About the position

Position as PhD Research Fellow is available at the Center for Interdisciplinary Education at the University of Oslo, under the direction of professor Anders Malthe-Sørenssen and associate professor Tor Ole Odden.

The fellowship period is 3 years. A fourth year may be considered with a workload of 25 % that normally consists of teaching. This is dependent upon the qualification of the applicant and the current needs of the department.

Starting date no later than October 1, 2025. 

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo. 

Job description

The candidate for this position will work on a PhD project relevant for the Center for Interdisciplinary Education (INTED). Interdisciplinary competence is needed to address the world’s wicked problems, for breakthroughs in science and innovation, and to prepare students for tomorrows work-life. INTED’s ambition is to become an international hub for the research-based integration of interdisciplinary competence in education. INTED has established a research activity which focuses on understanding how methods from generative artificial intelligence can be used to analyze qualitative data at scale, such as literature, survey and interview data, using e.g. text embeddings from large language models.

The PhD project will focus on the foundations for and understanding of relevant generative artificial intelligence methods and will be in close collaboration with researchers applying the methods for analysis. The project will involve aspects such as 1) development of effective methods for text embeddings and their use in qualitative analysis; 2) development and application of methods for mechanistic interpretability to understand language models and their associated embedding models; 3) addressing the impact of representations and context on reasoning, cognition and classification. The candidate is expected to take active part in the research group at INTED.

Qualification requirements

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition to be among Europe’s leading communities for research, education and innovation. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

Required:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in physics, computational science, computer science/informatics, data science with a STEM/data science focus. Foreign completed degree (M.Sc.-level) must correspond to a minimum of four years in the Norwegian educational system. Preference will be given to candidates with a background in computational science.
• Experience with implementation or applications of large machine learning models, transformers or text embeddings is considered an advantage.
• Interest for interdisciplinary research

Candidates without a Master’s degree have until 30 June, 2025 to complete the final exam.

For candidates who would like to apply for a fourth year including teaching, good knowledge of Norwegian or another Scandinavian language is strongly preferred.

Grade requirements:

The norm is as follows:

• The average grade point for courses included in the Bachelor’s degree must be C or better in the Norwegian educational system
• The average grade point for courses included in the Master’s degree must be B or better in the Norwegian educational system
• The Master’s thesis must have the grade B or better in the Norwegian educational system

Language requirements:

• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
• English requirements for applicants from outside of EU/EEA/EFTA countries and exemptions from the requirements

The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree. For more information see here.

Personal skills

We are seeking a highly motivated, enthusiastic and hard-working candidate with the ambition to gain new insights and publish papers in leading, international journals. Applicants must show good interpersonal skills and be willing to work in close collaboration with the project PIs and other members of the project team, as well as have the ability to work independently.

We offer

• Salary NOK Salary NOK 536 200 – 575 400 per annum depending on qualifications and seniority as PhD Research Fellow (position code 1017)
• Attractive welfare benefits and a generous pension agreement 
• Vibrant international academic environment
• Career development programmes
• Oslo’s family-friendly surroundings with their rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities

How to apply

The application must include:

• Cover letter – statement of motivation and research interests
• CV (summarizing education, previous positions and academic work)
• Copies of the original Bachelor’s and Master’s degree diplomas and transcripts of records 
• Documentation of English proficiency
• List of any publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)
• Applicants who are interested in teaching need to add to this application a description of their motivation for and (if any) experience with teaching.

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 original transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language. Foreign applicants should attach an official explanation of their University's grading system.

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

Interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged.

All candidates and projects will have to undergo a check versus national export, sanctions and security regulations. Candidates may be excluded based on these checks. Primary checkpoints are the Export Control regulation, the Sanctions regulation, and the national security regulation.

Formal regulations

Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Research Fellowships at the University of Oslo.

According to the Norwegian Freedom and 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.

UiO has an agreement for all employees, aiming to secure rights to research results a.o.

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.

Contact information

For further information please contact:

 Professor Anders Malthe-Sørenssen, email: malthe@fys.uio.no , or Associate professor Tor Ole Odden, e-mail: t.o.b.odden@fys.uio.no

For questions regarding Jobbnorge, please contact HR Adviser Elin Thoresen, e-mail: elin.thoresen@mn.uio.no

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