UNIS is the world's northernmost educational institution, located in Longyearbyen. UNIS has technical and scientific equipment, laboratories and infrastructure for teaching and research in Arctic natural science and technology for sea, land and atmosphere. The disciplines include Arctic Biology, - Geophysics, - Geology and - Technology. All teaching is in English, and about half of the staff and students is from abroad. UNIS is a state-owned corporation. The administrative language is Norwegian.
Longyearbyen is located in Svalbard, in the midst of a varied and beautiful Arctic nature with good opportunities for outdoor activities.
Longyearbyen is a modern town with approx. 2200 inhabitants and has a good service offering including kindergartens, swimming / sports hall and a varied association, sports and cultural life.
General and the ARCT-RISK project
The Department of Arctic Technology and the Arctic Safety Centre currently has 4 Professors, 3 Ph.D. students and 13 Adjunct Professors. The department conducts education and research in ice and soil mechanics, arctic structures, environmental technology and toxicology, renewable energy solutions and arctic safety. The department provides 20 courses at Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. level, and runs several projects towards the society and industry.
The ARCT-RISK project
Understanding and adapting to climate change is one of the greatest ongoing societal challenges. The primary objective of the ARCT-RISK project (Risk governance of climate-related systemic risk in the Arctic) is to develop knowledge and tools to make sense of and deal with effects of climate change on society’s ability to protect the life and health of its citizens and to maintain critical infrastructure and function. The starting point of the project is the key role the Arctic plays in understanding and mitigating the challenge of climate adaptation, as the climate already is changing more rapidly in these regions than anywhere else in the world.
This means that successful risk governance strategies developed in response to destabilized climate conditions in Arctic locations serve as important guidance for future climate change adaptation in mainland Norway and other relevant parts of the world. Snow avalanche risk management in Longyearbyen will be used as a case to study and develop approaches to risk governance that will reduce systemic risks (i.e. risks related to a combination of climate change, natural hazards and rippling effects on citizens, infrastructure and societal functions). To achieve the project's objectives a transdisciplinary approach involving perspectives from technology, safety science, natural science and social science is applied. The project partners will collaborate closely with local stakeholders in Longyearbyen to achieve the project objectives. The most important of these are: 1) to improve and integrate fragmented steps in risk governance; 2) to demonstrate how to assess and manage uncertainties associated with climate-related systemic risk governance; 3) to make sense of how real-time data, expert knowledge and local knowledge can be combined to control natural hazards; 4) to assess effective strategies for climate change adaptation; 5) demonstrate transferability of and innovation based on project results. The project is funded by the Norwegian Research Council.
Description of the vacant position
The researcher position will be a part of the ARCT-RISK research team, participating in studies on how data from technical sensors; climate change data; aggregated expert knowledge; and tacit knowledge of local observers and other stakeholders can be combined to improve sense-making and decision making to control climate-related systemic risk. The research activities will be performed in collaboration with other members of the research team and local stakeholders in Longyearbyen. The research will cover all life phases of a snow avalanche risk management system: planning, design and implementation of sensors; data collection, analysis and presentation; access to and application of sources of explicit and tacit knowledge, including the knowledge of locals; decision-making process; and implementation/follow-up of preventive/reactive measures. The main research tasks for the position will be: 1) evaluation of a current avalanche monitoring system for dynamic risk assessment and decision-making, 2) combining explicit knowledge (scientific knowledge, collected monitoring data) and tacit knowledge (local observations by the public and experts) in decision-making processes, 3) development and testing of an improved concept for dynamic assessment and management of avalanche risk, including digitalization of data collection and analysis.
Qualifications and personal qualities
Applicants must have a PhD within safety management, risk management, risk assessment, natural hazard management or societal safety.
Applicants must have experience with research on risk management and/or societal safety
Practical knowledge in risk management is preferable
Applicants must be able to work independently in a structured manner and demonstrate good collaborative skills, but also be able to work as a team member within an interdisciplinary project group
Applicants must be proficient in both written and oral English
Due to due local Norwegian company cooperation partners, applicants must also be proficient in a Scandinavian language to enable efficient collaboration
Motivation and personal suitability will be emphasized. To allow assessment of this, a statement of personal and scientific interest in doing a postdoc within the announced topic must be included in the application.
Employment conditions
The total duration of the researcher position is two years.
All salaries are set in accordance with the Norwegian government's University salary scale. 1109 Researcher usually start in salary steps 59, which is a gross salary of NOK 525 600,. As a resident in Svalbard an annual allowance of NOK 34 560.- (Svalbardtillegg) will be added to the salary. A Social Security contribution of 2 per cent, to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, will be deducted from the salary. Income tax on
Svalbard is 8 per cent, plus 8, 2 per cent toward National Insurance coverage.
A committee appointed by the Managing director of UNIS will evaluate the qualifications of the applicants and invite the highest ranked person(s) for an interview. The appointment will be made by the Director of UNIS based on the recommendation from the committee.
Application
The application must be submitted electronically in www.jobbnorge.no.Applications submitted by any other means will not be considered.
Documents that must be included in the application:
Letter of motivation
CV with complete overview of work experience, education and any other training relevant for this position
Name and contact information for two references,
List of publications
Publications
The application and appendices with certified translations into English or a Scandinavian language must be uploaded in Jobbnorge.
You can request to have your application kept from public access cf. the open files act § 25. The request must be explained. UNIS will determine if the application will be kept from public access or not, based on the explanation and the regulations from the open files act. If the application will not be accepted, the candidate will be contacted.
