Job description

Applicants are invited for a three to four-year full-time position as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the project "Segregation of Opportunities: Pathways to Marginalization through Neighborhoods and Peers” (SEGOP), at the Department of Special Needs Education at the University of Oslo, Norway.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will have the office space located at the Center for Research on Equality in Education (CREATE) and 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, labor market exclusion, and mental health issues. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to define and pursue their own research interests within the scope of the research areas described.

The Postdoctoral 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. 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 Department of Special Needs Education offers a bachelor’s degree in special needs education and five special education majors (speech and language therapy, hearing, language and communication, specific learning difficulties, psycho-social difficulties, and neuro developmental disabilities) at the master’s level, in addition to an international master’s program (Master in Special Needs Education).

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.

Postdoctoral Fellows who are appointed for a period of 4 years are expected to acquire educational competence during their fellowship period, and within the duty component if such competence is not already acquired. The main purpose of the fellowship is to qualify researchers for academic positions within their disciplines.

Qualification requirements

• Applicants must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in Sociology, Economics, Psychology, Education, or other relevant fields. Doctoral dissertation must be submitted for evaluation by the closing date. Appointment is dependent on the public defense of the doctoral thesis being approved
• Publication record in international high-quality journals
• Advanced quantitative research skills and experience with large datasets
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English
• Knowledge of Norwegian (or another Scandinavian language) in case of a four-year contract

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

• The project description’s relevance to the SEGOP project
• Familiarity with research and theories about social inequality and marginalization
• Familiarity with quasi-experimental 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 collaborate in an interdisciplinary academic community
• Ability to work independently
• Creativity in research
• Personal suitability and motivation for the position

We offer

• Salary NOK 584 500 – 657 300 per annum depending on qualificatinos in position as Postdoctoral Fellow (position code 1352)
• A professionally stimulating work environment
• 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:

• Cover letter, including a statement of motivation, a summary of scientific profile, and research interest
• A project description of three to five pages (maximum seven pages including references)
• CV (summarizing education, positions, administrative experience, pedagogical experience, and other qualifying activities)
• Copy of PhD Diploma or documentation of thesis submission. Applicants who have not yet defended their PhD dissertation need to include an advisor’s letter confirming specific expectations about when the degree will be received
• Copies of educational certificates (academic transcripts only)
• A complete list of publications
• Up to five academic works that the applicant wishes to be considered
• List of reference persons: 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail, and phone number)

Incomplete applications will not be assessed.

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system. 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, emphasis will be placed on the documented academic qualifications, publication record in high-quality journals, the project description’s quality and relevance for the SEGOP project, familiarity with research and theories about social inequality and marginalization, strong quantitative research skills, familiarity with methods for causal inference, familiarity of large-scale data, familiarity with relevant computing languages, and the candidate’s motivation and personal suitability. Interviews with the best-qualified candidates will be arranged.

It is expected that the successful candidate will be able to complete the project during the period of employment.

Formal regulations

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

No one can be appointed for more than one Postfoctoral Fellow 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 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.

Apply for position

Questions about the position

• Arne Ola Lervåg (Professor and Director of CREATE), +47 22844701, a.o.lervag@iped.uio.no
• Nicolai Topstad Borgen (SEGOP Project Manager and Associate Professor), +47 22858044, n.t.borgen@isp.uio.no
• Ona Bø Wie (Head of Department), +47 22858051, o.b.wie@isp.uio.no