Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Section of Health, Developmental and Personality

About the position

A PhD position is available at the PROMENTA Research Center, Section for Health, Developmental and Personality psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. PROMENTA is a newly established interdisciplinary research center focusing on mental health, drug use and wellbeing. Generally, we examine sources of mental health and wellbeing on a variety of levels, such as genetic risk, neurocognitive development, the psychosocial environment, and the socio-cultural context. For more information about PROMENTA, please visit www.promenta.no.

The PhD position is funded by a grant from the Research Council of Norway for the project «Homo sociabilis and genomics of the good life. Rethinking wellbeing and social relations – the role of genetic and environmental processes”.

More about the project

The fellowship is for a period of three years. A fourth year can be considered with the addition of a 25% teaching requirement, depending on the competence of the applicant and the needs of the department. The PhD-candidate will work with PROMENTA supervisors and colleagues to generate knowledge about the nature and development of human wellbeing, including life satisfaction, happiness, resilience and mental health. In particular, the project aims to expand our understanding of the social ingredients in wellbeing, and the role of genetics and environmental factors.

Central questions that form the basis of the project:

1) In what ways are social relations associated with wellbeing. Which social factors influence wellbeing, and does wellbeing influence social relations?

2) Are there patterns of multi-wellbeing and what is their underlying genetic and environmental architecture?

3) To what extent are genetic influences on wellbeing mediated by social relations? Do genetic factors create and shape social environments that promote wellbeing. What are the environmental causal processes involved?

4) How do genetic and environmental factors interact in the complex associations between wellbeing and our social world?

The project will primarily use longitudinal data from the Norwegian Twin Registry, including a new data collection among adult twins. Data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) will also be available.

The project is led by Professor Espen Røysamb (PI) and Senior researcher Ragnhild Bang Nes (co-PI), and involve collaborations between the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and international researchers.

Qualification requirements

• Applicants must have a Master’s degree (120 ECTS) or equivalent in relevant fields such as psychology (Professional program or Master’s program), social science, genetics, epidemiology, medicine, or related
• Experience and skills in quantitative analysis
• Long-term potential for high-quality research
• High fluency in English, orally and in writing
• Ambitions for excellent research within the project, as evidenced by the required letter of application, explaining the motivation for applying and how own qualifications are suitable for the announced position.

Preferable qualifications

• Experience in the research fields of wellbeing, quality of life, mental health, genetics, health, developmental or personality psychology.
• Some experience with longitudinal data analysis, structural equation modelling, psychometrics
• Competence in software such as R, Mplus, Stata, or SPSS.
• Excellent writing skills

Personal skills

• Creative thinking and analytic abilities
• High motivation and efficient work structure
• Ability to work in collaborative groups and independently

In assessing applications, particular emphasis will be placed upon the quality of the candidate’s academic qualifications. Interviews with selected candidates will be arranged where the applicants personal suitability, motivation and cooperative skills will be emphasized.

We offer

• Salary grade NOK 491 200 - 534 400 per year, depending on qualifications in a position as PhD Research fellow, (position code 1017)
• A professionally stimulating work environment at the Promenta Research Center, Department of Psychology
• Enthusiastic colleagues with high expertise in relevant fields
• Unique learning opportunities
• Opportunities for extensive collaboration with national and international collaborators
• Favorable pension and social welfare benefits
• Attractive welfare arrangements

How to apply

The application must include

• Letter of application, 1-2 pages, explaining the motivation for applying and how own qualifications are suitable for the announced postdoc position.
• CV summarizing education, positions and academic work
• copies of educational certificates (academic transcripts only)
• a complete list of publications and academic works
• Names and contact details of at least two references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail, and telephone number)

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).

Formal regulations

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

No one can be appointed for more than one PhD Research Fellowship period at the University of Oslo.

This is a project funded by the Research Council of Norway and applicants with a previous PhD degree cannot be appointed for this position.

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.

The appointment may be shortened/given a more limited scope within the framework of the applicable guidelines on account of any previous employment in academic positions.

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. We also want to have employees with diverse expertise, combinations of subjects, life experience and perspectives. We will make adjustments for employees who require this.

If there are qualified applicants with special needs, gaps in their CVs or immigrant backgrounds, we will invite at least one applicant in each of these groups to an interview.

Contact information

• Project leader, Espen Røysamb: espen.roysamb@psykologi.uio.no
• Project co-leader, Ragnhild Bang Nes: RagnhildBang.Nes@fhi.no
• HR officer, Linn Berg Salvesen: l.b.salvesen@psykologi.uio.no

Please contact the project leaders for more information about the project.

Apply for this job