Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Exoplanetary Sciences
Deadline: 20.04.2026
Publisert
The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest rated institution of research and education with 26 500 students and 7 200 employees. Its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally esteemed research communities make UiO an important contributor to society.
Centre for Planetary Habitability (PHAB) is a Norwegian Centre of Excellence that provides a stimulating and well-funded research environment. PHAB’s main goal, based on detailed studies of Earth and our solar system, is to develop predictive models to identify habitable planets around other stars. PHAB research activities comprise three interrelated research themes: (1) Planets and Early Earth, (2) Modern Earth and (3) Exo-Earths. The centre was established in 2023 and will consist of approximately 70 full time and part time professors and researchers, PhD Research Fellows and Postdoctoral Research Fellows.
About the position
Position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Exoplanetary Sciences is available at the Centre for Planetary Habitability (PHAB), Department of Geosciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo (UiO).
The appointment is a full-time position and is for a period of three years (10% of which is devoted to other career-promoting work, usually in the form of teaching activities).
Starting date 01.07.2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.
Place of work is PHAB, the Department of Geosciences at Blindern, Oslo.
No one can be appointed for more than one Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Oslo.
Project description
The position is associated with the Centre for Planetary Habitability, a Centre of Excellence, funded by the Research Council of Norway, where we seek to recognise and characterise planets’ habitability.
Cool stars span a rich continuum of masses, luminosities, and activity levels, and as the only stellar hosts capable of harbouring habitable conditions as we know them, understanding how their high-energy environments evolve is one of the most pressing open questions both in modern astrophysics and planetary sciences. Young stars are magnetically active, exhibiting intense flaring, elevated high-energy radiation, and potentially powerful stellar winds that may threaten the emergence and long-term survival of habitable conditions on orbiting planets. This project places the modelling of cool star high-energy environments at its core, developing a generalised framework for characterising time-resolved stellar spectral energy distributions, flare populations, and particle environments across a range of stellar masses and ages, with direct applicability to studies of planetary atmospheric evolution. Starting from the most active pre-main-sequence end of the cool star sequence, where the stellar environment is most extreme and the atmospheric consequences most dramatic, we build towards a unified predictive model spanning the full cool star parameter space. Our goal is to couple these stellar environment models to time-dependent radiative-convective and photochemical models of primordial planetary atmospheres, and by systematically exploring stellar mass, age, and activity level alongside a range of planetary atmospheric compositions and initial volatile inventories, to identify the regions of parameter space where planets can retain sufficient volatiles and avoid catastrophic atmospheric erosion.
The primary responsibilities of this position centre on the exploitation of HST and TESS space telescope observations to characterise the high-energy environments of young G-K-M dwarfs hosting small exoplanets potentially with (primordial) atmospheres. The successful candidate will reduce and analyse space-based photometry and spectroscopy to derive flare rates, spectral energy distributions, and variability patterns relevant for atmospheric escape and chemistry, and will combine these with realistic radiative–hydrodynamic stellar atmosphere models to generate synthetic flare spectra and light curves. These empirical and model-based stellar constraints will then be used to inform our understanding of planetary conditions in observed exoplanetary systems, connecting the characterised high-energy stellar environment directly to implications for atmospheric retention, volatile evolution, and habitability prospects across a range of cool star-planet configurations.
The work is carried out in collaboration with colleagues at PHAB.
What skills are important in this role?
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 qualifications:
Applicants must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in astrophysics, (exo)planetary science, or a closely related discipline.
The doctoral dissertation must have been submitted for evaluation by the application closing date for this position; only applicants with an approved doctoral thesis and public defence are eligible for appointment.
A strong background in scientific programming is essential. Experience with numerical modelling of planetary atmospheres and radiative transfer, and with the analysis of space-based time-series and spectroscopic data sets (for example, from HST, TESS, or similar facilities), will be considered a major advantage.
Fluent oral and written communication skills in English are required.
Desired qualifications:
Documented experience in the analysis of space-based photometric and spectroscopic data sets (e.g. HST, TESS) for studies of stellar activity and exoplanet atmospheres.
Experience in the construction or application of empirical or semi-empirical models of time-variable stellar irradiation.
Familiarity with the high-energy environments of young stars and their impact on atmospheric escape and chemistry.
Demonstrated expertise in numerical modelling of planetary atmospheres, including radiative transfer and time-dependent photochemistry.
Documented ability to connect stellar and planetary properties through forward modelling of observables, such as synthetic spectra and light curves
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.
What are we looking for in you?
Personal skills:
Strong quantitative and analytical skills
Good communication and interpersonal skills
Ability to create and contribute to a well-functioning, inclusive and productive research environment
Ability to work independently as well as in multidisciplinary teams
Ability to give and receive constructive scientific criticism
Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal skills.
We can offer you
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
Committed colleagues in a good working environment
Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes
Salary in position as Postdoctoral Fellow, position code 1352 in salary range NOK 595 000 - 690 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund
We need different perspectives in our work
UiO is an open and internationally oriented comprehensive university that strives to be an inclusive and diverse workplace and academic environment. You can read more about UiO’s work on equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no.
We fulfill our mission most effectively when we draw upon our variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are looking for great colleagues, could you be the next one?
We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Relevant adjustments may include modifications to working hours, task adaptations, digital, technical, or physical adjustments, or other practical measures.
If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or CV gaps (Norwegian), we encourage you to indicate this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified candidate from each group for an interview. In this context, disability is defined as an applicant who identifies as having a disability that requires workplace or employment-related accommodations. For more details about the requirements, please refer to the Employer portal (Norwegian).
The selections made in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state employers include in their annual reports. More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here. We hope you will apply for the position with us.
How to apply
The application must include:
Cover letter (statement of motivation, summarizing scientific work and research interest)
CV (summarizing education, positions, pedagogical experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activity)
Copies of educational certificates, academic transcript of records
A research plan related to the above-described research focus (up to 2 pages)
A complete list of publications and up to 5 academic works that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee. The description should highlight peer-reviewed publications and specify why they are selected for this position
Names and contact details of 3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)
Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for this job".
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.
General information
The best qualified candidates will be invited for interviews.
Please see the guidelines and regulations for appointments to Postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Oslo.
If an applicant has applied for and been granted funding for a fulltime research stay abroad while being employed as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, the employment will be prolonged with the equivalent time as the research stay, but for no longer than of twelve months ( thus extending the employment to a maximum of four years)
No one can be appointed twice as a Postdoctoral fellow financed with funds from The Research Council of Norway (NFR).
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.
