Reseacher as data scientist in neuroanatomy and brain atlasing

Job description

ONE POSITION AS DATA SCIENTIST IN NEUROANATOMY AND BRAIN ATLASING is available at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Molecular Medicine, for a period of up to 30 months. The Institute of Basic Medical Sciences consists of academic departments and units that pursue research and education within basic medical science. The institute has approximately 320 employees and is located in the Domus Medica. More information about the institute can be found here.

The data scientist will work in a multidisciplinary environment at the Neural Systems laboratory (NeSys). The laboratory contributes to the Atlas services and has a leading role in the Data Services of the EBRAINS Research Infrastructure - the European distributed research infrastructure for brain and brain-inspired research. Current developments are supported by the EU funded EBRAINS 2.0 project. EBRAINS Atlas services and Data Services aim to become primary research infrastructure services for brain atlasing, as well as for sharing, integrating, and analysing diverse and multiscale neuroscience data from the broader global research community, particularly in Europe. EBRAINS was in 2021 included in the European roadmap of research infrastructures (ESFRI) in 2021.

In the EBRAINS research infrastructure, the Neural Systems Laboratory is responsible for 1) creating new standards for brain atlases through development and maintenance of resources and tools for atlas-based integration and analysis of experimental rodent brain data, and 2) providing services for FAIR neuroscience data and data processing. The data scientist to be recruited will primarily be part of the UiO team for rodent brain atlas services. The position should be filled as soon as possible.

More about the position

The data scientist to be employed will have specific responsibilities for:

• Developing, adapting, and expanding ontologies for representing various types of neuroscience data in the context anatomical reference atlases, particularly rodent brain atlases
• Contributing to the further development of metadata models and the overall metadata framework employed by EBRAINS, particularly in the domain of brain atlasing
• Maintaining and further expanding the rat brain atlas developed under the EBRAINS research infrastructure, including refining existing and adding new anatomical region representations
• Contributing to the spatial registration of foundational neuroscience data sets to mouse or rat brain atlases
• Contributing to curation of experimental data (imaging, morphology, MRI, electrophysiology) and associated metadata submitted to EBRAINS

Qualification requirements

We are looking for highly motivated and competent researchers with relevant experiences, holding a PhD or master’s degree (MSc) in a relevant field of life science, who enjoys working in an international and interactive environment. 

Candidates must have:

• Experience with development of formal data ontologies and neuroscience metadata
• Knowledge of neuroanatomy, neuroanatomical terminologies, structural parcellations of the brain, and representation of location information in three-dimensional anatomical image volumes.
• Proficiency using standard computational tools and skills with computational scripting (Python)

Selection criteria

The successful candidates should be good team players with excellent organization and communication skills, and good abilities for multitasking, and with a positive and pro-active attitude. Experience in working in an academic and / or multicultural / multidisciplinary environment is an advantage. Emphasis will be attributed individual suitability for the project and knowledge of rodent brain neuroanatomy and formal ontologies for neuroscience. Short-listed applicants may be invited for an interview at the University of Oslo or by videoconference. As part of the hiring procedure, shortlisted candidates will be invited to participate in skills testing to assess the required job-related competencies.

We offer

• salary NOK 509 300 – 548 600 per annum depending on qualifications in a position as Researcher, (position code 1108)
• attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement, in addition to Oslo’s family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities

How to apply

The application must include

• cover letter statement of motivation and research interests
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work)
• copies of educational certificates (academic transcripts only)
• a complete list of publications and academic works
• list of reference persons: 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and phone number)

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, please follow the link “Apply for this job”. Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University's grading system. Please note that all documents should be in English (or a Scandinavian language). 

Formal regulations

According to the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) information about the applicant may be included in the public applicant list, also in cases where the applicant has requested non-disclosure.

The University of Oslo has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results etc.

Inclusion and diversity are a strength. The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a balanced gender composition. Furthermore, we want employees with diverse professional expertise, life experience and perspectives.

If there are qualified applicants with disabilities, employment gaps or immigrant background, we will invite at least one applicant from each of these categories to an interview.

Contact information

• Professor Trygve B. Leergaard email: t.b.leergaard@medisin.uio.no

Apply for this job