Job description

A 50% permanent position as Researcher, position code 1109, funded by SIRIUS, is available at the Department of Informatics.

The position is externally funded.

The position is funded by SIRIUS (Centre for Scalable Data Access in the Oil and Gas Domain), a Centre for Research-Driven Innovation (SFI) at the University of Oslo. It constitutes a long-term interdisciplinary research initiative, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, involving both academic research teams (UiO, NTNU and Oxford University) as well as industrial partners including operators (Equinor), service companies (Schlumberger, TechnipFMC and DNV GL) and IT companies (e.g., Computas, Evry, IBM and SAP).

More about the position

The research work for the position will be conducted within the SIRIUS research programs Data Science. The aim of the position is to build knowledge and competencies in digitalization of O&G industrial processes, operations, and services. We seek to recruit a leader of the Data Science research program in SIRIUS.

Research activities in SIRIUS are driven by industrial applications. The successful applicant should have an interest in working on real industrial problems in collaboration with industrial partners. The successful applicant will take a senior role in the research group and contribute to identifying future research opportunities for the group.

The data science program has two main ambitions: i) transition from unstructured data to structured data: extraction of structured information from unstructured information, such as textual documents, ii) transition from structure-agnostic and meaning-agnostic to structure-aware and meaning-aware approaches: develop machine learning and data mining methods that take into account the inherent structure of the data, such as graph patterns, and the meaning of the data, such as the RDF semantics.

Activities he or she will be expected to take on include but are not limited to: initiate research activities, coordination of researchers, development of new methods and application to new domains, supervise students and undertake administrative duties, participate in writing research grants for various national and European funding agencies, participate and contribute to our industry research projects, and further advance the research group’s expertise.

Qualification requirements

The applicant must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in a topic related to the field of the position, and must have at least 2 years postdoc experience and experience with interdisciplinary collaboration.

In addition, the candidate should have implementation experience and programming skills in these fields. Strong analytical skills, the willingness to work in an interdisciplinary research environment, and strong communicative skills and willingness to work in a team are expected.

The candidate should have a strong publication record and experience with European level research projects. Experience in research collaboration with the oil & gas industries, international mobility, and international collaborations will be given additional weight.

The candidate must be able to demonstrate knowledge in data science with expertise in one or more of the following areas:

(i) natural language processing: natural language generation, information extraction, etc.

(ii) semantic technologies: ontology engineering, ontology-based data integration, knowledge base population, etc.

(iii) data mining and machine learning on structured data, e. g., RDF graphs, etc.

Previous research involving the combination of two or more of these fields will be an advantage.

Fluent oral and written communication skills in English are expected.

We offer

• salary NOK 544 400 – 631 700 per annum depending on qualifications in position as Researcher (position code 1109)
• a professionally stimulating working environment
• 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:

• Application letter
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work – scientific publications)
• Copies of educational certificates, transcript of records and letters of recommendation
• List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

Please note that all documents must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system. Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University's grading system.

Formal regulations

Following the Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) § 25, Chapter 2, information about the applicant may be used in the public list of applicants even if the applicant opts out from the entry in the public application list.

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

The University of Oslo aims to achieve a balanced gender composition in the workforce and to recruit people with ethnic minority backgrounds.

Contact information

• Professor Arild Waaler, e-mail: arild@ifi.uio.no

For technical questions regarding the recruitment system, please contact HR Adviser Torunn Standal Guttormsen, email:t.s.guttormsen@mn.uio.no

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