Assistant / Associate Professor in Medical Humanities

Young and research-intensive, Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) is ranked among the world’s top universities. The University combines technological strength with human creativity to address the significant challenges facing society and draws its faculty and students from across the world.

The College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CoHASS) aims to be Asia’s leading centre for innovative, interdisciplinary humanities, arts and social science teaching and research. It is home to the Centre for Health, Culture, and Society (CHCS), a new interdisciplinary and cross-sector research hub dedicated to advancing research and creative practice at the intersection of health, culture, and society. Central to its vision is the concept of the lifeworld: the dynamic horizon of lived experience, shaped by social, cultural, and historical forces, within which patients, practitioners, and caregivers make sense of health and sickness.

Job Description

The School of Humanities and the Centre for Health, Culture, and Society are seeking an Assistant / Associate Professor who will help shape the medical humanities in Asia at a moment when questions of care, uncertainty, and the limits of biomedicine are being reopened by ageing populations, pluralist medical cultures, and the rapid entry of new technologies into clinical life. The appointment will build on the University’s strengths and advance humanistic perspectives on health, illness, and care in Singapore and the region.

To learn more about the School of Humanities and Centre for Health, Culture and Society, please see: https://www.ntu.edu.sg/soh and https://www.ntu.edu.sg/hass/research/centre-for-health--culture-and-society

Areas of interest include:

• narrative medicine and illness narrative
• literature and medicine
• history of medicine
• philosophy of medicine
• the ethics of care
• arts for health and creative practice
• disability studies
• graphic medicine
• visual cultures of health
• medical pluralism and traditional and complementary medical cultures in Asia

We are interested in scholars whose work is grounded in a humanities discipline and its methods, and who are enthused by the opportunity to work in partnership with healthcare practitioners, cultural institutions, and community organisations.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct and publish internationally recognised research in the medical humanities; this may include monographs with leading academic presses, articles in major disciplinary and interdisciplinary journals, or substantial practice-based outputs.
• Contribute to teaching on the M.A. in Health and Human Experience (MAHX) including the core courses in interdisciplinary research methods and cross-sector collaboration. Further information is available here: https://www.ntu.edu.sg/education/graduate-programme/master-of-arts-in-health-and-human-experience
• Build and sustain our existing network of cross-sector partnerships with healthcare practitioners, cultural institutions, and community organisations.
• Pursue internal and external research funding as a Principal Investigator and contribute to collaborative bids.
• Supervise postgraduate students and provide mentorship and support.

Requirements

A Ph.D. in a discipline relevant to the medical humanities. Applications are welcome from candidates trained in literary studies, history, philosophy, religious studies, anthropology, cultural studies, science and technology studies, art history, disability studies, or practice-based research. Candidates holding a Ph.D. in medical or health humanities and candidates who combine a clinical or allied health qualification with doctoral humanities training, are equally welcome to apply.

Application Process

Applications should be submitted through the NTU career portal (via the above 'Apply' button) by the closing date. Required documents are:

• Cover letter
• Curriculum vitae, including publications.
• Research statement (maximum 5 pages)
• Teaching statement (maximum 3 pages)
• Two writing samples
• Names & contact details of three referees.

The closing date for applications is 15 January 2027 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified via email.

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