus on natural sciences in heritage science, the goal of qualification being a habilitation or achievements appropriate to habilitation (according to §27 KV). This full-time position is offered for a period of six years, starting on 1 March 2026.

We are looking for a person with proven expertise in the application of data-driven methods to heritage science issues – especially scientific data sets – in the context of cultural heritage preservation, art technology, restoration and interdisciplinary art research.

The Institute for Natural Sciences and Technology in the Art (INTK) is responsible for theoretical and practical knowledge transfer in the fields of materials science and color chemistry, color and perception theory, documentation of art and cultural history objects, materials analysis and durability of materials in art and microbiology in art. The INTK owns a chemical-microbiological laboratory and analytical equipment for elemental analysis (XRF), spectroscopic (FTIR, Raman, UV-Vis, HSI), chromatographic (Py-GC/MS) and molecular biological investigations, as well as a photo studio for the documentation of art and cultural heritage (UV, IR, IRR and X-ray).

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Areas of responsibility

• subject-related, scientific and practice-oriented research focusing on materials science in art and conservation
• forward-looking development of the study and research focus on data science/data mining for heritage science (natural sciences)
• independent teaching of courses amounting to 4 contact hours per week including exams
• supervision of students (project work, seminar papers)
• development, participation and implementation of (third-party funded) research projects
• active publication and lecture practice
• participation in research agendas and tasks in the development of the institute's research fields
• participation in the institute's organizational, administrative and committee tasks, as well as in quality development and evaluation measures in teaching and research at the Institute

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Conditions of employment

• completed doctoral degree (PhD) in data science, computer science, statistics, mathematics, natural sciences or related disciplines
• in-depth knowledge of data mining, data science, machine learning, statistical methods and other data analysis techniques
• willingness to process and link existing data sets at INTK (including RFA, Raman, HSI and FTIR) and to build future work on them
• experience in applying data science methods in the context of heritage science or in the analysis of cultural or materials science data
• proven scientific publication activity
• experience in planning and implementing scientific projects
• teaching aptitude and proven university teaching experience
• very good written and spoken skills in English and German
• willingness to engage in interdisciplinary collaboration and to take on academic tasks
• general anti-discriminatory understanding and the willingness to further improve these skills

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Desired qualifications

• knowledge of image or signal processing, spectral analysis and linking scientific data sets
• experience with research projects in the fields of cultural heritage, digitization, materials science or related fields
• experience in acquiring competitive third-party funding (e.g. FWF, EU, Horizon Europe)
• interest in participatory research, open science and FAIR data principles
• experience in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaborations
• willingness to participate in university committee work and strategic institute development
• experience with bioinformatic data, especially in the field of metagenomics, microbial community analysis or related omics data

The monthly gross salary according to the collective agreement for university employees in salary group B1|Post-Doc position currently amounts to Euro 4.932,90 for full-time employment. Once a qualification agreement has been concluded, the candidate will be transferred to salary group A2 Assistant Professors and, once the qualification targets have been met, to the group of Associate Professors.

Interested parties please apply enclosing a cover letter, a CV including research projects and a list of publications, an abstract for a habilitation project in the field of data science/data mining with a focus on natural sciences in heritage science (max. 10,000 characters), as well as a teaching concept by 31 October 2025 to: www.akbild.ac.at/jobs

Please direct any further inquiries to Prof. Dr. Katja Sterflinger: k.sterflinger@akbild.ac.at.

The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is committed to a learning, teaching, research and working environment of equal opportunities and works towards the elimination of discrimination and structural barriers. The Academy therefore explicitly endorses applications from qualified persons who are structurally disadvantaged due to their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or ideology or their age. Special consideration is required if a person combines several grounds of discrimination (intersectional approach).

The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna strives to increase the representation of women and strongly encourages applications from qualified women. Furthermore, the Academy strives to create application and working conditions that are as accessible as possible. In this context, the Academy actively supports the application of people with disabilities. Applicants may contact the Human Resources Department or the Academy's disability representatives in advance. Applicants are not entitled to compensation for travel and accommodation costs incurred in relation to the admission procedure.