Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

With about 16,000 students, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest higher education institutions in Norway. A broad range of academic programmes are offered at Bachelor, Master and PhD levels, spread out on five campuses Førde, Sogndal, Bergen, Stord og Haugesund.

Our ambition is to build stronger and more solid academic and research environments that will interact nationally and internationally. The aim is to become a recognized actor on the international higher education arena. Increased international cooperation and engagement in externally funded projects will work towards this goal.

We offer a broad range of educational programmes within the field of Health and Social Sciences as well as continuing education and post-graduate programmes, several master’s degrees and a doctoral program in Health, Functioning and Participation.

The Faculty of Health and Social Sciences has around 370 employees and about 4,500 students. We offer a broad range of educational programmes within the field of health and social sciences, as well as continuing education and postgraduate programmes, several Master's degrees, and doctoral programmes in Health, Functioning and Participation, and Responsible Innovation and Regional Development - RESINNREG.

Our students receive extensive skills training in addition to practice, mainly through exercise in communication and testing at SimArena, wich is an advanced simulation centre. We practice flexible learning forms that allow the students themselves to participate in research and development work.

The Department of Health and Functioning has around 70 employees and 620 students. We offer bachelor's degrees in Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Radiography. We offer master’s degree in Clinical Physiotherapy, an international master’s degree in Healthy Aging and Rehabilitation and master’s degree in Evidence-Based Practice in the Health Sciences. Research and communication related to these fields, and educational research, take high priority at our department.

Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, has available position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Evidence-Based research

About the position:

There is a vacancy for 2 year postdoc position at the Section of Evidence-Based Practice at the Faculty of Health and Social Science, The Department of Health and Functioning, specifically to the research group working with the concept of "Evidence-Based Research" (EBR). In short, EBR is a concept arguing that the process of justifying and designing a new study should be done systematically and transparently, i.e. by the use of a systematic collation of earlier similar studies and by a systematic gathering of the research project´s end users´ perspectives and experiences. Further, the EBR approach expect researchers also to use a systematic and transparent approach when placing new results in the context of earlier similar studies. The projects planned for the Postdoctoral Research Fellow are directly related to questions and challenges in a further development of the EBR approach.

The fix-term period for this position is 2 years. Individuals may not be hired for more than one fixed-term period as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the same institution.

It is expected that the Postdoctoral Research Fellow will be present at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (abbreviated HVL) at least 2-4 times per year (about 7-12 days for each show-up). Most of the work can easily be done at distance, and thus international candidates would be eligible candidates.

Key duties- and responsibilities:

It will be expected that the Postdoctoral Fellow collaborate with Professor Karen Robinson (John Hopkins University and HVL), Hans Lund (HVL) and members of the Evidence-Based Research Network (EBRNetwork) to plan and carry out the following research projects:

• Characterize research not using an EBR approach
• Quantify the prevalence and consequences of performing research not using an EBR approach
• Identify barriers/facilitators and predictors of using an EBR-approach
• Prepare, carry out and evaluate implementation of an EBR approach within clinical health research
• Disseminate the results of the planned projects (see detailed project plan)

Specific projects that will have the highest priority for the Postdoc position

a. Meta-research related to the evaluation of current use of an EBR approach:

• Identifying redundancy of original studies by applying a cumulative meta-analysis to a random sample of Cochrane reviews (Short: CUMMA)
• The use of Cochrane Reviews when justifying and designing new original clinical studies (Short: UPDATE)
• Redundancy in clinical health research evaluated by the number of original clinical studies published after the last version of Cochrane review is declared outdated (Short: OUTDATE)

b. The development of a novel method to determine the value of a new study, including showing how this method can be utilized by various stakeholders (e.g. researchers, funding agencies etc.) to maximize the value of research:

• The Bayesian meta-analysis combined with decision analysis: A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
• The Bayesian meta-analysis combined with decision analysis: A Bayesian power analysis to estimate the probability of finding clinically meaningful effects in updated meta-analysis

Qualifications:

The applicant shall submit proposals for a project outline for the qualification work based on the main project. It is assumed that the applicant will be able to complete the sub-project during the appointment period and that written scientific work is submitted for evaluation in journals within two years. The project outline should be up to 5 pages including references, progress and publication plan (font size 12, Times New Roman and line spacing 1). It can be written in a Scandinavian language or English.

In the evaluation, the main emphasis will be on submitted scientific work and the feasibility of proposals for a project connected to the The Evidence-Based Research project.

The application letter should contain motivation for the position and reasons for why the candidate is suitable for the position.

• Applicants must hold a PhD in social or health science, acquired no more than 3 years ago. A condition of employment is that the PhD has been awarded.
• Experience with systematic reviews
• Experience with statistical analysis, specifically meta-analyses
• Experience with meta-research (research on research)
• Proficiency in English, both written and oral

Personal characteristics:

• Ability to work independently in a structured manner
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team
• Motivation
• Sense of responsibility and accountability
• Independent and open-minded
• Work capacity and enthusiasm for research

Application procedure:

To apply for this position, please use the link “Apply for this job” (“Søk stillingen”).

The applications will be assessed by the information entered in www.jobbnorge.no at the application deadline. The applicants are responsible for ensuring that all the documentation is submitted before the closing date, including the scientific work (up to 15 pieces), complete publication list, certificates and diplomas. If the diplomas, transcripts or other documentation are not in a scandinavian language or English, the applicant must upload the certified transactions himself. If the attachments exceed 15 MB, they must be compressed before uploading or attaching as a link.

The applications will be sent electronically to the expert committee. Based on the committee's recommendation, qualified applicants will be invited to an interview and an trial lecture. Applications cannot be sent by e-mail or to individuals at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

We offer:

• Good occupational pension, insurance and loan schemes from The Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Exciting academic environment with the possibility of competence enhancement and development
• Opportunities for training within the working hours

The position as Postdoctoal Fellow is paid according to the Government's salary regulation, in position code 1354 -Postdoctor.

There is a compulsory 2 % deduction to the pension fund (see http://www.spk.no/en for more information). The successful applicant must comply with the guidelines that apply to the position at any time.

General information:

The appointment will be made in accordance with the regulations for State employees Law in Norway ("Lov om statens ansatte)". Organizational changes and changes in the duties and responsibilities associated with the position must be expected.

State employment shall reflect the multiplicity of the population at large to the highest possible degree. Western Norway University of Applied Sciences Bergen has therefore adopted a personnel policy objective to ensure that we achieve a balanced age and gender composition and the recruitment of persons of various ethnic backgrounds.

Information about the applicant may be made public even though the applicant has requested not to be named in the list of applicants. The applicant will be notified if his/her request is not respected. Applicants may be called in for an interview.

Contacts:

1) Head of Section of Evidence-based Practice Nina Rydland Olsen, phone +47 55 58 56 08 / +47 413 13 204

2) Professor Hans Lund, phone. 47 90 25 03 58, / +47 55 58 70

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