Want a job where 'everything is awesome'? Cambridge university looking for Lego professor

"Everything is awesome. Everything is cool when you're part of a team. Everything is awesome when we're living our dream!"

Those are the lyrics of the theme song of The Lego Movie, but it also appears to be an apt description for a job that involves playing with Lego at one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world.

Sound too good to be true? Think again, because The University of Cambridge is hiring a professor of play!

The position is called the Lego Professorship of Play in Education, Development and Learning, and arose from a £4 million (S$7 million) endowment from the Lego Foundation to the university. According to The Guardian, £2.5 million will go towards funding the position, while £1.5 million will go to the university's new Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (Pedal).

It's not all play and no work, however. According to the job listing on the university's website, the professor will lead the Pedal research centre, and will have standard duties including teaching and research, examining, supervision and administration.

The centre hopes to "produce research which supports excellence in education so that children are equipped with 21st Century skills like problem solving, team work and self-control."

"The value of play is relatively under-researched. You have people who are claiming that it enhances learning, that it's important, that it's good for children's wellbeing. All of that might be true, but actually there's remarkably little evidence for that." Prof Anna Vignoles, interim director of Pedal, told The Guardian.

The job listing states that the successful candidate will be offered a competitive salary, but the BBC reported that he or she will command around £84,000 a year, which is the average salary of Cambridge professors.

But hold your horses if you're thinking of sending in a picture of your own Lego masterpiece or a CV outlining your Lego building skills. The university says that it is looking for "outstanding scholars in the field of educational or developmental psychology in early years development."

If you do fit the bill, then hurry up, because applications are closing on Friday (Jan 20).

seanyap@sph.com.sg