Universitetet i Oslo
The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest ranked educational and research institution, with 28 000 students and 7000 employees. With its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally recognised research communities, UiO is an important contributor to society.
The Department of Psychology is one of seven units of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and has 75 permanent and 70 temporary members of scientific staff. Degrees are offered at bachelor and master level, plus a clinical training programme, and the PhD programme has 140 students.
Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, PROMENTA Research Center
About the job
A postdoctoral fellowship is available at the PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. The appointment is a fulltime position for a period of three years. A fourth year can be considered with the addition of up to 25 % teaching and administrative duties, usually in the form of teaching activities, depending on the competence of the applicant and the needs of the department. The fellowship is planned to begin in the second quarter of 2025.
The postdoctoral fellow will be working in the project Early Life SocioEconomic status, mental health, and educational performance: an evaluation of sensitivity to the environment (ELiSE) funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN). The ELiSE project will address the impact of early life socioeconomic factors for mental health and educational success, while evaluating theories for children’s individual sensitivity to household, school, and community environments.
More about the project
The postdoctoral fellowship is directed at rendering a new understanding of: (1) Intergenerational transmission: How parental socioeconomic status (SES) and mental health and affect child mental health; (2) Mental health as a process: Reveal the intermediary role of mental health in the link between socioeconomic background and educational performance; (3) Sensitivity to the environment: Evaluate models for how individual risk for poor mental health are differentially expressed across families, schools and community environments; and (4) Specific developmental contexts: Identify household, school, and community characteristics that reduces individual risk and augment individual resources.
Socioeconomic disadvantage and parental mental health are associated with child mental health problems and educational difficulties. These factors together predict a person’s health and success in adulthood. It remains poorly understood how and why early life SES is linked to mental health and educational performance, because environmental disadvantages are intertwined with genetic vulnerabilities. ELiSE propose to integrate temporal, spatial, social, genetic, and individual levels of inference. Studying individuals with similar genetic profiles will allow the ELiSE project uncover the influences of time periods, places, schools, and families. This will allow us to jointly evaluate hypotheses on direct and indirect pathways into poor mental health and academic challenges.
With Norwegian national registries giving full genealogy and year-by-year event data on place of residence, SES, mental health, and educational performance, ELiSE will be in the position to consider the entire country since 1940. Within the registry data, ELiSE will nest a population-based cohort study comprising 100 000 genotyped families with a wide array of survey data. This investigation of the interplay between extended social arenas and family factors will help to grasp inequity in mental health and educational outcomes.
The PROMENTA Research Center carries out interdisciplinary research on mental health and well-being in a bioecological perspective - from genetics and biology to local communities and policy. We are concerned with examining determinants of good and poor mental health, understanding how social inequalities emerge, and designing and evaluating effective interventions to promote well-being.
We strive to provide our candidates with opportunities to develop high-quality research competence, across disciplines, working alongside leading experts in our fields. While working for us, you will be part of a dynamic and interdisciplinary work environment, with ample opportunities for scientific and social input throughout the academic year. This includes training in both social science and genetic methods, and the possibility teaching and educational courses.
The PROMENTA Research Center with more than 50 scientific staff is funded by the Research Council of Norway, and hosted by the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo (UiO). Read more about working at PROMENTA here.
The project is based in the GeoGen workgroup at PROMENTA lead by Professor Eivind Ystrøm. The goal of the GeoGen workgroup is to study the interplay between genetic and contextual factors in families, schools, and wider contexts by integrating genotyped family trios into population-based registries on family structure, residence, schools, health, and education.
The postdoctoral fellow will be working with GeoGen Team members from Psychology, Economics, Sociology, and Educational Sciences.
For more information about the positions please see contact information below.
Qualifications
- The applicant must have submitted their PhD thesis for evaluation by the closing date and be approved by the time the appointing authority reach a decision. The PhD degree (120 ECTS) or equivalent should be in in psychology, genetics, sociology, epidemiology, economics, or other related fields.
- Strong skills in quantitative methods.
- Proficient oral and written communication skills in English.
- Plans for excellent research within the project, as evidenced by the required one-page letter of application, explaining the motivation for applying and how own qualifications are suitable for the announced position.
- Strong interest in the potential of integrating mental health research,
- Enjoys working within an interdisciplinary team.
Favourable qualifications
- Publication record on the genetics of mental health or educational outcomes.
- Skills in relevant molecular genetic data analyses such as GCTA, polygenic scores, or GWAS.
- Familiarity with R, Python, Julia, or other relevant computing languages.
- Experience with register data or other types of big data.
- Training in application of genetic data.
- Experience with multilevel modelling or Structural Equation Modelling
- Experience with twin and different family studies.
- Experience with using geocode data.
- Experience with open science practices
Emphasis will be given to personal suitability.
We offer
- Salary in position as Postdoctoral Fellow, position code 1352 in salary range from NOK 604 900 - 692 400 per annum, depending on competence and experience.
- A professionally stimulating work environment and collaboration with a newly established research center (PROMENTA) at the Department of Psychology.
- Exciting and meaningful tasks in an organization with an important societal mission, contributing to knowledge development, education, and enlightenment that promote sustainable, fair, and knowledge-based societal development.
- Good welfare schemes.
- Opportunity of up to 1.5 hours a week of exercise during working hours.
- A workplace with good development and career opportunities.
- Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes.
- Oslo’s family-friendly environment with its rich opportunities for culture and outdoor activities.
- Opportunities for extensive collaboration with our national and international collaborators.
Read more about the benefits of working in the public sector at Employer Portal.
How to apply
The application must include:
- Motivation letter (maximum 1 page) Complete CV
- Certified copies of academic diplomas and certificates. (i.e. Diploma, transcript. Diploma supplement for both bachelor and master and PhD courses). Diplomas, transcripts and diploma supplements that are not in a Scandinavian language or English must be uploaded in the original language. An English translation of these documents must also be attached.
- Copies of any publications that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee.
- Names and contact details for two references. One of them must be a PhD supervisor. Also preferably including the supervisors on master thesis.
The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, please follow the link “Apply for this job”. 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, special emphasis will be placed on the documented, academic qualifications, the project description (whenever this is required in the call for applicants), and the quality of the project as well as the candidates 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 in the course of the period of employment.
Inclusive worklife and diversity at UiO
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.
General information
The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews.
Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we can't, you will hear from us.
Please refer to Regulations for the Act on universities and colleges chapter 3 (Norwegian) and Guidelines concerning appointment to post doctoral and research posts at UiO (Norwegian).
The University of Oslo has a transfer agreement with all employees that is intended to secure the rights to all research results etc.
Contact information
All e-mails must have the term "ELiSE PostDoc" included in the subject line or text.
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