The International School for Advanced Studies (Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, known as SISSA) seeks candidates for the position of Director of the School. SISSA is a public University founded in 1978 in Trieste, Italy. Its mission is to perform leading-edge scientific research and to train PhD students and Postdoctoral fellows. SISSA is comprised of about 80 faculty members, 300 PhD students, 100 Postdoctoral fellows, selected master students, about 115 administrative and technical staff. It is organized in the three Areas of Physics, Mathematics, and Neuroscience, plus an Interdisciplinary Laboratory. The faculty and student body are international; the English language is used in teaching, research, and all academic affairs.
The successful candidate is expected to assume the Directorship by November 1, 2021, for a single non-renewable term of 6 years. The Director must be of an academic stature for appointment as a tenured full-time SISSA professor and will be based in Trieste without substantial commitments to other institutions. The appointee will become a full-time professor of SISSA and will remain so after completion of the directorship, though different arrangements are possible, such as returning to a different institution in the case of leave of absence. The Director will be responsible for (1) the academic and financial functions of the School and (2) the relations of the School with national and local levels of government.
The profile of candidates should include a record of outstanding scientific contributions in Physics, Mathematics, Neuroscience or related fields of science. Experience in managing institutional operations, knowledge of the Italian language and familiarity with the Italian university system are advantageous, while applicants currently outside the Italian university system are particularly encouraged. Applicants resident abroad might be eligible for a significant reduction in the tax rate applied to the gross salary, according to current Italian regulations.
Inquiries and statements of interest are welcome both from candidates and from those wishing to nominate third parties. Please send statements of interest, or documented nominations to the Search Committee by May 15, 2020 at the latest using the address search@sissa.it
Competences:
The Director represents the School for all legal intents and purposes and carries out all didactic, scientific, administrative and disciplinary duties conferred by the Statute and by the General Regulation for Administration, Finance and Accountancy. The Director exerts functions regarding direction, initiative, promotion and coordination of the scientific and didactic activities of the School and is responsible for the accomplishment of the School's goals. He/she is required to submit yearly to the School Council a final report on the activity of the Areas, on the School management, on the choices made and on the degree of completion of the multi-year development plans.
It is the Director's duty to:
Summon and preside over the School Council, the Academic Senate and the Board of Directors;
Guarantee the didactic and research autonomy of the faculty;
Issue the Statute and the regulations;
Monitor the functioning of the School's structures and services;
Carry out the disciplinary proceedings regarding faculty and students and impose relevant disciplinary measures limited to censorship;
Confer the degrees issued by the School;
Submit to the Board of Directors the annual and triennial estimated budget, the final balance and the triennial plan document;
Propose the Secretary General to the Board of Directors;
Appoint the members of the Board of Directors;
Appoint the members of the International Scientific Advisory Committee;
Appoint the members of the Evaluation Unit;
Appoint one member of the Discipline Board;
Draw up contracts and agreements on behalf of the School;
Submit to the relevant Minister the periodical reports as requested by the law;
Adopt urgency measures pertaining to the Board of Directors and to the Academic Senate, submitting them to the relevant body for ratification in the immediately following session;
Carry out all other duties delegated to University Deans in accordance with current regulations;
Carry out all other functions not expressly attributed by the Statute to other bodies.
The Director office is elective. Eligible for election are full professors or equivalent professional figures employed by Universities or Research Institutes of high scientific prestige. Entitled to vote are the School's faculty, the representatives of the technical-administrative staff of the School Council and the Board of Directors, the representatives of the research staff of the Academic Senate and the representatives of students of the School Council.
The Director is appointed by decree issued by the Ministry of Universities and Research and remains in office for a single, six-year, non-renewable mandate. The Director appoints a Vice Director from among the School's full professors, who shall fulfil the Director's functions in case of absence or other impediment in his/her part.
The Director has the right to delegate specific functions to other tenured professors of the School. The Director may avail himself/herself, for specific organization and managing purposes, of the advice, also upon payment, of highly accomplished persons in the technical-scientific field, attributing to them the related responsibilities aiming at a better coordination of the School's initiatives and in relation to the requirements of the national and international development of its activities. For this purpose, the Director may draw up fixed-term contracts governed by private law.