Job description

Applicants are invited to apply for a position as Data Steward (Head engineer, SKO 1087) based at Natural History Museum (NHM), University of Oslo (UiO). The contract period is 3 years fulltime.

More about the position

Traditionally the main tasks related to our scientific collections focused on scientific and technical curation of physical objects. During the last twenty years we have accomplished a tremendous amount of work in databasing and digitisation of our collections for research, management and posterity. To achieve this we have had to invest in training existing and new staff in digital literacy and related skills. Through large external projects such as Revita, MUSIT and GBIF Norway we will continue this development, and make a larger share of our collections available to the public and the scientific community. Digitized collections enable innovative research across all museum collections to study salient topics. These could include temporal phenotypic variation (e.g. changes in morphology in response to climate change; effects of urban heat islands on flowering duration; etc), spatial dynamics of species and ecosystems (e.g. implications of morphological changes for plant and animal spread and feedback on climate) as well as development of artificial intelligence based identification of specimens and observation (e.g. automated identification of new collections; processing of indet. collections; scanning a collection for new undescribed species, and verification of current expert identifications), to name a few. There is also a considerable potential in connecting research, collections and outreach through digital solutions for involvement of citizen scientists (as demonstrated in the award-winning Natur i endring project at our museum).

In order for NHM to take a leading role not only in digitalization and databasing of our collections, but also in innovative scientific research on museum collections, we need to consider our resource allocations carefully. To this objective we now seek to recruit a full time Data Steward for National and International Coordination in a three-year position (SKO 1087, head engineer, overingeniør). The Data Steward will work on agreed commitments in externally financed projects. These tasks are grouped together in 1) data stewardship; 2) teaching and training; and 3) organisation and advocacy.

Specifically these include:

• Data steward tasks for the national GBIF node for Norway.
• Training and capacity building (linked to external project commitments, incl BioDATA, BioMedData, NiN).
• Contribution to development of best practices for scaling up the digitisation of collections metadata, including geological, mineralogical and paleontological collections at NHM-O.
• Alignment of collection data portals for museum collections in Norway (CMS Natur) with international initiatives (GBIF, DiSSCo and CETAF).
• Integration of ecological data to the museum information management systems.
• Integration of eDNA into collection CMS.

The work environment

The Natural History Museum (NHM) has approximately 160 employees and is located in the Botanical Garden in Oslo. NHM consists of eight research groups that pursue research and education within basic and advanced biosystematics and biodiversity studies. The successful applicant will become a member of the Geo-Ecology Research Group (GEco). The GEco group hosts two large projects, Natur i Norge (NiN) and the Norwegian node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and several smaller projects involving collecting, managing and using bio-, geo- and ecodiversity data. Norwegian participation in GBIF and DiSSCo is coordinated by Natural History Museum (NHM).

Qualification requirements

The candidate must have:

• Minimum Master degree (MSc) in natural sciences complemented with work experience from biodiversity informatics and management of research data.
• Experience with biodiversity informatics, FAIR data principles, and best practices for open research data and metadata management.
• Capability and willingness to contribute to workshops and training courses on data mobilisation.
• Willingness to work in a decentralized international team to deliver technical support-services.
• Good written and verbal communication skills in English, and willingness to learn Norwegian.

The following skills will be considered as an advantage:

• Experience with best practices for communication of research data.
• Experience with biodiversity data preparation and open data publication in GBIF.
• Knowledge of the most common international standards and protocols for data exchange, publication and archiving of biodiversity data, including Darwin Core and other standards endorsed or ratified by Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG).
• Experience with metadata standards and formats for describing datasets (GBIF uses the Ecological Metadata Language, EML, to describe datasets).
• Experience with the implementation of globally unique identifier keys (e.g. UUID, DOI, Handles, or similar).
• Experience with JSON-LD, RDF, Frictionless data or similar data exchange formats which can contribute to interoperability between different data sources.
• Willingness and skills for working in a dynamic international research community.
• Basic knowledge of Norwegian nature and biodiversity.

We offer

• Salary NOK 553 500 - 637 900,- per annum depending on qualifications in position as overingeniør (position code 1087)
• A friendly and stimulating working environment
• A beautiful campus located in the Botanical Gardens, which is close to the city centre of Oslo, but also not far from the fjord and the woodlands surrounding the city
• 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 all the following as separate numbered documents:

• Cover letter (statement of motivation, summarizing scientific work and research interest; max. 1 page)
• CV (summarizing education, positions held, pedagogical/supervisory experience, administrative experience, and other qualifying activities)
• Educational certificates (copies of academic transcripts only)
• List of 2-3 agreed reference persons. Please provide name, relation to candidate, e-mail address, and phone number. The references will be contacted if necessary. Letters of recommendation are therefore not required for the initial application.

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruitment system (use 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).

In assessing the applications, special emphasis will be placed on the required skills first and the advantageous skills second. Interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged in which the candidate’s motivation and personal suitability will also be assessed.

Formal regulations

Interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged.

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.

Inclusion and diversity are a strength. The University of Oslo has a personnel policy objective of achieving a

balanced gender composition. We also want to have employees with diverse expertise, combinations of subjects, life experience and perspectives. We will make adjustments for employees who require this.

If there are qualified applicants with special needs, gaps in their CVs or immigrant backgrounds, we will invite at least one applicant in each of these groups to an interview.

Contact information

Questions regarding the position:

• Professor Olav Skarpaas (olav.skarpaas@nhm.uio.no),
  
• Dr Dag Endresen (dag.endresen@nhm.uio.no) or
  
• Prof Hugo de Boer (h.de.boer@nhm.uio.no)

Questions regarding the recruiting system and the application procedure:

HR-adviser Anita Marie Hansen (a.m.hansen@nhm.uio.no)

Apply for this job