Kristine Cecile Harper

The Department of Science Education at the University of Copenhagen is offering a three-year PhD position within the Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for University Science Education (NNF-USE). The project sits in the research work package “Disciplinary Writing Practices in the AI Era: Enhancing Learning in the Geosciences” and is part of the University Science Education research group, which works on higher education discipline-based educational research in an interdisciplinary and international environment. The PhD project is focused on geoscience education research , with writing as a central lens for understanding disciplinary learning in geology and related geoscience contexts. The research explores how disciplinary writing functions as a tool for acquiring scientific knowledge, developing disciplinary thinking, and shaping students’ ways of becoming geoscientists. It also examines how emerging generative AI technologies are changing writing practices, authorship, expertise, and norms in geoscience teaching and learning. The project offers substantial freedom to shape the research direction in consultation with the supervisors. Possible approaches include literature reviews, surveys, classroom observations, interviews with faculty, student focus groups, teaching experiments, and implementation studies in the classroom. The work is intended to connect current student and faculty experiences with broader questions about learning, teaching practices, and professional disciplinary development in a Danish university context. The position is embedded in the broader research environment of NNF-USE, led by Professor Jenny Dauer, and the specific work package is led by Professor Kristine Cecile Harper. The department brings together expertise from science, social science, and the humanities, with a strong emphasis on science and mathematics education, digital education, history and philosophy of science, and science communication. The advertised project is designed for a candidate with a strong geoscience background and a strong interest in education research. It aims to produce knowledge that can inform how writing is integrated into university geoscience teaching and learning while engaging seriously with the opportunities and challenges of AI in higher education.