Job description

A Doctoral Research Fellowship (SKO 1017) in Media Studies is available at the Department of Media and Communication (IMK), University of Oslo. The position is affiliated with the research project Global Natives. The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway and is led by professor Marika Lüders, the Department of Media and Communication. Project partners include the University of Bergen, The Institute of Social Research/ISF, and King’s College.

More about the position

The research project Global Natives studies the position of global media platforms among Norwegian teenagers, and how national media producers and policymakers respond to global platforms and the media habits of a new media generation. The term ‘global natives’ refers to teenagers of today, who have always assumed the place of global platforms as part of everyday life. We use the term to rethink how transforming media habits may represent challenges and impetus for reshaping media production and policy models. The project focuses on entertainment services, and it includes both entertainment media produced by industry players rooted in a mass media paradigm and entertainment media produced by users-turning/turned-professional-producers in an online media paradigm. More information about the project can be found on the project’s website. The project description can be obtained by contacting the project leader Marika Lüders (see contact details below).

The PhD candidate will be a central member of the project team and a core contributor to the empirical studies of the media experiences of teenagers. The candidate is expected to investigate how Norwegian teens appropriate and ascribe value to entertainment on global platforms. The candidate will take part in the project’s longitudinal qualitative study. This involves collaborating with project members in conducting qualitative interviews with a socio-demographically diverse sample of young study participants in Norway. The empirical data will largely encompass material in Norwegian, and the PhD candidate is therefore expected to be fluent in Norwegian or another Scandinavian language. The applicant is expected to develop a PhD project description, which must be submitted as a part of the application.

The person appointed will be affiliated with the Faculty's organized research training. The academic work is to result in a doctoral thesis that will be defended at the Faculty with a view to obtaining the degree of PhD. The successful candidate is expected to join the existing research milieu or network and contribute to its development. Read more about the doctoral degree.

The appointment is for a duration of 3 years. All PhD Candidates who submit their doctoral dissertation for assessment with a written recommendation from their supervisor within 3 years or 3 ½ years after the start of their PhD position, will be offered, respectively, a 12 or 6 month Completion Grant.

Qualification requirements

• A Master's degree or equivalent in Media Studies, Sociology, or other disciplines relevant for the project. The Master's degree must have been obtained and the final evaluation must be available by the application deadline.
• The candidate’s research project must be closely connected to and relevant for the Global Natives project.
• Fluent oral and written communication skills in English, see Language requirements
• The candidate is expected to take part in in conducting research interviews with Norwegian teenagers, and must therefore have fluent oral and written communication skills in Norwegian or other Scandinavian language.
• Personal suitability and motivation for the position.

To be eligible for admission to the doctoral programmes at the University of Oslo, applicants must, as a minimum, have completed a five-year graduation course (Master’s degree or equivalent), including a Master’s thesis of at least 30 ECTS. In special cases, the Faculty may grant admission on the basis of a one-year Master course following an assessment of the study programme’s scope and quality.

In assessing the applications, special emphasis will be placed on:

• The project's originality, scientific merit and innovation.
• The applicant's estimated academic and personal ability to complete the research training and his/her research project within the stipulated time frame
• Good knowledge of theories and methods used in the Global Natives project
• Good collaboration skills and an ability to join and contribute to the Department’s research environment and interdisciplinary academic communities
• Research ambition such as demonstrated through academic publications and conference presentations is advantageous, but not a requirement.

Provided the conditions above are met, applicants who have recently graduated with excellent results may be given preference.

We offer

• salary NOK 491 200 – 534 400 per annum depending on qualifications
• A professionally stimulating working environment
• Membership in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Attractive welfare benefits

How to apply

The application must include:

• Application letter describing the applicant’s qualifications and motivation for the position
• Curriculum Vitae (with a list of education, positions, teaching experience, administrative experience and other qualifying activities, publications. Information about publications should preferably include DOI or downloadable links.
• Educational certificates of your Bachelor’s and Master's degrees. Applicants with education from a foreign university must attach an explanation of their university's grading system
• Documentation of Language requirements
• Project description, including a detailed progress plan for the project (3 - 5 pages, maximum 14,000 characters. See Template for project descriptions)
• A list of 2-3 reference persons (name, relationships to the candidate, contact information)
• DO NOT include any certificates or transcripts that are not listed above

Please note that all documents must be in English or a Scandinavian language.

Other educational certificates and master thesis are not to be submitted with the application, but applicants may be asked to submit such information or works later

The application with attachments must be delivered in our electronic recruiting system, jobbnorge.no.

Short-listed candidates will be invited for an interview.

The tentative starting date is January 2022.

Formal regulations

See also regulations as well as guidelines for the application assessment process and appointments to research fellowships.

Following the Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) § 25, Chapter 2, demographic information about the applicant may be used in the public list of applicants even if the applicant opts out from the entry in the public application list.

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

The University of Oslo has an Acquisition of Rights Agreement for the purpose of securing rights to intellectual property created by its employees, including research results.

The University of Oslo aims to achieve a balanced gender composition in the workforce and to recruit people with ethnic minority backgrounds.

Contact information

• Professor Marika Lüders, Project leader of "Global Natives"
• HR Adviser Mira Kramarova, for questions on how to apply

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