The Natural History Museum

Job description

With this competitive three-year postdoctoral fellowship, the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo (NHM), aims to bring in a talented researcher to enhance our strategic research environment.

Starting date: October 1st 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter. 

About the position and work environment

The fellowship opportunity involves engaging in a self-developed and innovative research project. To foster collaboration, the successful candidate for this position will work in close collaboration with staff members of at least two of NHM’s research groups. The position comes with an independent research budget of 100,000 NOK per year. 

Candidates should contact prospective NHM research groups to develop the proposal together. The ideal project will effectively utilize NHMs´ extensive physical and digital collections, either separately or in combination. This fellowship presents an exciting prospect to contribute to the advancement of knowledge and leverage NHM´s resources in a meaningful way. 

At our research environment, we seek to understanding the origins and processes governing stability and discontinuity of biological and geological systems at different levels of organization from the genome/atom to the ecosystem, including questions associated to:

• What characterizes a stable biological and geological system?
• How is it discontinuous from other biological or geological systems (stable or unstable)?
• How is stability and discontinuity of the system maintained?
• What happens with the system when stability and discontinuity break down? 

NHM is located in Oslo’s Botanical Garden, which is very close to the city center, and at Økern. The Botanical Garden and the city of Oslo provide a vibrant environment for both work and personal life, with proximity to the forest, the Oslofjord and mountain areas.

For almost 200 years, specimens of animals, fungi, plants, rocks, minerals and fossils have been collected, studied and preserved at NHM. With over 6 million specimens, NHM has the largest natural history collection in Norway, including zoology, botany, mycology, paleontology, and mineralogy collections, in addition to a DNA bank. The improvement, maintenance and use of scientific collections is central to our work. The museum provides excellent research facilities in-house, with outstanding in-house expertise in DNA-based and molecular biology methods, microscopy and visualization, and analytical methods for the characterization of inorganic materials. 

NHM has ten research groups that pursue research and education within basic and advanced biosystematics and biodiversity as well as geological studies. NHM is part of the University of Oslo (UiO), which is Norway’s oldest and highest ranked educational and research institution. With its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally recognized research communities both at NHM and UiO, both are important contributors to society. 

Expectations and requirements for the project and host

 A fundable project shall: 

• be innovative 
• enhance the strategic research environment 
• focus on bio- and/or geo-diversity 
• be hosted by at least two of NHM´s research groups 
• enhance and/or use NHM’s physical and digital collections, ideally both 

Expectations of the postdoc: 

• Carry out the project proposed in the application within the employment period 
• Participate and contribute actively in the strategic research environment 

Expectation for the Hosts: 

• Primary and secondary hosts must be from different research groups at NHMO (https://www.nhm.uio.no/english/research/groups/) 
• The primary host shall provide office space and administrative support 

Qualification requirements

The candidate must: 

• have a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree (PhD). For candidates not having finished their doctoral degree, the doctoral dissertation must have been submitted for evaluation by the closing date of the call. An appointment is dependent on the defense of the doctoral dissertation being approved 
• have excellent communication skills (including written and spoken English) .

It is preferable that the candidate has (and can document): 

• a strong academic track record 
• experience in collection-based research (both physical and/or digital) 
• teamwork and networking skills 

Personal skills: 

We are looking for a highly motivated, creative, and structured candidate with excellent collaborative qualities .

We offer

• a dynamic and friendly working environment
• attractive welfare benefits
• membership in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Salary in position as Postdoctoral Fellow, position code 1352 in salary range NOK from 580 000 to 660 000, depending on competence and experience. 

Read more about the benefits of working at the University of Oslo here: Working at UiO - University of Oslo

Inclusive worklife and diversity at UiO/NHM

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.

How to apply

The application must include the following six elements as separate documents: 

• Cover letter
• Five-page research plan (following the template for this position provided here: template_for_project_description.docx) 
• CV (following the template for this position provided here: template_for_CV.docx)
• Letter of recommendation and statement of support signed by the primary and secondary hosts at NHM
• Name, academic relation, and contact information of two references from two different institutions 
• Documentation of Academic Degrees and Transcripts 

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.

In assessing the applications, special emphasis will be placed on the documented academic qualifications, the excellence of the proposed research, as well as the candidate's motivation and personal suitability. Online interviews with the best qualified candidates will be arranged. 

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 Postdoctoral Fellow period at the University of Oslo. 

According to the Norwegian Freedom of 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.

Please refer to Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (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

About the fellowship: 

• Marcella Orwick Rydmark, m.c.o.rydmark@nhm.uio.no

About information on the strategic research environment: 

• Professor Torsten Struck, t.h.struck@nhm.uio.no

About the recruitment system: 

• HR-Adviser Thomas Brånå, thomas.brana@nhm.uio.no