About the position 

Position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Experimental Nuclear Physics is available at the Department of Physics. 

Starting date no later than 01.10.2025. 

The position is funded by the Norwegian Research Council project “Evolution of shapes and collectivity in exotic nuclei”.

The fellowship period is three years. A fourth year may be considered with a workload of 25 % which is devoted to career promoting work, usually in the form of teaching, supervision duties, and/or research assistance. This is dependent upon the qualification of the applicant and the current needs of the department.

No one can be appointed for more than one Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Oslo.Postdoctoral fellows who are appointed for a period of four years are expected to acquire basic pedagogical competency in the course of their fellowship period within the duty component of 25 %.

More about the position / Project description

The research of the Nuclear Physics group is focused on the study of atomic nuclei under extreme conditions, e.g. nuclei at high excitation energy at the transition from quantum order to chaos, exotic nuclei with an unusual ratio of protons and neutrons, and nuclear reactions in astrophysical environments. To obtain experimental information under such conditions is crucial in order to constrain and improve theoretical nuclear structure models, and to understand how elements heavier than iron are formed in explosive stellar environments. The current project is closely related to the research activity “Nuclear Properties” of the Norwegian Nuclear Research Center, in which the successful candidate will participate.

The present project aims at studying collective and single-particle properties of neutron-rich nuclei in the region around 78Ni by measuring electromagnetic transition probabilities. The experimental determination of transition probabilities is crucial for understanding the onset of deformation and shape coexistence near doubly magic 78Ni and provides important benchmarks for theoretical calculations. The focus of the project is to perform lifetimes measurements of excited states ranging from few picoseconds to several microseconds via recoil distance Doppler shift (RDDS) and fast timing methods, respectively. Planned experiments include RDDS lifetime measurements following multinucleon transfer reactions with the AGATA detector coupled to the PRISMA spectrometer at Legnaro National Laboratories (Italy) and fast-timing measurements following beta decay with the IDATEN LaBr3(Ce) detector array at the BigRIPS fragment separator at RIKEN Nishina Center (Japan). The candidate is expected to make significant contributions to the experimental work, taking on responsibilities for data analysis. This includes developing relevant data analysis techniques and software, as well as conducting Monte Carlo simulations of detector responses using the GEANT4 framework. The candidate will be strongly encouraged to actively participate in submitting additional experimental proposals that align with the objectives of the research project throughout the project period. Moreover, the candidate is also expected to assist in supervising students at both the master's and PhD levels. 

The main purpose of a postdoctoral fellowship is to provide the candidates with enhanced skills to pursue a scientific top position within or beyond academia. To promote a strategic career path, all postdoctoral research fellows are required to submit a professional  development plan no later than one month after commencement of the postdoctoral period.

Qualifications

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.

Qualification requirements:

• Applicants must hold a degree equivalent to a Norwegian doctoral degree in physics, with specialization in experimental nuclear physics. Doctoral dissertation must be submitted for evaluation by the closing date. Only applicants with an approved doctoral thesis and public defence are eligible for appointment. 
• A scientific profile relevant for the research program outlined above with a strong background in nuclear structure physics of exotic nuclei 
• Expertise in scientific computing, including proficiency in C++ or Python programming
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English

Desired qualifications:

It will be an advantage that candidates have experience with some of the following topics: 

• Expertise in gamma-ray spectroscopy
• Experience with data analysis techniques relevant for lifetime measurements, in particular using fast timing techniques
• Experience with heavy-ion spectrometers such as BigRIPS or PRISMAExpertise with data analysis tools such as ROOT
• Experience with Monte Carlo simulations and familiarity with the GEANT4 simulation framework
• Experience in teaching and student supervision

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.

Personal skills 

• Good communication skills
• Ability to work both independently and within a team
• Good time management

Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including personal qualifications.

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. 
• 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.
• Salary in position as Postdoctoral Fellow, position code 1352 in salary range NOK from 579 700 - 657 300, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund.

Read more about the benefits of working in the public sector at Employer Portal.

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.

Application

Your application should include:

• Cover letter (statement of motivation, summarizing scientific work and research interest)
• CV (summarizing education, positions, research experience, pedagogical experience, and other qualifying activity) 
• Copies of educational certificates, academic transcript of records 
• A complete list of publications and up to 5 academic works that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for 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.

General information

The best qualified candidates will 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 cannot, 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.

Apply for the position

Questions about the position

• Eda Sahin (Associate Professor), eda.sahin@fys.uio.no

For questions regarding Jobbnorge, please contact:

• Karoline Hanssen (HR Adviser), karoline.hanssen@mn.uio.no