Jørgen Bruhn

Jørgen Bruhn - Postdoc studies in Medieval French literature at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen.

Jørgen Bruhn was still working on his postdoc in Copenhagen when, through a friend in his network, he applied for, and got, a teaching job in Lund. Here he was to teach intermediality studies – not exactly something the literature scholar knew very much about.

- I taught in Lund while working on my postdoc as well as teaching in Copenhagen, sometimes teaching 25 hours a week. It was tough – especially because I had my background in comparative literature and had not done very much intermedial work before going to Lund. But the hard work was rewarded, and after two years, I was offered a position in Sweden, first in Lund and later on in Växjö, Jørgen Bruhn tells, adding:

- Taking my chance at the right time and ‘rethinking’ my CV made it for me.

Jørgen Bruhn likes working in Sweden:

- I found myself to be very confident, when I moved. At Comparative Literature in Copenhagen, we thought of ourselves, I think, to be the best literary scholars in Scandinavia. Whether this was true or not, I nevertheless carried this feeling with me! But it’s also a very tough environment in Copenhagen, and it felt like a huge freedom to change setting and to go to Sweden. Actually there ought to be a rule that you have to move between universities between your PhD and your later positions. Seeing things from an outside position has a double advantage: you may grow as a teacher and researcher in a new and “free” environment, and you may offer new angles on the work being done in the place you go, too, he says.

Jørgen Bruhn’s advice

• Look out to international universities for more job opportunities – and don’t be afraid to engage in other academic subjects than your own. As a postdoc and PhD, you will quickly dig into new areas.
   
• Rethink your CV into new possible openings.
   
• Use your network.