Job description

The Department of Special Needs Education at the University of Oslo, Norway, invites applicants for a three to four-year full-time position as PhD Research Fellow. The PhD fellow will be working on the project “Segregation of Opportunities: Pathways to Marginalization through Neighborhoods and Peers” (SEGOP), funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The SEGOP project investigates how social and economic exclusion unfolds through interactions between family background, individual characteristics, and neighborhood and peer characteristics. The SEGOP project is an interdisciplinary project that integrates perspectives and methods from sociology, psychology, behavioral genetics, economics, and education.

More about the position

The SEGOP project aims to provide a new understanding of how individual characteristics, combined with the influences of family, school, and neighborhood contexts, impact various aspects of marginalization such as academic failure, welfare state dependency, and mental health issues. The successful candidate is expected to conduct research on one or several of these topics.

The PhD fellow will be expected to use advanced quantitative methods to draw causal inferences from non-experimental data. The main data source is administrative register data linked with large-scale survey data and genetic data. The successful candidate should have prior knowledge of quasi-experimental methods and, preferably, large data sources such as register data.

The position has a double affiliation with CREATE and the Department of Special Needs Education, with the office space located at CREATE. CREATE is an interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence funded by the Research Council of Norway with the objective of generating novel knowledge about how to reduce inequalities in education.

 Within CREATE, the PhD fellow will be affiliated with Strand 1 “Identifying the barriers to equality in education”. This research group aims to disentangle the causal mechanisms hindering equality and to understand for whom, how, and why these mechanisms operate. 

The appointment is a full-time position for a period of three years. A fourth year can be considered with the addition of 25 % teaching duties – usually in the form of teaching, supervision, and assessment duties – depending on the competence of the applicant and the needs of the Department of Special Needs Education.

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. The main purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree.

For more information, please see our web site. 

Qualification requirements

Applicants must satisfy the requirements for admission to the faculty´s PhD programme. 

This normally includes:

• Applicants must hold a master’s degree or equivalent in Sociology, Special Needs Education, Education, Economics, Psychology, or other relevant fields
• A Master’s degree (120 ECTS) with a minimum grade B (ECTS grading scale) or equivalent. The Master’s degree must include a thesis of at least 30 ECTS, with a minimum grade B
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
• Knowledge of Norwegian (or another Scandinavian language) in case of a four years contract
• Experience with quantitative data analysis

In the assessment of applications, emphasis will be placed on:

• The project description’s relevance to the SEGOP project
• Familiarity with theories about social inequality
• Familiarity with methods for causal inference
• Familiarity with administrative register data or other types of big data
• Familiarity with Stata, R, or other relevant computing languages

Personal skills

• A collaborative, friendly, and team-oriented style of work
• Ability to join interdisciplinary academic communities
• Creativity and ability to work independently
• Personal suitability and motivation for the position

We offer

• Salary NOK 532 200 - 575 400 per annum depending on qualifications in a position as PhD Research Fellow, (position code 1017)
• 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 and what to include in your application

The application must include:

• Cover letter, including statement of motivation and research interests
• A project description of 5-7 pages, including progress plan. Please see our guidelines. 
• CV (summarizing education, positions, academic work, etc.)
• Copies of educational certificates (academic transcripts only). Foreign applicants must attach an explanation of their university’s grading system
• Documentation of English proficiency (for information on required documentation, see information on this webpage)
• A copy of the Master thesis
• A complete list of publications and academic works, if any
• List of reference persons: 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail, and phone number)

Incomplete applications will not be assessed.

Please note that all documents should be in English (or a Scandinavian language).

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

When evaluating the application, emphasis will be given to the project description and the applicant’s academic and personal prerequisites to carry out the project. Applicants may be called in for an interview.

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 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.

The appointment may be shortened/given a more limited scope within the framework of the applicable guidelines on account of any previous employment in academic positions.

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.

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