Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Job description

Five Doctoral Research Fellowships (SKO 1017) are available at the Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (IKOS), University of Oslo.

The Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies has 62 tenured academic staff and 45 temporary academic staff. Its ongoing research covers a wide range of topics under the broad rubrics of study of religion, cultural history and culture, politics, and history of Asia and the Middle East.

Candidates will apply with an individual research project. This project needs to be thematically relevant to the department to such an extent that it may be supervised by the department’s faculty. For information about ongoing research, please visit the department’s project website and those of individual faculty members. Projects that speak to the research interests of more than one academic staff member will be preferred. The Department is a uniquely interdisciplinary research environment, and projects that transcend disciplinary boundaries are particularly encouraged.

The person appointed will be affiliated with the Faculty's organized research training. The academic work is to result in a doctoral thesis that will be defended at the Faculty with a view to obtaining the degree of PhD. The successful candidate is expected to join the existing research milieu or network and contribute to its development. Read more about the doctoral degree.

The PhD candidates will start on 12 August 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. The appointment is for a duration of three years. All PhD Candidates who submit their doctoral dissertation for assessment with a written recommendation from their supervisor within 3 years or 3 ½ years after the start of their PhD position, will be offered, respectively, a 12 or 6 month Completion Grant.

Qualification requirements

• A Master's degree or equivalent in a discipline relevant for the project. The Master's degree must have been obtained and the final evaluation must be available by the application deadline.
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English, see Language requirements.
• Personal suitability and motivation for the position.
• The necessary competencies and skills (such as language) for the research project.

To be eligible for admission to the doctoral programmes at the University of Oslo, applicants must, at a minimum, have completed a five-year graduation course (Master’s degree or equivalent), including a Master’s thesis of at least 30 ECTS. In special cases, the Faculty may grant admission on the basis of a one-year Master course following an assessment of the study programme’s scope and quality.

In assessing the applications, special emphasis will be placed on:

• The project's scientific merit and innovation
• The project’s relevance to one or more research environments at IKOS
• The applicant's estimated academic and personal ability to complete the project within the timeframe
• The applicant's ability to complete research training
• Good collaboration skills and an ability to participate in an interdisciplinary academic community

Applicants who have recently graduated with excellent results may be given preference.

We offer

• Salary NOK 532 200 – 575 400 per annum depending on qualifications
• A professionally stimulating working environment
• Membership in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Attractive welfare benefits

How to apply

The application must include:

• Application letter describing the applicant’s qualifications and motivation for the position
• Curriculum Vitae (with a list of education, positions, teaching experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activities, including a complete list of publications)
• Transcript of records of your Bachelor’s and Master's degrees. Applicants with education from a foreign university must attach an explanation of their university's grading system
• Documentation of Language requirements (if applicable)
• Project description, including a detailed progress plan for the project (3 - 5 pages, maximum 14,000 characters. See Template for project descriptions)

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

Educational certificates, master theses and the like are not to be submitted with the application, but applicants may be asked to submit such information or works later.

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, please follow the link “Apply for this job”.

Short-listed candidates will be invited for an interview.

Formal regulations

See also regulations as well as guidelines for the application assessment process and appointments to research fellowships.

Following the Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) § 25, Chapter 2, demographic 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 Acquisition of Rights Agreement for the purpose of securing rights to intellectual property created by its employees, including research results.

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

Apply for position

Questions about the position

• Einar Wigen (Professor), +47 22858239, einar.wigen@ikos.uio.no
• Janne Gjestad (HR Officer), janne.gjestad@hf.uio.no