Blindern og Urbygningen (Foto: Wikimedia og Colourbox)
Doctoral Research Fellow (PhD) in prestigious MSCA Doctoral Network on law and ethics of organoids
Deadline: 14.01.2024
Publisert
Universitetet i Oslo
The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest ranked educational and research institution, with 28 000 students and 7000 employees. With its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally recognised research communities, UiO is an important contributor to society.
The Institute of Health and Society is one of three institutes at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo. The Institute covers various disciplines and consists of six departments: General Practice, Health Sciences, Health Management and Health Economics, Medical Ethics, Community Medicine and Global Health and Public Health Science.
The Institute of Health and Society bases its work on a complex understanding of disease, health and health systems. Culture, environment, economics, society and biology play direct and indirect roles. Our teaching responsibilities include seven Master’s programs, one Bachelor program and part of the Faculty’s medical school and PhD-program. We employ about 220 FTE and have almost 700 Bachelor and Master students. Annual income is about 200 mill NOK, half of which is external funding. Our researchers play an active part of public policy and disseminate new knowledge through many channels.
University of Oslo, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Health and Society, Centre for Medical Ethics
Job description
A 3-year position as Doctoral (PhD) Research Fellow in ethics and law is available at the Center for Medical Ethics at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo, tentatively starting May 2024.
The successful Doctoral Research Fellow will be part of a highly prestigious Marie Skłodowska Curie Action Doctoral Network, funded by the European Union. The Doctoral Research Fellow will participate in an interdisciplinary and intersectoral training network called TOP-GUT focused on training 11 doctoral candidates across Europe in the field of innovative preclinical model for advancing personalized medicine.
TOP-GUT aims to provide the skills to develop new human organ models mimicking cellular compositions of organs with a focus on the gastrointestinal (GI) tract; advance organ-on-chip technology; improve tools and protocols; develop new models for personalized medicine using patient-derived organoids; and manage ethical, regulatory and legal aspects together with innovation management of implementation of GI models.
The tasks of the Doctoral Research Fellow in law and ethics will be to conduct research on the ethical and legal aspects of innovative preclinical models (organoids) for advancing personalized medicine. Specifically, the candidate will focus on three aspects: 1) To advance the understanding of the ethical and legal regulation of organoid research, as it currently is and how it ought to be. 2) Identification of the ethical and legal status of organoids, including whether this status changes depending on how advanced the organoid is. 3) Identification of legal gaps and overregulation, provision of de lege ferenda recommendations (how the law ought to be), where there may be legislative gaps or unsuitable regulation, 4) Research integrity and responsible conduct of research. A particular focus will be the issues arising from the translation of organoid technologies from the research context to commercial or therapeutic use.
A 1-month secondment to Technische Universität Berlin to understand the facts the ethical and legal regulation will apply to, and a 3-month secondment at the Norwegian Directorate of Health to understand the policymaker perspective will be part of the project.
More about the position
The research fellow must take part in the Faculty’s approved PhD program and is expected to complete the project within the set fellowship period. Positions as research fellows are fixed-term educational posts where the aim is that the research fellow completes a doctoral degree (PhD) during the period of employment.
Qualification requirements
The successful Doctoral Research Fellow must either have a 5-year Master’s degree in law, ethics, philosophy or other relevant and equivalent university education.
Knowledge of EU/EEA data protection law and biotechnology law is an advantage.
Excellent knowledge of everyday and academic English is a requirement.
Knowledge of Norwegian is an advantage. The working language during the 3-month secondment at the Norwegian Directorate of Health is Norwegian/Scandinavian. Norwegian language courses are offered by the University of Oslo for a fee.
In the assessment of applications, emphasis will be placed on:
The application’s compliance with the main objectives of the TOP-GUT project.
The applicant’s personal suitability and motivation for being involved in the research project, and to form part of an interdisciplinary and intersectorial doctoral network.
A prerequisite for the employment is admission to the Faculty’s PhD program, and applicants must therefore satisfy the requirements for admission to the Faculty’s PhD program.
This includes, amongst other requirements:
A Master’s degree (120 ECTS) or an equivalent qualification, minimum grade B (ECTS grading scale) or equivalent. The Master’s degree must include a thesis of at least 30 ECT. Master thesis must have grade B or better. For degrees with few or no grades, an overall assessment will be made of the applicant’s competence and planned PhD project.
We offer
Salary NOK 532 200 - 575 400 per annum depending on qualifications in a position as PhD Research fellow, position code 1017
An inspiring, challenging and high-paced working environment, with flexible working hours and possibility for some remote work
A position in an inclusive working life enterprise
Letter of application, describing the applicant’s motivation and suitability for the position.
CV that also includes an overview of any previously published academic/scientific works by the applicant.
A 5-10 page project outline, using the following template, explaining how the applicant envisages approaching the research topic
Certified copies of diplomas with all grades included in the degree and certificates (if the original language of diplomas/certificates is not English or a Scandinavian language, an English language translation must be provided in addition to a copy of the original). Foreign diplomas must include an official documentation about the grading system together with the official grading scale.
List of reference persons: minimum 2 persons, with contact information; email and telephone numbers
Incomplete applications will in normal circumstances not be assessed.
The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, please follow the link: “Apply for this job”.
Evaluation of the applicant
In the evaluation of candidates, emphasis will be placed on the candidate’s academic achievements, the project description, previous relevant publications, and the applicant’s professional and personal qualifications, particularly in relation to their ability to perform the proposed project within the allotted time.
Short-listed applicants will be invited for an interview with the University of Oslo, personally or through electronic means.
The candidates are evaluated by a Selection Board, which ranks the candidates based on the criteria indicated above and conducts interviews with short-listed candidates.
The Appointments Committee of the Institute of Health and Society will take a final decision about the hiring of the candidate.
Formal regulations
Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Research Fellowships at the University of Oslo.
No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.
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.
For questions regarding adminstrative issues, the recruitment system and process, please contact: HR Adviser Helle Fritzsønn, e-mail: helle.fritzsonn@medisin.uio.no
