About the position 

Do you want to join our team as a doctoral research fellow performing research highly relevant for the public health service?

We have an available position as a doctoral research fellow (SKO 1017) at the University of Oslo - 3-years engagement – affiliated with the Centre for Precision Psychiatry at the Institute of Clinical Medicine.

The Centre runs a series of multidisciplinary studies involving hospital departments in Oslo and several research groups at the University of Oslo. The main goal is to develop tools and knowledge for precision medicine in psychiatry, building on advanced statistical methods for analysis of large-scale human genetic and neuroimaging data, to better understand how biological, psychological, and environmental factors contribute to severe brain disorders, their treatment, and outcomes. 

The Centre has access to a large database of biomarkers, clinical, and cognitive variables, genotyping and sequencing data, and MRI brain imaging data on patients with brain disorders. In addition, we actively collaborate with large international consortia, particularly the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) and the ENIGMA consortium. The Centre also has access to the data from a broad range of national and international studies, including the Norwegian population cohorts (e.g., MoBa), the UK Biobank, and the ABCD and ADNI studies.

For more information about the Centre, please visit our website.

Project description

The available position is part of the MAGIC project, which aims to identify biological factors contributing to psychosis and its comorbidities. This is done by integrating across different types of ‘omics data, to uncover pathways that contribute to the development of these medical conditions. 

To achieve this goal, the researcher hired for this postdoctoral fellow position will work with the Centre’s datasets, analytical methodology, and computational tools, including state-of-the-art data storage and research infrastructure, hosted at the Services for sensitive data.

The PhD fellow will work with large scale analytical tools to optimize our ability to use genetics, metabolomics, neuroimaging and other ‘omics data for understanding the etiology of psychotic disorders, as well as uncover potential overlap with other disorders and diseases. 

The duration of appointment is 3 years and is available from July 2025, with flexible start date.

Responsibilities

The candidate is expected to 

• develop a research plan within the scope of this project for a PhD research program
• participate in literature searching, data analysis and interpretation 
• write up research articles to be published in peer-reviewed academic journals

The candidate is also expected to work efficiently both independently and as part of a team under supervision of the group leader, and to take an active part in the daily activities at the Center, depending on interests and qualifications.

The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree. The research fellow must fulfill the requirements of and take part in the approved PhD program at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oslo and is expected to complete the project within the set fellowship period. 

The applicant must, in collaboration with her/his supervisor, within three months after employment, work out a complete project description to be attached to the application for admission to the doctoral program. For more information: Doctoral degree: PhD in medicine and health sciences - Faculty of Medicine

Qualifications 

You must have

• a master’s degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., molecular biology, ‘omics, biostatistics, medicine, psychology, or an equivalent field)
• excellent English scientific writing skills
• proficiency in programming and scripting languages (e.g., R, Python and/or Matlab)
• experience with data processing and statistical analysis, including familiarity with relevant statistical software
• demonstrated ability to work independently and in a structured manner, and capable of effective collaboration with others

It is an advantage if you have

• experience in relevant research, particularly in brain disorders or population studies

Personal skills

• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team. 
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills. 

Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal qualifications.

We offer 

• Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important societal mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promote sustainable, fair, and knowledge-based societal development.
• A professionally stimulating working environment.
• Good welfare schemes.
• Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours.
• A workplace with good development and career opportunities. 
• Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes.
• Salary in position code 1017 in salary range NOK 560 000 - 620 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund.

Read more about the benefits of working in the public sector at Employer Portal.

Inclusive worklife and diversity at UiO

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.

We hope that you will apply for the position. 

More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here.

Application

Your application should include:

• Application letter including motivation for applying for the position, and a short plan for project design can be included. 
• CV (summarizing education, relevant work experience etc.)
• List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee.
• Certified copies of the original Bachelor- and Master’s degree diploma, transcripts of records.
• Contact information for 2-3 references.

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for the position".

When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

General information

The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews. 

Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we can't, you will hear from us.

Please refer to Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (Norwegian) and Guidelines concerning appointment to post doctoral and research posts at UiO (Norwegian).

The University of Oslo has a transfer agreement with all employees that is intended to secure the rights to all research results etc.

Apply for the position

Questions about the position

• Ole Andreassen (Professor), +47 99 03 88 93, o.a.andreassen@medisin.uio.no
• Dennis van der Meer (Researcher), dennisva@uio.no
• Aina Sandvik (HR-rådgiver), a.k.sandvik@medisin.uio.no