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.
Website unit
Duties
Research
You are a motivated, internationally-oriented researcher in the field of East-Asian art and popular culture, with a focus on Korea. Your research enhances the profile of the Research Unit East Asian and Arabic Studies and strengthens the Faculty’s research expertise on non-Western art and popular culture.
You strive for excellence in your academic research and develop your own research plan. You publish at the highest academic level, initiate national and international collaborations and help promote and develop such agreements.
You succeed in securing competitive funding and attracting and supervising PhD students. The Faculty will help you find suitable funding opportunities and provide advice on applications. The Faculty attaches great importance to qualitative and correct supervision of PhD students.
You focus on science communication and contribute to public debate whenever possible.
Teaching
You provide high-quality teaching in the bachelor’s and master's programmes Japanese Studies, Chinese Studies, Art History and Cultural Studies and the postgraduate programme Korean Studies (with the exception of Cultural Studies and Korean Studies, which are English programmes, these are all programmes offering courses in Dutch or English). You are committed to the quality of the study programmes as a whole. You develop your teaching activities in line with the teaching philosophy of KU Leuven based on activating, research-based teaching and you use the opportunities provided by the Faculty and the University to further your teaching (for more information: www.kuleuven.be/english/education/education-at-ku-leuven).
The average teaching load in the Faculty is 21-24 ECTS. At the start of your mandate, your teaching assignment comprises 20 to 22 ECTS, and includes the following or similar courses:
- 1 BA-course on Art and Popular Culture in East-Asia (4 ECTS)
- 1 BA-course on Korean Culture, Society and Politics (4 ECTS)
- 1 MA-course on Art and Popular Culture in East-Asia (6 ECTS)
- Close reading of Korean sources (6 ECTS)
Your teaching assignment also includes the supervision of Bachelor's papers and Master's theses.
Your teaching assignment will initially be linked to the Leuven Campus, but may include teaching assignments at other Faculty campuses in the future.
Together with the colleagues of your study programme you work on the development and improvement of the curriculum, including shaping learning sequences across individual courses, rethinking academic education in light of future societal challenges, and strengthening relationships with the work field.
Service
You are willing to take up academic service tasks and positions within the Faculty and contribute to the visibility and promotion of the education and research of the Research Unit East Asian and Arabic Studies, of the Center for Korean Studies, and of the study programmes that you are a part of (e.g. through participation in teacher days, information events and student recruitment events). You also actively contribute to the wider academic community, e.g. through services to academic societies and journals.
Profile
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.
Offer
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.
More information
Research Unit East Asian and Arabic Studies
KU Leuven Framework for Recognising and Valuing High-Quality Academic Work
Faculty of Arts Research
Japanese Studies research group
Korean Studies
Bachelor in de taal- en regiostudies: Japanse studies (Leuven)
Bachelor in de taal- en regiostudies: Chinese studies (Leuven)
Bachelor in de kunstwetenschappen (Leuven)
Master in de culturele studies (Leuven)
Postgraduate Certificate in Korean Studies (Leuven)
KU Leuven vision on education and learning
Partner and family
Interested?
To enable review by international experts, we kindly ask you to submit your application in English.
Your application includes the following documents:
- a motivation letter
- a biosketch summarising your most important academic achievements (in various fields: teaching, research, services to society, outreach, etc.). You may also mention personal factors that have played a role in your career here (e.g. pregnancy, illness, care) so that these can be taken into account when assessing your submission. (max. 2 pages)
- a curriculum vitae, including a full publication list
- an annotated document describing your five most important publications (or other academic achievements)
- a vision statement on how you want to fulfil your teaching assignment in the future (max. 2 pages)
- a research plan for the next five years (max. 2 pages)
KU Leuven attaches great importance to research integrity and ethical conduct and will therefore ask you to sign an integrity statement upon appointment.
Candidates who are shortlisted by the Faculty Assessment Committee (BeCo) will be invited for an interview and a trial lecture.
For more information about this vacancy, please contact the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Dr. Liesbet Heyvaert (tel. +32 37 44 68, email:
[email protected]) or Prof. Dr. Adrien Carbonnet (tel. +32 16 37 25 55; email:
[email protected]).
Do you have a question about the online application system? Please email us at
[email protected].
KU Leuven strives for an inclusive, respectful and socially safe environment. We embrace diversity among individuals and groups as an asset. Open dialogue and differences in perspective are essential for an ambitious research and educational environment. In our commitment to equal opportunity, we recognize the consequences of historical inequalities. We do not accept any form of discrimination based on, but not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, age, ethnic or national background, skin colour, religious and philosophical diversity, neurodivergence, employment disability, health, or socioeconomic status. For questions about accessibility or support offered, we are happy to assist you at this email address.
