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

Job description

Applications are invited for a 3-4 year position as PhD fellow in psychology, at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo.

The PhD fellow will collaborate with colleagues to evaluate consequences of the interdisciplinary topic "Health and life skills" in Norwegian schools. The project will use information from national registries, school and student surveys and the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) to investigate changes in pupils’ mental health, quality of life, socioemotional school environment, school performance and attendance from before till after the interdisciplinary topic “Health and life skills” was implemented in Norwegian schools.

The study will offer opportunities to develop high-quality research competence, and to work with leading experts in the field. The candidate is expected to develop strong skills in advanced statistical methods and finalize a PhD dissertation within the period. Professor Egil Nygaard leads the project in collaboration with researchers at the PROMENTA Research Center, Faculty of Educational Sciences (UiO), and Institute of Education and Lifelong Learning (NTNU).

More about the position

The PhD position is funded by a grant from Stiftelsen DAM through the Norwegian Council for Mental Health for the project “Effekt av Livsmestring i skolen / Effects of the interdisciplinary topic Health and life skills”.

The fellowship is for a period of three years. A fourth year can be considered with the addition of 25 % teaching requirement, depending on the competence of the applicant and the needs of the department.

The PhD fellow must take part in the Department’s approved PhD program and is expected to complete the project within the set fellowship period. The main purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree.

For more information about the positions and project and for a detailed project description, please contact Prof. Egil Nygaard (email: egilny@psykologi.uio.no, phone: +47-41291922).

Qualification requirements

• Applicants must hold a Master’s degree (120 ECTS) or equivalent in relevant fields such as education, psychology (Professional program or Master’s program in psychology), sociology, other social science disciplines or related fields. The Master’s degree must include a thesis of at least 30 ECTS (thesis must have been submitted prior to applying to the position). The diploma must be attached or forwarded as soon as it is received.
• Strong skills in quantitative analysis.
• Long-term potential for high-quality research.
• Excellent Norwegian and English skills, both spoken, reading and in writing, are required.

Preferable qualifications

• Some experience with subjects related to research on promotion and prevention of mental health, quality of life, socioemotional school environment, school performance and attendance
• Some experience with methods used in the present project, e.g., longitudinal data analysis, multilevel analysis, or structural equation modelling, and use of registry and large cohort data
• Experience with software such as R, Stata, Mplus or SPSS
• Enthusiasm for the topic
• Ambitions for high-quality 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
• Personal suitability, motivation and willingness to collaborate with academics from diverse backgrounds
• Teaching experience

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 cooperation skills will be emphasized.

We offer

• Salary grade NOK 482 200 – 526 000 per year depending on qualifications in a position as PhD Research fellow (position code 1017)
• A professionally stimulating work environment and collaboration with a newly established research center (PROMENTA) at the Department of Psychology
• Opportunities for extensive collaboration with our collaborators
• Favorable pension and social welfare benefits

How to apply

The application must include

• Letter of application, max. 3 pages, explaining the motivation for applying and how own qualifications match the announced PhD position
• CV summarizing education, employment history, teaching history, and a list of publications (if applicable)
• Copies of educational certificates
• Copies of publications/academic work (if any) that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee
• Names and contact details of at least two references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail, and telephone number)

The application with attachments must be submitted through 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

Contact information

• Prof. Egil Nygaard, phone: +47-41291922, email: egilny@psykologi.uio.no
• Head of office Joakim Dyrnes, e-mail: joakim.dyrnes@psykologi.uio.no

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.

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.

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